The Outrage (Marcus Welby)
Encyclopedia
"The Outrage" is a 1974 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D.
, a long-running American medical drama
on ABC
. The episode tells the story of a teenage boy who is sexually assaulted by his male teacher. The episode, which originally aired October 8, 1974, sparked controversy and anger for its equation of homosexuality
to pedophilia
. "The Outrage" was targeted for protests by LGBT rights groups and several network affiliate
s refused to broadcast it.
In addition to suffering psychological trauma, Ted needs surgery to repair the internal injuries caused by the rape. With Ted in surgery, Swanson is arrested while trying to molest a child. Ted awakens and is able to admit that the assault happened and that he is ready to speak out. Dr. Welby tells him that Swanson is in custody and, per his own request, has been transferred to a mental hospital. Police sergeant Buchanan reassures George that the rape had nothing to do with homosexuality and that Ted has handled himself like "a real man".
". Loring, a middle-aged man, suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and alcoholism
as a result of repressing his homosexuality. Dr. Welby is most concerned about the last and advises Loring that if he battles his base impulses he will not only enjoy improved health but will earn his son's respect. In response to this portrayal of homosexuality as an illness, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) organized a zap
of ABC, with 30-40 members invading ABC's New York City
headquarters and occupying the offices of ABC president Elton Rule
and board chairman Leonard Goldenson
. ABC made a few minor edits in response.
detailing the extent of child molestation. ABC gave him the go-ahead to order a script, which was written by Eugene Price. ABC sent the preliminary script for "The Outrage" to Ronald Gold, media director for the newly formed National Gay Task Force
(NGTF), in July 1974. Gold had been involved with the GAA's actions against "The Other Martin Loring". Gold advised ABC's Standards and Practices department that the script, which conflated homosexuality with pedophilia, effeminacy and the rape of children, was unacceptable in its present form. ABC ignored NGTF's request not to proceed. When Gold learned that the episode was in production, he brought in Loretta Lotman, head of the Boston-area gay media activist group Gay Media Action, to organize a nationwide grassroots
campaign while he continued trying to work with ABC.
In response to the groups' concerns, ABC made some script changes. It removed some—but not all—references to Ted's "manhood" being violated by the assault. It also inserted a speech from the police officer: "There's nothing homosexual about this. It's a case of violent child molestation...[the typical offender is] a guy with severe mental and emotional problems. He's often married, middle-aged, with a crummy marriage, a crummier sex life or both....Technically, we call him a pedophile, a child molestor." The network believed that its changes addressed the problems with the episode and contended that the episode was about pedophilia and not homosexuality. Richard Gitter of the network's Standards and Practices department defended the episode's social value, saying that "the importance of the script is to present to the public the problems of coping with such a tragic situation by the young assaulted victim. Not only is the physical damage to be repaired, but the mental damage involved in facing the assailant after the attack, reporting the incident to his family and authorities, pursuing prosecution through the judicial system and the return to emotional stability in facing his peers and his friends." In response to protest letters ABC sent a form letter claiming that gay leaders had approved the revised script, a claim that activists charged was false. The National Association of Broadcasters
, a trade organization that maintained commercial and program guidelines for member broadcasters, approved the episode. Activists across the country remained concerned, especially since the episode's anticipated October broadcast date placed it close to several votes in state and local legislatures that would have extended anti-discrimination laws to cover sexual orientation. "We feel the program will definitely have a chilling effect on legislation which would protect gays from discrimination in employment and housing," stated NGTF executive director Bruce Voeller
.
