Somewhere in this extreme (and sexist) pronounce-
ment is the voice, not of Michael, or even of Herskovitz
and Zwick, but of television itself. As Mark Crispin
Miller argues in his new book of essays, Boxed In: The
Culture of TV (Northwestern University Press, 1988),
television has been evolving into an increasingly hos-
pitable environment for advertising. The medium has
?gradually puri?ed itself of all antithetical tones and
genres,? he writes, leaving a TV universe in which the
programs rarely offer a serious challenge to the way of
life on view in the ads. Susannah, who claims to devote
herself to public values, must therefore be dismissed:
?rst by the giggles of the other characters, then by
Michael?s more aggressive assault.

By keeping a cool distance from all manner of serious
belief, Michael, a television character, goes to work on
behalf of television. TV is one of the forces that stands
to gain when the public realm is abandoned for a safer
environment at home?where the link to the outside
world is TV. TV bene?ts as well from what Miller calls
?the hipness unto death,? that glib and ironic tone by
which any claim to seek a better world, a higher truth,
or a deeper spirit is easily turned into a joke. Television,
then, has an interest in the way the entire culture views
the generation that came out of the 1960s?and ?thirty-
something? has to be seen in this light. Michael, the
expert accommodator, the smart manager, the glib dis-
misser of politics and public values, is placed at the
center of the show in part to refute the relevance of the
19605 to personal life today.

What a different Show ?thirtysomething? would be if
Michael?still the responsible, sensitive family man,
still the stable center of his friends? world?were also a
public interest lawyer, or a socially conscious journalist,

My Story

or a biologist for an environmental group. Then ?thirtyv
something? might be a drama about doing good in the
world and getting on with your personal life at the
same time?a difficult trick, to be sure, but one that
many who came of age in the 1960s have managed. But
Michael isn?t the type. He?s an advertising man, perfect-
ing the world in images only.

Still, what?s interesting about ?thirtysomething? is that
it retains, so to speak, the courage of its compromises.
The show?s View of the counterculture may be hostile
and loaded, but it hardly sees the Yuppie culture as an
attractive alternative. Michael and Hope are a handsome
and loving couple with nice clothes, a house of their
own, and money enough for private child care. But
their lives frequently exhaust them, and their fears of
sudden ruin can barely be contained. Selling out, then,
is no guarantee of a safe haven. This past season a
radon scare hit the Steadman home. When Hope gets
the news that the readings are high, she says to Nancy,
?We?re so stupid; we thought it would all be perfect,
like nothing could touch us.? Her mind races on: ?And
we never had the pipes checked for lead, we never got
around to it; Janey could have been drinking lead all
this time.?

The scene ends when Hope, trying to calm herself,
goes to call Michael. But Michael does not know what
to do. Unable to contain his own fear, he is powerless
to ease his wife?s, and the look on his face tells us we
could be next. At least part of the time, then, ?thirty-
something? is sending out a message that cannot be
soothed by the next ad that comes up in soft focus, or
by the ?happy talk? that is sure to follow on the local
news. Even for those who have it together, things fall
apart: an unusual premise for a television show. Cl

 

David I gnatow

I accept the candle

handed to me out of the dark
where I hear the thunder

of Roman troops. The candle

is lit, ?oating down

from over the heads

of the fighters against Rome.
Iplace it in a candle holder

and set the light beside my bed.
In its ray the thunderous troops
recede. I pick up a history

of the Jews and read. My story.

33