Brothers & Sisters

Here’s your TV lesson for today: You can depict sex crimes and serial killers week in and week out. You can examine murdered corpses and cross-examine psychopaths. You can characterize surgeons as sex-crazed and irresponsible, and base your dramas on outlandish medical cases with but a delicate thread connecting them to anything anatomically accurate.

But suggest that every vaccine is not 100 percent safe for every last small soulful child in America, and the wrath of the American Academy of Pediatrics will come DOWN ON YOUR HEAD!

That’s the lesson being learned right now by wandering Brothers & Sisters producers Greg Berlanti and Marc Guggenheim, whose new series, Eli Stone, has been condemned by the AAP. Apparently basing their critique on a New York Times story about one of Eli’s cases — in which he wins a judgment for a mother who claims that the “mercuritrol” in one manufacturer’s vaccine caused her son’s autism — the organization has called for ABC to cancel the show, or to run a disclaimer indicating that there is no scientific proof linking autism and vaccines.

The AAP’s fear is that people will watch the episode — in which Eli, whether due to a brain aneurysm or a call to be a prophet, has visions that include George Michael singing “Faith” in his living room — and interpret it to be a work of rigorous scientific accuracy, causing widespread rejection of lifesaving vaccines for children. I think they’re being a little optimistic as to what sort of audience a fantasy legal drama debuting at 10 p.m. is going to get, but it probably does stand to do a little better now that the AAP is handling its publicity.

As of this morning, ABC is standing by the show, but has agreed to add a disclaimer: “The following story is fictional and does not portray any actual persons, companies, products or events.” A second card will give a link to the CDC’s autism site. Personally, I prefer the disclaimer I suggested on my special-needs site this morning: “Mercuritrol does not cause autism. It does not exist. We made it up. Please do not get your healthcare information from fictional TV dramas, especially ones in which the hero sees George Michael singing to him in his living room.”

It’s hard to say, without seeing the episode (which we can do this Thursday night), whether it pushes an anti-vaccine agenda. What seems to be clear from commercials and write-ups and the clips on the ABC site is that the show will tackle the clash between faith and science — with Eli believing that his visions are not the result of a medical condition but of a spiritual calling. If you want to look at the issue of faith vs. science, the vaccine-autism debate is a pretty good one to pluck from the headlines. It’s bad enough that we don’t seem to be able to have a civil conversation on that issue in real life, can we now not have one in fiction, either? Or can it only happen if the conclusion is AAP-approved?

If Berlanti’s not too burned-out by the issue from this particular firefight, maybe it will pop up one day on Brothers & Sisters. I’m thinking it could be an interesting Tommy-Julia storyline, if that’s not an oxymoron. I remember a while back, when Charlie Sheen and Denise Richards were divorcing, that there was some gossip that a disagreement on vaccines was part of their problem — Sheen wanted their children vaccinated, but Richards was concerned about an autism connection.

With Julia already a little unhinged over the loss of her son, it’s not unreasonable that she might become hyper-cautious over Elizabeth, and research every possible peril, and decide that vaccines are dangerous. No-nonsense Tommy might reasonably think that’s ridiculous. And the issue of Baby William’s death that they’ve buried with their mutual infidelities could resurface in interesting ways.

Put the AAP on alert.

Brothers and Sisters, Eli Stone, ABC, American Academy of Pediatrics, autism, vaccines

_{Photo: ABC.com}