With ABC remaining unresponsive, NGTF and other activists began targeting advertisers and affiliates. Forging alliances with the American Federation of Teachers
, the AFL-CIO
and the American Psychiatric Association
, the coalition was successful in dissuading 17 ABC affiliates, including those in Boston
and Philadelphia, from running the episode. This was the first known instance of network affiliates refusing a network episode in response to protests. Demonstrations were held on the day of the broadcast outside stations in Dallas, San Francisco, Madison
, Chicago
, Denver, Los Angeles
, Washington, D. C. and in small towns in Ohio, Iowa, Mississippi, Texas and Idaho. The Washington, D.C.
affiliate ran disclaimers before and after "The Outrage" to clarify that homosexuality did not equal pedophilia. Several sponsors, including Bayer, Gallo Wine, Listerine, Ralston-Purina, Colgate-Palmolive, Shell Oil, Lipton, American Home Products, Breck, Sterling Drug and Gillette, refused to advertise during the episode. Lower ratings and reduced ad sales translated into a good deal of lost revenue for ABC and, following another successful protest (against NBC
, centered on "Flowers of Evil
", a Police Woman
episode about a trio of killer lesbians), the network decided not to rerun "The Outrage" (NBC also withdrew "Flowers of Evil" from its rerun schedule).
, writing for The New York Times
, sympathized with the concerns of the demonstrators but asked, "At what point does the understandable anxiety of homosexual groups become censorship or prior restraint
?" Critic Frank Swertlow for United Press International
, while recognizing the right of gay groups to object to the episode, echoed these concerns, asking, "In an era when pressure groups are demanding changes on TV, at what point does a group have the right to try to censor a show because it offends them? At what point should the program be dropped because of the pressure? And at what point should a network, given the sensitivity of the subject, sanitize or avoid a controversial topic because it offends a minority?" Ultimately Swertlow supported the right of the network to air the episode, saying that it deals with concepts that are "facts of life, and it is time we faced them openly". Each critic suggested that Marcus Welby was not the proper venue for a serious discussion of male-on-male rape, pedophilia or child molestation. O'Connor contended that ABC made a mistake trying to "force" the subject into the "rigid format" of the Welby program. Swertlow was harsher, suggesting that Welby was the wrong format for any subject with "intellectual merit" and dismissed the premise of the episode as "exploitative trash". Each believed that a documentary special or made-for-television film would have been a better forum, with O'Connor citing the recent Linda Blair
vehicle Born Innocent as an example.
Regarding the quality of the episode, response was largely negative. O'Connor called the script and the production "dreadful". Swertlow was again more harsh, saying the episode was about "a sensitive subject wrapped in a can of garbage [that] has been raised to a level it does not deserve". Writing for the Associated Press
, critic Jay Sharbutt dismissed the ending as a "cop-out" filled with "the usual kindly Welby blather". Calling the episode "poorly written and awkwardly acted", he sums up the episode as, while not "tasteless, offensive or sensationalized...a show you can afford to miss, unless you're really curious or a hard-core blather fan".
Marcus Welby, M.D.
Marcus Welby, M.D. is an American medical drama television program that aired on ABC from September 23, 1969, to July 29, 1976. It starred Robert Young as a family practitioner with a kind bedside manner, and was produced by David Victor and David J. O'Connell...
, a long-running American medical drama
Medical drama
A medical drama is a television program, in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment.In the United States, most medical episodes are one hour long and, more often than not, are set in a hospital. Most current medical Dramatic programming go beyond the...
on ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
. The episode tells the story of a teenage boy who is sexually assaulted by his male teacher. The episode, which originally aired October 8, 1974, sparked controversy and anger for its equation of homosexuality
Homosexuality
Homosexuality is romantic or sexual attraction or behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality refers to "an enduring pattern of or disposition to experience sexual, affectional, or romantic attractions" primarily or exclusively to people of the same...
to pedophilia
Pedophilia
As a medical diagnosis, pedophilia is defined as a psychiatric disorder in adults or late adolescents typically characterized by a primary or exclusive sexual interest in prepubescent children...
. "The Outrage" was targeted for protests by LGBT rights groups and several network affiliate
Network affiliate
In the broadcasting industry , a network affiliate is a local broadcaster which carries some or all of the television program or radio program line-up of a television or radio network, but is owned by a company other than the owner of the network...
s refused to broadcast it.
