Pediatricians unhappy with Eli Stone
Eli Stone, the new ABC legal drama, is already in trouble. This is interesting news since the first show hasn’t even premiered yet. The trouble is stemming from the American Academy of Pediatrics, who want the first episode of the series canceled because it feeds into the myth that vaccines can cause autism.
In the series premiere, which airs after Lost this Thursday, lawyer-turned-reluctant-prophet Eli Stone argues in court that a flu vaccine made a child autistic. Dr. Renee R. Jenkins, president of the AAP, said that both ABC and its parent company, Walt Disney, are being irresponsible by airing the show because it will be perpetuating the vaccine=autism belief. Dr. Jenkins added that the network would share in the responsibility for the suffering and deaths if parents who watched the program chose to deny their children immunizations. Dr. Jenkins also mentioned that many viewers trust the health information presented on fictional television shows.
Greg Berlanti, co-creator of Stone said that the show’s producers had no connection with advocates involved in the autism debate. Creator Marc Guggenheim added to this statement by saying that the first episode is more about the downside of the corporatization of America rather than a platform to debate the pros and cons of child immunizations.
If I can get on my soapbox for a moment, I feel Dr. Jenkins is so out of line here that the line is a dot to her. The doctor’s statements make us all seem like lemmings who take everything that appears on scripted television as rote. Come on! We may have short attention spans, but we’re a pretty smart group of people here, especially when it comes to the care of our children, and we can tell what’s real and what’s not.
In addition, it seems to me that she believes that the entire adult population of the United States will be watching the first episode of Eli Stone. I know that’s what Berlanti and Guggenheim probably wish, and I know Lost is a popular show, but his claims are a bit lofty. If Stone retains half of the Lost audience for its series premiere then it is doing a good job.
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