Salon | Letters to the editor

_______________FOXY LADY: ALLY MCBEAL BY JOYCE MILLMAN (10/20/97)

I had to read Joyce Millman's review of "Ally McBeal" two or three times just to make sure it wasn't some sort of Harvard Lampoon parody of an Andrea Dworkin-cum-Marvin Kitman TV reviewer.
I found myself breaking into giggles as she complained about Ally's short skirts and relationship troubles. You have to wonder what she expects from a show, not just on Fox, but actually slotted to run after "Melrose Place," a show where the greatest intellectual challenge is trying to figure out why a steady stream of beautiful women keep throwing themselves at the perpetually bland Dr. Michael Mancini.
Yes, Ally is insecure and spends most of her on-screen time focusing on her doomed relationships with the opposite sex. In this respect she is like 95 percent of all the characters on prime-time TV, male and female.
Yes, most heterosexual men (myself included) would rather watch Ally then Ellen. Not because Ally appeals to some primitive masculine instinct -- we've got "Baywatch" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" for that -- but because Ally is one thing that Ellen is not: funny.
I'm not quite sure what honks Joyce off more, the fact that the show exists at all, or that some hack TV writers have dared to compare it to "Mary Tyler Moore"?
But comparing either "Ally McBeal" or "Mary Tyler Moore" to the extremely unfunny "Ellen" is ridiculous. Here's a hint. Men aren't staying away from "Ellen" because they're threatened by lesbianism. Heck, most heterosexual men I know find it somewhat titillating. But even the prospect of a little girl-girl action couldn't tempt us to sit through the unoriginal groaning that passes for humor on that show.
I have an idea: Since Joyce obviously has her finger on the pulse of the American public, she might be interested in pitching her own show. Maybe one about a woman lawyer who dresses in severe, corporate togs, never has any self-doubt or introspective moments and never has any romantic entanglements.
CBS would eat it up.
-- Gary J. Weiner

_______________ON A MINISKIRT AND A SOUND BITE BY ERIC ALTERMAN (10/21/97)

Earlier in the week, I bemusedly read Eric Alterman's recent piece, in which he expressed amazement that a person of Laura Ingraham's allegedly limited accomplishments should be crowned a media talking head. I wasn't going to comment -- until some Ingraham supporter wrote in and called Dartmouth a University (it's a COLLEGE, chief!!!), and then I became motivated to add in my perspective.
You see, I know Laura casually (although she's too big a galoot now to acknowledge my existence, a fact I humbly accept). I attended both Dartmouth "University" and law school with Laura and observed her in action frequently. Like Mr. Alterman, I found her personable and fun; also, like Mr. Alterman, I do not share all of her political views and agree that she is prone to make grand ideological pronouncements, only to follow them up when challenged with smirking put-downs. This strategy of debate, or what passes for it, was the mode of discourse taught to all Dartmouth Review types and it has clearly helped her get places. Good for her; other than a noticeable change in hair tint, she's been doing it her way since the '80s. You can't say she sold out.
What I found interesting about Alterman's piece was his shock at Ingraham's success in the TV-media world. How horrible, he writes, that she has been accepted as an authority, when she lacks credentials!! (We could argue about whether a Supreme Court clerkship is evidence of brilliance or just consummate brown-nosing, but I'll accept his point for sake of argument.)
Well, where has Alterman been recently? The networks -- and the print media too -- are awash with jokers, tokers and midnight smokers having no discernible skills other than glibness and the ability to look sexy in a pantsuit. Laura, besides her unswavering political convictions, is something of a looker -- a National Review supervixen, if you will. She is therefore perfect for television, with its unslakable thirst for "experts" to blab about issues. There are certainly left-wing versions of Laura, or apolitical yet liberal talking heads, who tend to focus on "gender issues" -- whaddabout Naomi Wolf, or Katie Roiphe? Nuclear physics geniuses they are not, yet I often wake up to see them sitting next to Katie Couric or Matt Lauer pontificating on the problems in the U.S. (No need to discuss the journalistic qualifications of a Willow Bay or MTV's Serena Altschul -- it would be ugly, although the two of them ain't.) What does TV care what these women -- or their male counterparts (e.g., George Stephanopolous) -- think or say? As long as they look good on camera.
Ultimately, I am more shocked by Alterman's naivete than angered by Ingraham's blustery yet sexy style. If, as is likely, I catch her on MSNBC mouthing off about some topic on which she is clearly uninformed, all's I gotta do is turn down the sound.
-- Brian H. Corcoran