Plot
When teenager Ted Blakely's mother Marian finds blood on his sheets she takes him to Dr. Welby. An examination of the boy's injuries confirms that he was sexually assaulted but an ashamed Ted is unable to admit it. As Dr. Welby advises Marian, Ted sneaks away and returns to school. Bill Swanson, Ted's science teacher and the man who raped him, finds him and convinces Ted not to report the assault, but Ted vows to kill him should Bill ever touch him again. Ted's father George and step-mother Leah are unable to deal with Ted's assault. His father questions whether Ted could have stopped it, making Ted feel guiltier and more ashamed.In addition to suffering psychological trauma, Ted needs surgery to repair the internal injuries caused by the rape. With Ted in surgery, Swanson is arrested while trying to molest a child. Ted awakens and is able to admit that the assault happened and that he is ready to speak out. Dr. Welby tells him that Swanson is in custody and, per his own request, has been transferred to a mental hospital. Police sergeant Buchanan reassures George that the rape had nothing to do with homosexuality and that Ted has handled himself like "a real man".
Cast
- Robert YoungRobert Young (actor)Robert George Young was an American television, film, and radio actor, best known for his leading roles as Jim Anderson, the father of Father Knows Best and as physician Marcus Welby in Marcus Welby, M.D. .-Early life:Born in Chicago, Illinois, Young was the son of an Irish immigrant father...
as Dr. Marcus Welby - James BrolinJames BrolinJames Brolin is an American actor, producer and director, best known for his roles in soap operas, movies, sitcoms, and television. He is the father of actor Josh Brolin and husband of singer/actress Barbra Streisand.-Early life:...
as Dr. Steven Kiley - Elena VerdugoElena VerdugoElena Verdugo is an American actress who began in films at the age of six in Cavalier of the West . Her career in radio, television, and film spanned six decades....
as Consuelo Lopez - Sean Kelly as Ted Blakely
- Marla AdamsMarla AdamsMarla Adams is an American soap opera actress, best known for her roles as Belle Clemens on The Secret Storm, from 1968 to 1974, and as Dina Abbott Mergeron on The Young and the Restless, from 1983 to 1986 and in 1996...
as Marian Blakely - Gretchen CorbettGretchen CorbettGretchen Corbett is an American actress most noted for the role of Beth Davenport on the television series The Rockford Files from 1974 to 1978.-Early Life in Oregon:...
as Leah Blakely - Edward Winter as Bill Swanson
- Edward Power as George Blakely
- Patrick WaynePatrick WaynePatrick John Morrison, better known by his stage name Patrick Wayne , is an American actor, the second son of movie star John Wayne and his first wife, Josephine Alicia Saenz. He made over 40 films in his career, including nine with his father...
as Sergeant Buchanan
Background
Marcus Welby had been the target once before of gay protests. In 1973, the series featured an episode called "The Other Martin LoringThe Other Martin Loring
"The Other Martin Loring" is a 1973 episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., an American medical drama that aired on ABC. It tells the story of a middle-aged man facing several health issues, which seem to stem from his repression of his homosexuality...
". Loring, a middle-aged man, suffered from high blood pressure, diabetes and alcoholism
Alcoholism
Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...
as a result of repressing his homosexuality. Dr. Welby is most concerned about the last and advises Loring that if he battles his base impulses he will not only enjoy improved health but will earn his son's respect. In response to this portrayal of homosexuality as an illness, the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) organized a zap
Zap (action)
A zap is a form of political direct action that came into use in the 1970s in the United States. Popularized by the early gay liberation group Gay Activists Alliance, a zap was a raucous public demonstration designed to embarrass a public figure or celebrity while calling the attention of both gays...
of ABC, with 30-40 members invading ABC's New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
headquarters and occupying the offices of ABC president Elton Rule
Elton Rule
Elton H. Rule was an American television executive and former president of the American Broadcasting Company. Assuming the presidency at a time when ABC was a distant third in the Nielsen ratings, Rule is credited with greatly expanding network revenue, ratings, affiliates and profits...
and board chairman Leonard Goldenson
Leonard Goldenson
Leonard H. Goldenson was President of the U.S. television and radio broadcaster ABC.-Early life and career:...
. ABC made a few minor edits in response.
