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Popular Culture Review
set up: “east versus west, frontier versus civilization, science versus mysticism,
male versus female.”^ Eschewing linear plots in favor of episodes loosely
constructed from multiple storylines and often in dialogic relationships, the
writers were able to explore these conflicts from a variety of perspectives.^
The show’s intelligence clearly appealed to viewers. The series did well
in the rankings, coming in sixteenth (making it as high as third one week) its
first complete season, and the following two seasons eleventh and sixteenth
respectively.® It also earned a substantial number of prestigious honors, among
them consecutive George Foster Peabody Awards for excellence in 1991 and
1992, a “rare” occurrence, according to the Peabody Award’s website.^ In 1992
the Television Critics Association named it program of the year, and in 1992 and
1993 it was nominated for thirty-two prime time Emmy Awards, taking home
six of the gold statuettes in 1992. Between 1991 and 1993 it had ten Golden
Globe Award nominations, and walked off with two wins, both for best
television series, 1991 and 1992. Although it went off the air ten years ago, the
show is still popular. It has a plethora of websites devoted to it; it is still in
syndication; and it is now available in its entirety on DVD.
The series’ intellectual liberalism and social commentary enabled it to
present itself as America’s humanist conscience, and, to its credit, it did
occasionally offer insightful and sometimes brassy commentary on targets
favored by those of the liberal persuasion. But, Brand and Falsey’s daring
notwithstanding, the show was also, on occasion, very careful about the social
critiques it offered, its caution being most evident in its musings on
Deconstruction. The show aired two episodes that took up aspects of this critical
theory, and in both instances, the show was anything but courageous and
insightful; in fact, it was downright defensive. Why? The answer I wish to
propose is that the episodes reflect broader cultural anxieties created