Despair Felt Over the New TV Season

It was with a feeling of despair and hopelessness that I read Howard Rosenberg’s excellent critique of the new Monday lineup of TV shows (“Ready, Aim, Click!,” Sept. 21). Is there no end to the trash exhibited in the form of supposedly funny situation comedies?

What happened to the great, genuinely hilarious shows of the past? The present run of TV sitcoms, written as they are by politically correct committees of writers, always include a dollop of feminism here, a bit of safe sex there, some environmentalism and whatever else they can work in that will earn them approval at the next cocktail party.

Bah, humbug!

SAM WOODS

Los Angeles

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I have been a huge fan of “Mad About You” for a number of years, and as always I was looking forward to the new season and another year of creative laughter. Unfortunately, I was strongly disappointed, and indeed offended, by Tuesday night’s episode centering on the subject of Viagra and its supposed “superhuman” effects.

I also have always appreciated the subtle nature of the comedy on “Mad About You,” but found the “erection” issue being uncreatively thrown in our faces. I have a serious objection to a serious problem being treated with such a great deal of insensitivity to those who may, in fact, have a libido problem. What is even more offensive is that the “miracle effect” of Viagra was grossly over-emphasized, to the point where my only laughter came from the shock and disbelief about the depths to which a favorite program had sunk.

How far down the road of “getting laughs at any cost” will the leaders at the network go? It is difficult enough having to ward off the bombardment of the Clinton-Lewinsky sexual escapades, but now must we be faced with the same type of trash during what used to be a prime-time escape from some of the tiring realities of today’s selfish world? Are there no longer any writers that can creatively put together a look at life that is refreshing, humorous and watchable by the family without uncomfortable feelings?

JOHN TRUDNOWSKI

Torrance

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Thanks for the balanced article on the upcoming UPN show “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer” (“A Controversial Diary,” by Greg Braxton, Sept. 19). It is insidious, to say the least, that a media outlet such as UPN would air a sitcom that shamefully parodies the U.S. slave era and the Abraham Lincoln White House.

LES LESTER

Minneapolis

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Mort Nathan, a creator and executive producer of “The Secret Diary of Desmond Pfeiffer,” is reported as being “surprised by the outrage”: “It’s about a fish out of water,” he’s quoted as saying. “I’m mystified that someone would say that a historic period is taboo for satire.”

If Nathan is truly mystified, I strongly suggest that he create and produce his next comedy about the daily lives of the inmates of Dachau. I can predict the reaction now. There is plenty of room for satire in that historic period, but African Americans should be allowed to feel pain and be sensitive about their holocaust just as our Jewish friends are.

GLORIA J. BOYD

Moreno Valley