Production and controversy
David Victor, creator of Marcus Welby, approached ABC in early 1974 with statistics complied by the Los Angeles Police DepartmentLos Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department is the police department of the city of Los Angeles, California. With just under 10,000 officers and more than 3,000 civilian staff, covering an area of with a population of more than 4.1 million people, it is the third largest local law enforcement agency in...
detailing the extent of child molestation. ABC gave him the go-ahead to order a script, which was written by Eugene Price. ABC sent the preliminary script for "The Outrage" to Ronald Gold, media director for the newly formed National Gay Task Force
National Gay and Lesbian Task Force
The National Gay and Lesbian Task Force builds the political power of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community from the ground up. The Task Force is the country’s premier social justice organization fighting to improve the lives of LGBT people, and working to create positive, lasting...
(NGTF), in July 1974. Gold had been involved with the GAA's actions against "The Other Martin Loring". Gold advised ABC's Standards and Practices department that the script, which conflated homosexuality with pedophilia, effeminacy and the rape of children, was unacceptable in its present form. ABC ignored NGTF's request not to proceed. When Gold learned that the episode was in production, he brought in Loretta Lotman, head of the Boston-area gay media activist group Gay Media Action, to organize a nationwide grassroots
Grassroots
A grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community. The term implies that the creation of the movement and the group supporting it are natural and spontaneous, highlighting the differences between this and a movement that is orchestrated by traditional power structures...
campaign while he continued trying to work with ABC.
In response to the groups' concerns, ABC made some script changes. It removed some—but not all—references to Ted's "manhood" being violated by the assault. It also inserted a speech from the police officer: "There's nothing homosexual about this. It's a case of violent child molestation...[the typical offender is] a guy with severe mental and emotional problems. He's often married, middle-aged, with a crummy marriage, a crummier sex life or both....Technically, we call him a pedophile, a child molestor." The network believed that its changes addressed the problems with the episode and contended that the episode was about pedophilia and not homosexuality. Richard Gitter of the network's Standards and Practices department defended the episode's social value, saying that "the importance of the script is to present to the public the problems of coping with such a tragic situation by the young assaulted victim. Not only is the physical damage to be repaired, but the mental damage involved in facing the assailant after the attack, reporting the incident to his family and authorities, pursuing prosecution through the judicial system and the return to emotional stability in facing his peers and his friends." In response to protest letters ABC sent a form letter claiming that gay leaders had approved the revised script, a claim that activists charged was false. The National Association of Broadcasters
National Association of Broadcasters
The National Association of Broadcasters is a trade association, workers union, and lobby group representing the interests of for-profit, over-the-air radio and television broadcasters in the United States...
, a trade organization that maintained commercial and program guidelines for member broadcasters, approved the episode. Activists across the country remained concerned, especially since the episode's anticipated October broadcast date placed it close to several votes in state and local legislatures that would have extended anti-discrimination laws to cover sexual orientation. "We feel the program will definitely have a chilling effect on legislation which would protect gays from discrimination in employment and housing," stated NGTF executive director Bruce Voeller
Bruce Voeller
Bruce Raymond Voeller was a biologist and researcher, primarily in the study of AIDS.-Biography:Voeller was born in Minneapolis...
.
With ABC remaining unresponsive, NGTF and other activists began targeting advertisers and affiliates. Forging alliances with the American Federation of Teachers
American Federation of Teachers
The American Federation of Teachers is an American labor union founded in 1916 that represents teachers, paraprofessionals and school-related personnel; local, state and federal employees; higher education faculty and staff, and nurses and other healthcare professionals...
, the AFL-CIO
AFL-CIO
The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly AFL–CIO, is a national trade union center, the largest federation of unions in the United States, made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 11 million workers...
and the American Psychiatric Association
American Psychiatric Association
The American Psychiatric Association is the main professional organization of psychiatrists and trainee psychiatrists in the United States, and the most influential worldwide. Its some 38,000 members are mainly American but some are international...
