From Talk-Show Hosts to CNN’s ‘Crossfire’ to Smoking

Once again, post time . . .

Does a TV talk-show host necessarily bear responsibility for the content of the show that carries his or her name? That’s issue No. 1 in a batch of mail on talk shows, relentless footage of violence in the wild, the host search at CNN’s “Crossfire” and smoking the killer weed on NBC’s “Homicide.”

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I happen to manage Carnie Wilson professionally, and also consider her to be a close personal friend. You have misdirected your dislike for the genre of talk television shows and heaped it upon Carnie Wilson, who has only been an on-air talk-show host for three months. She is not responsible, as an actor, for the content, style nor approach of the show, as she has been functioning as an on-air host, not as a producer, writer or director.

It’s clear to me that you have not viewed very many episodes of Carnie’s show. If you did, you would find that she is consistently compassionate, caring and deeply involved with the people on the program, whatever their particular problems may be.

I would also take issue with you lumping together Carnie Wilson’s show with “Jerry Springer,” “Sally Jessy Raphael,” “Ricki Lake,” “Jenny Jones” and “Montel Williams.” Most of all I take great exception to the personal attack on Carnie as “shrill,” “obnoxious” and “bellowing.” The pace of talk shows is not conducive to reflection and contemplation, which are characteristic of Sunday morning shows such as “Face the Nation.” Oprah Winfrey, Phil Donahue and Carnie Wilson respond to their environments with the energy that the subject matter presents. I believed you have badly missed the mark and in many ways your article is “just stupid.”

MICHAEL R. SHAPIRO

Beverly Hills

I was deeply concerned after seeing the first 10 minutes of “Carnie” where a young man told his fiancee that he was a cross dresser having an affair with another man (he, of course, was in complete drag, and to add fuel to the fire, they brought on the lover). The young woman was devastated, and it was an absolute crime that they allowed her private turmoil to be aired. The whole thing was pitiful.

MEREDITH GORDON RESNICK

Irvine

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On the Discovery Channel, I saw a herd of wild hyenas tearing a young zebra foal apart as the frantic mother kicked and stomped in a doomed attempt to save her baby. Anthony Hopkins narrated in a dispassionate tone, trying not to vilify the hyena or show too much emotion over the slaughtered newborn. After all, this was what nature was all about. Survival of the fittest. Predator and prey in an instinctive dance of death.

Then I realized that this is how today’s television is choosing to teach our children about the world they live in. From giant crocodiles dragging terrified wildebeests into their river to chimpanzees eating a captured monkey while it was still alive, I have seen every imaginable combination of this horrific side of nature. And this imagery is everywhere. First there’s the frantic chase, then the violent capture and, finally, the denouement of the bloodied loser being dragged away.

It struck me that if television does influence society, how does this unbalanced focus on the brutality of the world impact children? The program I saw tonight comes on at 8 every night. Not too late for children. And the graphic promos for these shows come on at all hours. So this is how television is defining the natural world.

Between shows like “Cops,” where the worst of humanity is the featured guest, and the talk shows, where civility and human dignity are eschewed, this recent phenomenon is most disturbing. It represents a deeply cynical and dark view of the planet. Instead of teaching our children that the earth is a thing to be treasured and appreciated, it is depicting a place filled with stalking terrors and conscienceless savagery.

JOHN R. JOHNSON

Calabasas

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Regarding your column about getting a liberal on “Crossfire,” you floored me with your description of Tom Braden as a “former CIA official.” That’s almost like describing Adolf Hitler as an art student in Vienna. Braden was a committed ultra-left-winger. I don’t know if he was a communist, but he should have been. Former CIA--really!

ATUR ZYGMONT

Torrance

CNN has never been fair to the left, not just “Crossfire” but other programs political such as “Evans & Novak.” “Crossfire” is only a promotion for the far right by the Republicans for their conservative positions. The left is represented by the weakest liberal they can find, such as Michael Kinsley.

HELEN OTIS

Cerritos

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It’s against the law to advertise cigarettes on TV overtly, but it’s apparently OK to advertise them covertly--by writing them into the script. They’re all over the place on prime time.

The worst offender, unfortunately, is one of the best shows, “Homicide.” Good as they are, the writers seem unable to write consecutive scenes without injecting the gratuitous cigarette. Andre Braugher may be doing the best acting on TV these days, but his omnipresent cigarette is a distraction. I keep asking myself, “Who paid off whom to require him to be a non-stop smoker, something that does absolutely nothing to advance the plot?”

I don’t think “60 Minutes” will do the expose, do you?

GEORGE KISEDA

Los Angeles