TV REVIEW : ‘Understanding HIV’ Gives Teens the Facts

“Understanding HIV: Does Teen America Know the Facts?,” airing at noon today on KABC-TV Channel 7, makes an upfront effort to enable teens to answer that question in the affirmative.

The TV star hosts--Ian Ziering and Garielle Carteris from “Beverly Hills, 90210,” “Cosby” kid Tempestt Bledsoe and Chad Lowe of “Life Goes On”--are meant to attract teen viewers; once those viewers tune in, however, it’s the other young people on the show who make the most impact.

Several are HIV-positive or AIDS-infected, some are peer counselors. The former speak movingly about how and when they were infected and about how they are now living their lives. The latter are self-assured and unembarrassed as they spread their message: This is what HIV is, what AIDS is, this is how you can/cannot get it; only abstinence is safe, but protected sex lowers the risk; this is how to use a condom.

A teen theater group in New York City called Faces, shown in an excerpt from its AIDS education play, makes a powerful impact, and rap artist Choice doesn’t mince words: “A tisket, a tasket, a condom or a casket.”

The aimed-for MTV-style pace isn’t quite achieved--graphics and onscreen text are unexciting, as are the celebrity talking heads. The straightforward presentation and the eloquence of the real people involved are the show’s strengths.

Throughout the program, teens from across the country appear on camera asking questions about AIDS and HIV that indicate just how important getting the word out continues to be.

(Teens will have another opportunity for AIDS education with Paramount Pictures’ new home video, “Time Out: The Truth About AIDS,” hosted by Magic Johnson and Arsenio Hall, which is set for release in September.)