, the coalition was successful in dissuading 17 ABC affiliates, including those in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
and Philadelphia, from running the episode. This was the first known instance of network affiliates refusing a network episode in response to protests. Demonstrations were held on the day of the broadcast outside stations in Dallas, San Francisco, Madison
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, Denver, Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, Washington, D. C. and in small towns in Ohio, Iowa, Mississippi, Texas and Idaho. The Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
affiliate ran disclaimers before and after "The Outrage" to clarify that homosexuality did not equal pedophilia. Several sponsors, including Bayer, Gallo Wine, Listerine, Ralston-Purina, Colgate-Palmolive, Shell Oil, Lipton, American Home Products, Breck, Sterling Drug and Gillette, refused to advertise during the episode. Lower ratings and reduced ad sales translated into a good deal of lost revenue for ABC and, following another successful protest (against NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
, centered on "Flowers of Evil
Flowers of Evil (Police Woman)
"Flowers of Evil" is a 1974 episode of the American police procedural television series Police Woman. The episode features Sgt. Suzanne "Pepper" Anderson going undercover at a nursing home to investigate a murder. She uncovers a trio of lesbians who are robbing and murdering their elderly residents...
", a Police Woman
Police Woman (TV series)
Police Woman is an American television police drama starring Angie Dickinson that ran on NBC for four seasons, from September 13, 1974, to March 29, 1978.-Synopsis:...
episode about a trio of killer lesbians), the network decided not to rerun "The Outrage" (NBC also withdrew "Flowers of Evil" from its rerun schedule).
Critical response
"The Outrage" and its attendant protests raised serious questions in the minds of critics. John J. O'ConnorJohn J. O'Connor (journalist)
John J. O'Connor was an American journalist and critic.One of four sons born to Irish immigrant parents, he earned his bachelor's degree from City College of New York and his master's degree from Yale University....
, writing for The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
, sympathized with the concerns of the demonstrators but asked, "At what point does the understandable anxiety of homosexual groups become censorship or prior restraint
Prior restraint
Prior restraint or prior censorship is censorship in which certain material may not be published or communicated, rather than not prohibiting publication but making the publisher answerable for what is made known...
?" Critic Frank Swertlow for United Press International
United Press International
United Press International is a once-major international news agency, whose newswires, photo, news film and audio services provided news material to thousands of newspapers, magazines and radio and television stations for most of the twentieth century...
, while recognizing the right of gay groups to object to the episode, echoed these concerns, asking, "In an era when pressure groups are demanding changes on TV, at what point does a group have the right to try to censor a show because it offends them? At what point should the program be dropped because of the pressure? And at what point should a network, given the sensitivity of the subject, sanitize or avoid a controversial topic because it offends a minority?" Ultimately Swertlow supported the right of the network to air the episode, saying that it deals with concepts that are "facts of life, and it is time we faced them openly". Each critic suggested that Marcus Welby was not the proper venue for a serious discussion of male-on-male rape, pedophilia or child molestation. O'Connor contended that ABC made a mistake trying to "force" the subject into the "rigid format" of the Welby program. Swertlow was harsher, suggesting that Welby was the wrong format for any subject with "intellectual merit" and dismissed the premise of the episode as "exploitative trash". Each believed that a documentary special or made-for-television film would have been a better forum, with O'Connor citing the recent Linda Blair
Linda Blair
Linda Denise Blair is an American actress. Blair is best known for her role as the possessed child, Regan, in the 1973 film The Exorcist, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and two Golden Globes, winning one. She reprised her role in 1977's Exorcist II: The Heretic.-Biography:Blair...
vehicle Born Innocent as an example.
Regarding the quality of the episode, response was largely negative. O'Connor called the script and the production "dreadful". Swertlow was again more harsh, saying the episode was about "a sensitive subject wrapped in a can of garbage [that] has been raised to a level it does not deserve". Writing for the Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
, critic Jay Sharbutt dismissed the ending as a "cop-out" filled with "the usual kindly Welby blather". Calling the episode "poorly written and awkwardly acted", he sums up the episode as, while not "tasteless, offensive or sensationalized...a show you can afford to miss, unless you're really curious or a hard-core blather fan".