Want Family Values? TV Is Overflowing With Them

There are several good reasons to complain about television. The glorified violence, the similarity of shows and their plots, commercial clutter--pick one. But to spend time debating whether TV series promote family values is nuts. Family values are the basis for every comedy and drama series on the air.

What is a family value anyway? A Happy Meal? Parents helping their kids with homework? A 64-ounce jar of mayonnaise? Honesty, friendship, sacrifice for others, education?

Let’s assume that a family value is a quality that helps keep families together and gives them meaning. If there is one place in the universe where you can find them, it’s prime-time TV series.

The reason lies in the way TV series are developed. At the initial pitch meeting, the sellers (the writers or producers) explain the concept for a new series in terms of characters, setting and story lines. The first question the network buyers ask is, “Why should we care about these characters?” And the sellers know the correct answer is always “because they are a family.”

For example, one could not go in and pitch “Cheers” as a show about workers at a bar and their loser customers who have nothing better to do than kill time getting drunk. Would a network buy this show? No. Well, maybe Fox. But what if all those bartenders, waitresses and drinkers were really one big family? People who cared about each other, helped each other with their problems, and who would never quit or do anything so horrible it couldn’t be patched up in a half hour. Now we’re talking series. Now we’re talking likability.

Bottom line to every series pitch meeting: no family, no sale.

Whether it’s the gang at “Night Court,” “Cagney & Lacey” or the crew of the Enterprise, every character on every TV series is initially developed as a member of a family.

In fact, what word is most often in the title of a TV show? Honestly, the word is show . But the second most popular word is family : “All in the Family,” “Family Affair,” “Mama’s Family,” “Family Ties,” “Family Matters,” “Man of the Family,” “Family Man,” “The Partridge Family,” “The Addams Family”--and the ultimate title, “Family.”

And in third and fourth place, the words house and home . Is it a coincidence that the networks’ preferred TV viewers are families watching at home in a house?

If we accept that the main characters of every show are part of a family, and we know that, unless the actors quit or are fired, these characters can never leave the family, then it follows they must always behave in ways that are commonly accepted by American families.

Some series are designed to feature family values. We all know those familiar “heart” scenes at the end of shows where the characters make up, learn a nice lesson and hug. But even J.R. Ewing wreaked havoc in the name of family. A key ingredient to every show’s success is assumed to be the viewer’s sense that, deep down, all these characters really do love each other.

So Dan Quayle and Diane English can debate whose family values are better. But the truth is, prime-time television is populated by people who scream basic family values. Otherwise they don’t get on TV to begin with.