Singer Wins Top Media Access Award

Robert Singer, producer of NBC’s new series, “Reasonable Doubts,” received the top award Wednesday during the 13th annual Media Access Awards ceremonies honoring the promotion and accurate portrayal of the disabled in Hollywood.

The awards, given by the California Governor’s Committee for the Employment of Disabled Persons, celebrated what many said was a good year in Hollywood for actors with disabilities. In particular, the awards noted shows such as “Reasonable Doubts” that portray the disabled as go-getters instead of focusing story lines around actors’ disabilities.

Twenty-two awards were handed out in all. Winners included the feature film “Class Action,” made-for-TV movies “Triumph of the Heart: The Ricky Bell Story” (CBS) and “When You Remember Me” (ABC), ABC’s “Life Goes On” dramatic series and NBC’s “A Different World” sitcom.

The National Captioning Institute and the Narrative Television Network were also honored.

The top achievement award was created this year in the name of late actor Michael Landon because he supported disabled actors’ efforts to get better roles in Hollywood. Singer, who accepted the award, said he deserves no special recognition for producing “Reasonable Doubts” and for casting Oscar-winning actress Marlee Matlin, who is deaf, as a tenacious lawyer on the show.

“I just wanted to make the best show I could make,” he said. “It’s not very often that you get an Acadamy Award winner to do your show.”

Those attending the event, sponsored by ABC, CBS and NBC, seemed pleased about the state of the disabled in Hollywood. Jenny Gerard, acting executive director of Media Access Office Inc., a casting company for the disabled that administers the awards, characterized the year in Hollywood as “very positive” for the disabled. “Most of the major prime-time television dramas had something this year that was a contender.”

“There’s a lot more work going on for disabled actors,” said actor Gerald McRaney, whose son is deaf. “And the script itself doesn’t have to be about a disability.”

Criticism of Hollywood was scant at the reception and ceremony held at the Guest Quarters hotel in Santa Monica. Oscar-winner Matlin said resistance to mainstream roles for the disabled “is to be expected. But it’s my hope that Hollywood will change.”

Daytime drama was also silently rebuked at the ceremony with the absence of the annual award for best soap opera.

“There were no nominations from the community for the category,” said Gerard of Media Access. “It wasn’t a good year for daytime drama.”