TV Reviews : Teen AIDS Crisis in Schoolbreak Special

Amy, an ambitious, take-charge teen, is editor of her senior yearbook. When her ex-boyfriend dies in a drug-related accident, Amy learns that he was infected with the AIDS virus. Should the school dedicate the yearbook to her boyfriend? Does Amy have AIDS?

Today’s CBS Schoolbreak Special, “Dedicated to the One I Love,” at 3 p.m. on Channels 2 and 8, is very like the recent PBS/ABC Afterschool Special “In the Shadow of Love: A Teen AIDS Story.” In that excellent program, an ambitious, take-charge teen named Katie, anchor for her school’s news show, learns that her boyfriend is HIV-positive. Is Katie?

There’s a major difference in the two shows, however. Unlike the latter, the CBS special is weak, shallow and uninformative.

As Amy, Lisa Dean Ryan (“Doogie Howser, M.D.”) reduces anger, anguish and grief to a pout. Worse, the Emmy-winning team of director Bradley D. Wigor and writer Joseph H. Maurer make only cryptic references to AIDS prevention.

When Amy’s girlfriend drools over her latest romance, Amy asks her, “Are you careful?” The girl replies in the affirmative. End of scene. A remarkably reticent AIDS counselor says that the virus can be spread through “sexual intimacy” and advises Amy to be careful. The words abstinence and condom are never uttered.

Unfortunately, since TV is a medium of images, not words, the romantic flashback scene to a sunlit meadow where Amy and her boyfriend lie together in an ardent embrace, camera zooming in on passionate kisses, may send the only lasting message.