TV Reviews : ‘Hollywood, Politics’ a Glib CNN Report

Quick, cursory and glib, CNN’s “Hollywood and Politics” (at 9 p.m. Sunday) glides straight through the complex world of Beltway politics and Hollywood money. But, like some looking-glass world, there’s more here than meets the viewers’ eyes.

Reporter Brooks Jackson, TV’s only regular analyst of political ads, succinctly sets up the Washington-Hollywood axis as a mutual admiration society: One has the power, the other has the public appeal. “Money and crowds” is how Republican consultant Stu Spenser sums up the irresistible equation that produces such unlikely pairings as Arnold Schwarzenegger hitting the hustings with George Bush, or Joe Piscopo with Sen. Paul Simon (D-Ill.).

Jackson might have gone on to analyze whether these matches really work, for Simon’s 1988 presidential aspirations fizzled early, while many viewed the recruitment of Schwarzenegger in the battle against Bush’s “wimp factor” image as a desperate act. The verdict on Bill Clinton playing sax on “The Arsenio Hall Show” divides according to tastes and generations, as does Dan Quayle’s jousts with “Murphy Brown.”

While Jackson’s report tracks the trail of Hollywood money to campaigns, it’s no revelation to state that the dollars get some action--either in the form of causes or technical legislation. What remains unexplored here is the actual rate of success in this power relationship. Does Washington get the maximum benefit out of Hollywood star power, or are these primarily liberal celebrities a drag in Peoria? Does Hollywood get bang for its bucks, or, as Robert Redford suggests, is it as frustrated in Congress as any other citizen group?