TV REVIEWS : ‘DON’T TOUCH’: CHILD SEXUAL ABUSE

Child sexual abuse is no longer the breakthrough subject for television drama that it was just two years ago. It’s not even a novelty for programs aimed primarily at children. But the problem hasn’t disappeared, so “Don’t Touch,” an “ABC Afterschool Special” airing today, is a welcome addition to the body of programming on the topic.

The fact that the subject is no longer “hot,” in TV terms, actually proves beneficial from a dramatic point of view, since the network evidently felt comfortable letting writer Jeanne Betancourt focus on telling the story of one molestation victim helping another without the heretofore requisite didactics on how kids should handle the situation.

The result (airing at 3 p.m. on Channels 7 and 10, and at 4 p.m. on Channels 3 and 42) is a moving drama that, under Beau Bridges’ direction, builds to a poignant climax in which a 6-year-old girl’s acute pain and shame are gently uncloaked. “Don’t Touch” is properly discreet in its handling of the sensitive “touching” issues but can serve nicely as a launch pad for family discussions for parents who watch with their children.

From an adult viewpoint, the ending rings untrue--with the mother who had been so insensitive to the obvious changes in her daughter’s behavior suddenly providing a textbook-perfect response upon hearing what the problem is--but this program is for children, especially abused children, and it’s just what they need to believe will happen if they are to talk about their emotionally scarring experiences.

In hopes that they will, ABC plans to follow today’s broadcast by announcing the phone number for the National Child Abuse Hotline: (800) 422-4453 (which is also 4-A-CHILD).

On a considerably lighter note, another family/children’s special on view today is “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” a new cartoon program featuring the Peanuts comic strip characters, arriving at 8 tonight on CBS (Channels 2 and 8).

What’s different about this one is that instead of being taken directly from Charles M. Schulz’s cartoons, it’s an animated version of the stage musical that opened Off-Broadway in 1967 and continues to be produced every year by high school and community theater groups across the country.

It’s not a big difference, however. What must have seemed a cute idea 18 years ago--having actors bring beloved comic strip characters to life in song and dance and thereby reinforce their humanity--is lost when the cartoon characters themselves perform. And the basic situations and relationships dealt with here have long since been explored in more than 30 prime-time specials and a Saturday morning series.

Some of Clark Gesner’s songs are still clever, but the CBS rendition of “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” is strictly for the Peanuts faithful.