TV Reviews : ‘Age of AIDS’ Looks Beyond Epidemic’s Stereotypes

As the opening shot in a weeklong salvo of programs on KCET Channel 28 about the multiple dimensions of the AIDS crisis, “America in the Age of AIDS” (at 8 tonight on Channels 28, 15 and 24, and at 9 on Channel 50) deliberately removes the epidemic from its falsely perceived sociological ghetto. Once a disease that hit almost solely gay men and intravenous drug users, AIDS has traveled to middle America.

Though it is virtually impossible (and probably wrong) to characterize any town or city as typically American, this KCTS-Seattle production, hosted by Linda Ellerbee, adopts Ft. Wayne, Ind., as just that city. Though predominantly white and family-oriented, it also has poor black neighborhoods and a small gay community. Despite being deep in the heartland, Ft. Wayne would inevitably be confronted by AIDS.

Even more crucially (and this is where the cliched AIDS cobwebs are swept away), Ft. Wayne is shown as being full of sexually active teen-agers who may or may not take the disease seriously. This is complicated by tradition-bound parents who believe that frank education on sex and disease in the classroom is out of line. Besides clearly showing that no sector of Ft. Wayne--and, by inference, the country--is immune to AIDS’ threat, “America in the Age of AIDS” shows how this child-parent complication has its parallel in every other community affected by the virus.

Besides being most affecting as a document of personal testimony--that of housewife Bea Harris, for instance, whose brother was one of the city’s first AIDS victims--this report subtly depicts an unresolved, ongoing drama: Will our innate fear triumph? Or will our innate humanity fulfill its potential?