The Unkindest Cuts of All

Brian Lowry is misinformed (“A Death on the Schedule,” Aug. 19). The network movie is not dead. It is being dismembered while still alive. Dying of multiple wounds. The two-hour network movie, once 98 minutes, is now 89. The movie is cut into seven parts. In between are 31 minutes of commercials and promos. A viewer has to sit through five minutes of noisy and desperate selling before getting eight minutes of movie.

The heart of quality movies for television has always been the independent producer. His or her passionate arguments often convinced network executives that a movie could be both significant and commercial. But independent producers are gone, squeezed out by networks who make and control their films. And the network executives making these choices inevitably decide based solely on the numbers of young people they think they can capture.

To clear up Lowry’s mystery of who done it, have him round up the usual suspects in Washington. Check the White House (Reagan through Clinton). Check the Congress. Check the FCC. And be sure to check out the medicine cabinets for the poison pill: deregulation.

ROBERT MARKOWITZ

Studio City

One point Lowry made speaks volumes on the state of commercial television programming: The business has been transformed “from a producers’ medium to a programming executives’ medium.”

The people who know how to “put on a show,” how to entertain people, are sitting on the sidelines. University degrees in communications, summer internships and home video cameras have replaced innate ability, experience and learning how to read, write and think. It’s no longer entertainment, we’re just marketing a commodity.

Until they put the “show” back in “show business,” one company’s French fries will taste just like all the other guy’s fries.

JIM HERGENRATHER

Los Angeles

In Lowry’s perceptive article, he should have noted that besides HBO, TNT and A&E; offering superior examples of the form, cable’s FX channel presented two exceptional entries: “Deliberate Intent” and “A Glimpse of Hell,” the latter a searing military drama starring James Caan.

The fact that the home of such raunchy fare as “Son of the Beach” could also air such thought-provoking movies of the week serves as a reminder of what the term “broadcasting” once meant: offering a wide variety of programs for all tastes.

KATHLEEN GARRETT

Santa Monica