SALON | Oct. 27, 1997

R E C E N T L Y+| ON A MINISKIRT AND A SOUNDBITE By Eric Alterman

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_______________FOXY LADY: ALLY MCBEAL BY JOYCE MILLMAN (10/20/97)
	I had to read Joyce Millman's review of "Ally McBeal" two or three times just to make sure it wasn't some sort of Harvard Lampoon parody of an Andrea Dworkin-cum-Marvin Kitman TV reviewer. I found myself breaking into giggles as she complained about Ally's short skirts and relationship troubles. You have to wonder what she expects from a show, not just on Fox, but actually slotted to run after "Melrose Place," a show where the greatest intellectual challenge is trying to figure out why a steady stream of beautiful women keep throwing themselves at the perpetually bland Dr. Michael Mancini. Yes, Ally is insecure and spends most of her on-screen time focusing on her doomed relationships with the opposite sex. In this respect she is like 95 percent of all the characters on prime-time TV, male and female. Yes, most heterosexual men (myself included) would rather watch Ally then Ellen. Not because Ally appeals to some primitive masculine instinct -- we've got "Baywatch" and "Xena: Warrior Princess" for that -- but because Ally is one thing that Ellen is not: funny. I'm not quite sure what honks Joyce off more, the fact that the show exists at all, or that some hack TV writers have dared to compare it to "Mary Tyler Moore"? But comparing either "Ally McBeal" or "Mary Tyler Moore" to the extremely unfunny "Ellen" is ridiculous. Here's a hint. Men aren't staying away from "Ellen" because they're threatened by lesbianism. Heck, most heterosexual men I know find it somewhat titillating. But even the prospect of a little girl-girl action couldn't tempt us to sit through the unoriginal groaning that passes for humor on that show. I have an idea: Since Joyce obviously has her finger on the pulse of the American public, she might be interested in pitching her own show. Maybe one about a woman lawyer who dresses in severe, corporate togs, never has any self-doubt or introspective moments and never has any romantic entanglements. CBS would eat it up. -- Gary J. Weiner
_______________ON A MINISKIRT AND A SOUND BITE BY ERIC ALTERMAN (10/21/97)
	Earlier in the week, I bemusedly read Eric Alterman's recent piece, in which he expressed amazement that a person of Laura Ingraham's allegedly limited accomplishments should be crowned a media talking head. I wasn't going to comment -- until some Ingraham supporter wrote in and called Dartmouth a University (it's a COLLEGE, chief!!!), and then I became motivated to add in my perspective. You see, I know Laura casually (although she's too big a galoot now to acknowledge my existence, a fact I humbly accept). I attended both Dartmouth "University" and law school with Laura and observed her in action frequently. Like Mr. Alterman, I found her personable and fun; also, like Mr. Alterman, I do not share all of her political views and agree that she is prone to make grand ideological pronouncements, only to follow them up when challenged with smirking put-downs. This strategy of debate, or what passes for it, was the mode of discourse taught to all Dartmouth Review types and it has clearly helped her get places. Good for her; other than a noticeable change in hair tint, she's been doing it her way since the '80s. You can't say she sold out. What I found interesting about Alterman's piece was his shock at Ingraham's success in the TV-media world. How horrible, he writes, that she has been accepted as an authority, when she lacks credentials!! (We could argue about whether a Supreme Court clerkship is evidence of brilliance or just consummate brown-nosing, but I'll accept his point for sake of argument.) Well, where has Alterman been recently? The networks -- and the print media too -- are awash with jokers, tokers and midnight smokers having no discernible skills other than glibness and the ability to look sexy in a pantsuit. Laura, besides her unswavering political convictions, is something of a looker -- a National Review supervixen, if you will. She is therefore perfect for television, with its unslakable thirst for "experts" to blab about issues. There are certainly left-wing versions of Laura, or apolitical yet liberal talking heads, who tend to focus on "gender issues" -- whaddabout Naomi Wolf, or Katie Roiphe? Nuclear physics geniuses they are not, yet I often wake up to see them sitting next to Katie Couric or Matt Lauer pontificating on the problems in the U.S. (No need to discuss the journalistic qualifications of a Willow Bay or MTV's Serena Altschul -- it would be ugly, although the two of them ain't.) What does TV care what these women -- or their male counterparts (e.g., George Stephanopolous) -- think or say? As long as they look good on camera. Ultimately, I am more shocked by Alterman's naivete than angered by Ingraham's blustery yet sexy style. If, as is likely, I catch her on MSNBC mouthing off about some topic on which she is clearly uninformed, all's I gotta do is turn down the sound. -- Brian H. Corcoran SALON \| Oct. 27, 1997