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FIRST MONDAY
by Rob Waring
As I have previously written in Will The West Wing Cause The
Left Swing?, liberals
may have mastered the use of the television political dramas
in influencing voters. In The West Wing, viewers see an
idealized left-of-center presidency, the one they didn't get
in real life. We'll never know how much this helped Al Gore,
but obviously not enough to beat George Bush in the electoral
college.
Now comes another experiment in influencing the electorate, First
Monday, a show about the Supreme Court we don't have in real
life and may not for some time. This fictional Court has a five-four
liberal majority and the idea seems to be to demonstrate how
much more compassionate and interesting the Court could be if
only liberals had the votes. (This is quite a leap from asking
what things would be like if there were even one liberal on the
Court, which presently there is not.)
On television, some justices who care about the plight of the
less fortunate work hard to see that the suckers do in fact get
an even break, particularly the newest justice, played by Joe
Mantegna. (His character is named Novelli-get it?) The conservative
justices seem uncaring and horribly bigoted, but at least they
have a sense of humor about their reactionary goals. (The justice
played by Charles Durning asks a transgendered party if he wishes
to be castrated like a bull.)
If one takes the jurisprudence of the real Court seriously, the
first thought is probably to wonder whether First Monday
viewers will take more interest in the workings of the real Court.
They may receive more knowledge about issues in some of the cases
that come before the court, but combined with a distorted view
of the process that I leave to others to critique, this may be
worse than the result of their pre-First Monday ignorance.
With little for the public to see of members of the real Court
but their decisions and denials of certiorari, I'm betting that
the justices will seem pretty callous in comparison to their
TV brethren. The execution of juveniles, a controversy on First
Monday's premiere, is not even an issue for the present Court.
It appears split over whether discovery of the actual innocence
of defendants in death cases can be untimely and thus irrelevant.
For those who regard the Court as a battle ground for ideologies
propped up by selective use of precedent, the show presents a
zone of comfort. Finally, the veneer is off, our suspicions confirmed
and we can rest secure in the knowledge that the Court is just
another forum for political advocacy. Those justices and clerks
who want things one way do whatever they can to foil the other
side, and their opponents respond in kind. Done up for prime
time, it's everything that those disappointed with Bush v. Gore
complained about-results-oriented jurisprudence. Seeking the
truth is secondary to beating the other guys. The conservative
Chief Justice, played by James Garner, sums it up best-his main
goal is to trip up the new liberal player before he gets too
much influence with the other justices.
I do not have a problem with the present advantage liberals have
in television political drama for two reasons. First, I'm a liberal,
so any method that gets the word out works for me. Second, money
is speech in this electronic information age in which we live,
and the conservatives have barrels full. Bush spent twice as
much in the election as Gore did, and most of that money came
from business interests with a definite agenda. As campaign finance
reform is nowhere in sight, Enron or no Enron, using drama to
attempt some sort of balance is about the only option we have.
Perhaps people will pay no attention to this show and it will
die a quick death. Alternatively, perhaps to a greater extent
viewers will see the real Court as more about personalities than
process. If so, they may seek more information about the personality
and ideology of the next Supreme Court nominee.
If First Monday takes off, Democrats had better hurry
up with a show about Congress before Republicans catch on and
pilot their own. More likely from Bush would be a combat show
about the War on Terrorism as seen a by a globe-hopping special
forces unit. Or perhaps a show about the CIA. Wait a minute,
that one's already happened! If I die mysteriously next week,
you'll know I was right.
But, I'm probably all wrong about this propaganda angle. More
likely, if First Monday survives its first season, we'll
see less about case appeals and more viewer-appealing devices
such as co-ed bathrooms or fantasy song sequences. How long will
it take for some of the characters to start sleeping with each
other? Stay tuned.
Chat rooms:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/first_monday/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/firstmondaytv/
Posted January 18, 2002
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