| Show WB’s new ‘Dawson’s Creek’ on hormonal overload By HOWARD ROSENBERG Los Angeles Times These are historic times ABC has a sitcom (“Ellen”) about a lesbian CBS a sitcom (“Murphy Brown”) about a woman tortuously coping with breast cancer and a drama (“Touched by an Angel”) about God and “ER” is going to cost NBC an astounding $13 million an episode So what can the young peewee WB network do to create its own distinctive trailblazing niche in this forest of giants? Hmmmm Are you ready? Meet the network that's hottest to trot In other words executive producer Kevin Williamson — and the characters he created for “Dawson's Creek” — could use a cold shower Williamson and WB are collaborating on mainstream television’s first series about sex Utterly totally myopically and obsessively Not doing it but talking about it and winking about it — endlessly Which you could accept perhaps were it not for the protagonists of this hotblooded hour being just 15 One of whom is sleeping with his gorgeous English teacher in a felonious liaison that is treated here merely as a quirky titillating romance to snicker about a sort of silly schoolboy crush even though WB says the two will ultimately get some kind of comeuppance It's almost as if those pushing the levers of “Dawson’s Creek” which airs Tuesdays at 7 pm on KUPX Channel 30 had no memory of Mary Kay LeToumeau’s conviction of child rape last November LeToumeau is the Washington mother of four who had an affair with a student while she was a teacher then had his baby her yearlong fling with a minor earning her a jail sentence and several months of treatment for sex offenders In “Dawson's Creek” the minors are anatomically fixated and Even the zits here are some of their elders just as genitalia-minde- d sensual the rationale being that the youth of this age are usually on hormonal overload and think about sex a lot Generally true But only about sex? WB network CEO Jamie Kellner says the appropriate minimum age or 12 This is not for kids he told a gathering of for the series is the nation's TV critics in Los Angeles recently He and other WB executives obviously felt that Williamson — a currently hot screenwriter who wrote the popular films “Scream" “Scream 2” and “1 Know What You Did Last Summer” — could deliver a signature series about teens that would increase the network's relatively low visibility as it expands to Tuesday nights “Dawson’s Creek" may be that ticket g and well acted creating a deceptive aura of seriIt's ous storytelling in a sleepy idyllic suburban setting where Dawson Leery (James Van Der Beek) a bright sensitive budding filmmaker is treading water in a whirlpool of lust Desire is everywhere about him and water wings nowhere in sight neighbor with whom Joey (Katie Holmes) Dawson's 1 1 good-lookin- he still innocently wrestles in bed Ls now hot for him In the pilot she asked him in code how often he masturbates and in another episode obliquely speculates about his penis size with Jen (Michelle Williams) Dawson's latest crush who we leant later lost her virginity when she was 2 and went on to sleep with half of New York City Meanwhile Puccy (Joshua Jackson) is Dawson's best bud and the n one getting it on with his teacher the criminally tarty Tamara Jacobs (Leann Htmley) a Irtish woman whose movie-sta- r looks and glamour tell you she could have any man she wanted but she likes boys instead Pjccy meets her when she walks into the video store where tie and Dawson work and tosses around movie titles like "The Graduate” with the brazen dirtiness of a hooker jiggling her breasts When Pacey mentions "Summer of '42" — another movie in which a mature woman has sex with a youthful male — you know this twisted relationship has a future "Dawson's Creek” doesn't cut it when measured against other adoseries: ABC's late great "The Wonder Years” lescent coming-of-angs- t and late somelimes-grea- t thoughtful “Party of Five” FEBRUARY 7 -- "My 14 1998 Life" and even Fox's which airs Tuesdays at 7 pm on KUPX Channel 30 From left are: Joshua Jackson Katie Holmes James Van Der Beek and Michelle Williams The latter two affirm how ideals and good thoughts don’t necessarily equal commercial success But “The Wonder Years” was a stunning example from creators Carol Black and Neal Marlens of soaring ratul ings matching soaring aspirations and creativity and how a boy's adolescence could at once be funny and tender and his awkwardness and uncertainty a metaphor for an entire generation The cherubic Kevin Arnold (Fred Savage) was himself in sexual chaos through junior high and high school Just a whiff of his beloved often made his heart thump But it Winnie and other swell-looke- rs was all in the context of a wider kid universe where other things were happening and where he had other interests that became story points Moreover that universe was presented from the perspective of its young protagonist not from that of a writer trying to fit teen characters to adult dialogue and sophisticated insights as Williamson does in “Dawson's Creek" And unlike the new WB series “Wonder Years” didn't have genitals for brains What's striking is the realization that much of Hollywood probably believes that “Dawson's Creek” is the way America functions (or dysfunctions) that from sea to shining sea this is the land filling the gap separating the East and West coasts No wonder so much of prime time is so out of touch TV Guide has saluted Williamson for so accurately capturing the teen experience likening “Dawson's Creek" (in a fit of whimsy one hopes) to "Catcher in the Rye" a theme picked up by Kellner when e stories about what it’s he addressed the TV critics They're really like to grow up be said You wonder bow much of the American mainstream — including ) teenagers — would agree real-lif- Standard-Examin- er 47 |
