Men behaving badly

Nets defend TV characters on violence rap

By SUSANNE AULT

Although a recent poll found that three-fourths of kids (aged 10-17) described male television characters as violent, a panel of TV programming execs didn't see their shows that way.

The survey, conducted by watchdog org Children Now, looked at how media portray masculinity and concluded that media generally show men solving problems through violence and anger.

Responding to the poll, Twentieth Century Fox TV creative affairs veep Jeffrey Glaser said, "we're not about shooting a gun just because (a character) can use it." For example Fox series "The X-Files," features a male lead "that rarely draws his gun ... Mulder is much more of a thinking hero."

Glaser noted that as a general rule, "there must be consequences shown to violence and it shouldn't be gratuitous."

But he also said violence is one of the easier ways to portray action. "I think producers and writers are so busy that they don't have time to even think of alternatives."

In addition to "The X-Files," other action-packed series Glaser supervises include "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," "Harsh Realm" and the upcoming "Buffy" spin-off "Angel."

WB senior VP Rick Mater disagreed with the poll's implications. "I see a decline in the amount of graphic violence on TV since the early '90s," he said. Mater pulled out a list of the top ten shows boys tuned into, concluding, "the vast majority of these are sitcoms and animated series," rather than over-the-top, violent actioners.

Mater plugged his WB kiddie fave "Pokemon" as "a way to do adventure without violence ... there are no fist fights."

Mater emphasized that other factors than entertainment need to be considered for explaining the amount of violence in society. "We're deluding ourselves if we pin everything on entertainment." He suggested that another reason is the widespread availability of weapons in the U.S.

Later in the session, Mater admitted that "the media must take responsibility for violence," but asked just the same, "are TV networks a causal agent in this? A lot of debate can go on there."

Other panelist Nickelodeon prexy Herb Scannell insisted that at Nick "we don't want to pursue violent programming." The cabler's spook hit "Are You Afraid of the Dark?" "shows that kids are interested in scary things, but not like 'Friday the 13th' -- we don't want to go deep in the world of violence."

Echoing other panelists in their claims that graphic scenes are never central to their show's content, Eric Schotz, producer of action series "Guinness World Records: Primetime" said, "No network has ever told me ... 'you know, we need to make this more violent." As a rule, "Guinness" never spotlights world records involving guns.

Other session attendees included CNN sports anchor Larry Smith, educational filmmaker Jackson Katz, rapper Chuck D and dean of USC's Annenberg School of Communication Geoff Cowan.