They Watch Their Television Religiously

Susan Waldrop was watching a TV movie the other night with her two kids, just curious to see what Linda Gray was up to these days.

You remember Linda Gray. She’s the actress who played J.R.’s long-suffering wife, Sue Ellen, in “Dallas.” Anyway, she lives out in the Santa Clarita Valley--in Canyon Country, to be precise--and so do the Waldrops. She’s an acquaintance and a neighbor of Susan’s parents.

“Why My Daughter?” came on at 9. By 9:15, Susan Waldrop wasn’t happy at all.

“There was a sex scene--and my kids were sitting there!”

Just 15 minutes into the movie. Lips were locking, torsos were entwining, clothes were being stripped like banana peels. Susan turned off the TV. This wasn’t suitable for Priscilla, 12, or Adam, 11.

The Waldrops are a Christian family, and then some. Not only do they go to church, but Susan and her husband, Steven, are awaiting their licenses as ministers in the Assemblies of God.

So last week, when the Santa Clarita City Council was debating whether to allow full-fledged public access programming on local cable stations, the Waldrops took a keen interest. Plenty of churchgoers worried that public access would open Pandora’s box.

What if the KKK shows up? What if nudists want to go on the air? (And what if the nudists secretly belonged to the KKK--how could you tell?)

Even worse, parents worried, what if impressionable children go channel surfing and find that awful Mary Ellen Tracy on the air?

You remember Mary Ellen. The headlines tagged her the “sex priestess” back in 1989, when police decided that her so-called Religion of the Most High Goddess was a front for prostitution. Santa Claritans were well aware that she’s on cable all over sinful Los Angeles, sitting there in her flimsy red nightie talking about nothing but sex, Sex, SEX!

The City Council seemed nervous. It’s hard enough having the neighborhood hardware stores mad at you for cutting a deal for Home Depot to move in. But in the end, they overcame their worries and approved public access by a 5-0 vote. Chalk one up for the marketplace of ideas.

So was Susan Waldrop mad as heck at the City Council?

Not at all. “We’re very happy about it,” she says.

And so is Mary Ellen Tracy.

*

I wonder if they’ve ever met. Susan doubts it, but it’s possible. Mary Ellen lives out in Canyon Country, too. Maybe they’ve bumped into each other at the grocery. Perhaps they’ve exchanged pleasantries. They have a lot in common. They’re both moms: Sue has two kids, Mary Ellen, eight. Just as Susan Waldrop says that all she wants to do is spread the Gospel, so too does Mary Ellen Tracy.

It’s just that their gospels are different.

Unlike some of their brethren, the Waldrops were all for public access because they practice the art. They are the producers and stars of “The Waldrop Family Sings,” a homespun half-hour of original hymns, prayer and inspiration. The show, videotaped at home, appears occasionally on cable in the east San Fernando Valley, Santa Clarita and parts of Ventura County, as well as Tucson, Ariz., and Nashville, Tenn. It’s won an Angel Award for “moral, quality entertainment.”

The Waldrops have found an audience in couch potato Christians who are weary of slick televangelists who always ask for money. “People love it,” Susan says proudly. “They can’t believe it’s for real because we’re so normal.”

And they’ve never asked for money, she adds. Never.

Tracy and her husband, Will, say they really weren’t in it for the money either, even though they accepted donations as Mary Ellen performed “rites of absolution.” Mary Ellen ended up serving five months in jail for prostitution and Will served 2 1/2 months.

The Tracys say they are victims of religious persecution. They haven’t won any Angel Awards, but their show, “Sabrina On,” is one of the best-known public access programs in the Los Angeles area. Reaching a potential 250,000 households, “Sabrina”--that’s Mary Ellen’s priestess moniker--preaches about such metaphysical matters as how women can help themselves achieve orgasm.

“My shows are educational,” Mary Ellen says. “They teach good values.”

*

The Waldrops and the Tracys have something else in common. Both get their share of harassment.

Eggs have splattered the Tracys’ home. The Waldrops, who invite viewers to call them at home, have received some strange ones.

Sometimes, satanists ring them up. “And they leave a message: ‘My address is 666 Devil Drive.’ ”

Sometimes, but not always, Susan figures they’re just teen-age pranksters. “You can hear a girl’s voice in the background: ‘Oh, Billy, leave those nice people alone.’ ”

The thing is, satanists are tricky, Susan explains. They never come right out and say they’re evil.

“If this Tracy group is evil at the root,” Susan ventures, “do you think they’re going to come right out and say what they are?”

But really, Susan adds, when there’s so much sin on the networks, why should parents get worked up about “Sabrina On”?

“It’s not my cup of tea,” she says. “But that is America. It’s freedom. . . . We believe America was founded In God We Trust. But we must also have the freedom of speech. That’s what America is all about.”

It’s hard to tell whether Susan Waldrop is bothered more by the Tracys or by those parents who say they can’t control what their kids watch on TV.

Don’t blame the TV, she suggests. Just turn it off. Or donate it to the church.

Scott Harris’ column appears Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Readers can write to Harris at The Times Valley Edition, 20000 Prairie St., Chatsworth 91311.