Survey Finds Age Bias on TV Shows : Broadcasting: A poll of television academy members reports that the industry shortchanges older people both on and off the screen.

TV industry professionals surveyed by the UCLA School of Medicine report discrimination against older people both on and off screen.

More than 1,500 members of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences responded to the UCLA survey, part of a larger project at the university to improve the TV industry’s understanding and awareness of aging.

More than half said that television’s portrayal of the elderly has improved in recent years, yet 64% said that the industry does “a poor job of characterizing the concerns of older adults.” Half indicated that older adults are still not portrayed realistically.

“By its own account, the television industry is shortchanging older viewers in terms of the number and quality of programs geared toward a mature audience,” survey director Elyse Salend said in a prepared statement released Thursday. “This is occurring despite the fact that older adults constitute television’s most ardent viewers and possess the purchasing power that should lure television advertisers.”

Respondents, who ranged from 10 to 97 years of age, largely blamed advertiser disinterest for the lack of portrayals of older characters on television. More than three-fourths wanted more shows with older characters but 42% said nobody would buy a show with an older lead.

The five top choices of respondents when it came to shows that did well at portraying older adults were: “Golden Girls,” “Empty Nest,” “Murder, She Wrote,” “Matlock” and “L.A. Law.”

“There is growing awareness in the industry that the entertainment needs of people over 50 have been neglected for far too long,” said Mort Thaw, chairman of the age discrimination committee at the Writers Guild of America, West, and a member of the UCLA project’s professional advisory committee. “Perhaps that’s why this large segment of the TV and movie audience has been drifting away.”

Nearly 60% of the respondents said they had been discriminated against because they were considered too old, and 25% or more said they had hedged or lied about their age or had been advised to try to appear more youthful.

“The survey’s consciousness-raising impact cannot be overestimated,” said writer-producer Loreen Arbus, another member of the professional advisory committee.

Although respondents did indicate positive attitudes toward aging themselves--75% said they had become more creative with age--nearly half admitted that as they aged, they had become more anxious about the future.

The survey, mailed to academy members last June, is part of a 17-month project funded by the U.S. Administration on Aging, called “Enhancing Awareness of Aging Issues Among Leaders in the Television Industry.” Future plans call for workshops, fact sheets and assembling a directory of aging specialists who could be available as media consultants.

“I don’t believe there is an industry conspiracy to deny work opportunities to writers or anyone else over the age of 40 or 50,” said Thaw. “Once we get the full measure of ageism and how we portray older people in TV across to executives with hiring authority, I think they will then begin to see there is mutual benefit in using talent of all ages.”