Orphaned Show Looks for a Home

Citizen Bob Dole made front-page news Tuesday. He did this by coming to Los Angeles and going to see “Independence Day” to prepare for another speech before Hollywood honchos--a sequel to last year’s tongue-lashing about “nightmares of depravity.”

A related story could be found on Page A-12 of The Times: President Clinton touting a new pact with the nation’s four television networks. Amid much blame over the coarsening of American culture, the networks agreed to air three hours of educational children’s programming weekly.

Joseph N. Feinstein, meanwhile, was at his Sherman Oaks home, wondering what these election-year developments might mean for “Teen Talk,” a show that as of that particular day lived on only in reruns--and only in Indonesia. Feinstein, a former high school teacher, had produced and hosted the show on Channel 9, based on teenagers’ concerns, from 1981 to 1990. Six times, “Teen Talk” was nominated for a local Emmy in children’s programming. Four times it won.

Then Walt Disney Co. bought KCAL and, to Feinstein’s way of thinking, threw out the baby with the bathwater. Now Feinstein is plotting the comeback of “Teen Talk.” The last few weeks, he’s called on Los Angeles independents and network affiliates, hoping to find a new home. So far, the search has been frustrating.

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Feinstein has five local Emmys in all, one as co-producer of “The Secret Sin,” a 1985 documentary about incest. The awards are lined up on a shelf in the family room, below some bowling trophies.

Feinstein is a big, heavyset man with curly hair and a crooked grin. Apart from his TV work, his resume notes his 30 years at Grant High School in Van Nuys as well as his work as a licensed marriage and family counselor. He looks younger than his 62 years.

He put a video into his VCR and on came an announcer’s voice: “Channel 9 Public Affairs presents the show where kids tell it like it is--’Teen Talk!’ ” Then Feinstein’s image appeared on the screen, looking younger still.

There had been 237 shows in all on Saturday mornings, covering subjects as light as class clowns and as serious as rape. I recalled the show only vaguely, so Feinstein offered a sampler.

First were some clean-cut student government types discussing the pros and cons of Channel One, TV programming for public high schools that caused controversy by airing commercials. Next came teenagers who had attempted suicide. Next came interviews with runaways who lived on the streets and in the shelters of Hollywood. “Stay at home,” is one glum boy’s advice. “It ain’t workin’ on the street.”

We skipped next to a show titled “On Becoming 13”--and a revisit with the four youngsters six years later, as young adults. Another show concerned AIDS and another, adoption.

The latter had been Feinstein’s first topic; he and his wife are adoptive parents. On that show, a teenage boy told of his desire to find his birth mother. Years later, having succeeded in his quest, he proudly introduced her on “Teen Talk,” along with his adoptive parents.

Next up was an interview with Griffin O’Neal, son of actor Ryan O’Neal, about his problems with drug abuse. Finally, sadly, was the follow-up to a feature on an 18-year-old boy named Brad, who had appeared on an earlier show discussing the death of a friend in a car accident. This time, it was the young man’s family, sharing warm memories of Brad. He too had died in a car accident.

When this program aired in 1988, The Times’ Lynne Heffley wrote that, although “at times Feinstein is like an attorney leading the witnesses,” the show is “straight-talking, relevant programming for teens.”

One show I would have liked to have seen concerned acne. Of all the “Teen Talk” programs, Feinstein says this was the toughest to produce; kids were more reluctant to discuss bad skin than heroin addiction or prostitution.

A Santa Barbara dermatologist helped him find six willing teenagers--willing, that is, after being assured that the show wouldn’t air in Santa Barbara.

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“It’s not only ironic that Disney doesn’t want us, but it’s also unreal,” Feinstein said in a 1991 interview. “I thought that when you match a quality children’s show with Disney, that would be a hit. But it was a miss.”

And now, no matter what the presidential candidates might say, Feinstein is discovering that local Emmys don’t seem to impress local TV executives all that much.

Feinstein did have a bit of good news lately, however. A few minutes after I left Feinstein’s home, the general manager of KDOC, an Anaheim independent that airs locally on various cable channels, called to inform him than “Teen Talk” reruns would be back on the air, starting this Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

KDOC had aired “Teen Talk” reruns previously, Feinstein said, but canceled the show three months ago to make room for infomercials. Modest though it is, he prefers to see KDOC’s decision as a good omen--and not just one less reason to visit Indonesia.