Censorship of Television Programs

In response to the American Family Assn. advertisement that appeared in the comics section, July 11:

I’m very excited about your newest comic strip, “We Are Fed Up!” Even more timely and satiric than “Doonesbury,” “We Are Fed Up!” provides insightful social commentary cleverly mingled with entertaining humor. The hysterical ramblings of the main character, a cutting parody of the painfully close-minded, ultraconservative religious right, had me in stitches right from the start.

I also appreciated the author’s cleverly disguised admiration of “Picket Fences,” one of the best shows on television, which explores family, political and social issues in a humorous and compelling manner. Oh, and the bit about that “Seinfeld” episode that “promotes masturbation” in which Jerry and his friends bet on who can abstain the longest. Oh, the inventive play on the religious right’s frequent use of reverse logic! Genius, sheer genius! But I missed the depraved episodes of “Roseanne,” “Class of ‘96” and “Saturday Night Live” the strip mentioned. Hope they rerun those.

I look forward to the next installment of “The Paranoid Rantings of Dr. Donald (Wildman) Wildmon.” My only concern for the survival of this strip is the lack of amusing caricatures one would expect to accompany it. It is a comic strip, after all.

LAWRENCE MEYERS

Los Angeles

* I am fed up! The American Family Assn. again is missing the mark, even on the back of the Sunday comics section. The full-page ad promoting a campaign to financially target advertisers (who promote on a program that they feel objectionable) is in itself objectionable. The AFA’s methods are much like chopping down a tree to get closer to the fruit. Wildmon encourages his followers to not buy products and to write letters to CEOs of advertisers on shows such as the highly rated “Roseanne,” “Murphy Brown,” “Seinfeld” and “The Simpsons.” He should try backing the sponsors of shows that follow AFA’s moral guidelines.

The money AFA spends trying to control our morals would be better spent on helping achieve better programming (could you image if PBS got a couple of bucks from each of the supposed million or more members the AFA!). As for the programming that might be objectionable, encourage individuals to be their own censor and turn the channel, or turn the TV off.

Commercial TV programming has been held back by trying to be all things to all people. In comes cable, with the ability to speak realistically, show movies without that “edited for television” blurb, and most importantly create great programming without worrying sponsors. If “NYPD Blue” is good, sell it to HBO. They would show it intact--and I’d watch it--swearwords, nudity and all.

JOHN ZACHRY

Fountain Valley

* Regardless of the merits of the AFA’s petition, it was certainly poor judgment on the part of The Times to allow its full-page ad with its sexually explicit language to be placed on the back page of the Sunday comics section. Bringing that kind of provocative material to the attention of children is just what the AFA pretends to be fighting.

DUKE GOLDSTONE

Hollywood