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Popular Culture Review
loneliness industry. With so many more females in the workplace one would think
it would be easier for women and men to meet...this is an issue we are going to
have to define at some length in a [documentary] program on singles” (Rogers box
6 folder 7).
Embedded within the research notes are the various iterations of a working
title, program segments, and the documentary’s theme. First it was the “sex show,”
then the “baby boom generation,” and finally the “singles show.” Scores of interview
notes summarize the sexual revolution, celibacy, herpes, genital warts, chlamydia,
the Peter Pan theory, personal ads, and the lonehness industry (Rogers box 6).
Some interview subjects actually auditioned. Sue Atcheson, a San Francisco
comedienne, sent resume, head shots, and an audiocassette with her letter to
Weisskopf: “Dear Arlene, Here’s the self-promotion piece you requested.”
Atcheson’s comedy toyed with the foibles of dating and relationships. She had
written a song entitled “The Dating Game Rag,” which was used in the program
(Rogers box 6 folders 12 and 13).
“Second Thoughts on Being Single” aired 25 April 1984, when it was reviewed
by The New York Times: “[CJredit NBC with even raising the issue. A good deal of
current political and cultural discussion chooses to ignore it. You will probably
wish that the women interviewed on ‘Second Thoughts on Being Single’ were not
so attractive; television here seems to be practicing some sexism of its own. Where
are the women we see every day? Applaud the documentary, however, at least for
trying.”
The program earned an 11.4 rating and a 20 share, one of only three network
documentaries that earned double-digit ratings that year, which included “Second
Thoughts” and two programs on D-Day. What is interesting historically is the
similarity between the theme in “Second Thoughts” from 1984 and Scared Sexless
in 1987, which was basically a watered-down, stylized remake of the singles
program.
Dateline NBC, Real Life with Jane Pauley, Scared Sexless, and Life in the Fat
Lane are on a continuum that extends to “Second Thoughts on Being Single.” But
these were not the only programs , and NBC was not the only network, that flirted
with using the documentary form to attract viewers and advertisers.
At CBS, Van Gordon Sauter took over the news division in 1982 and approved
experiments with documentary approaches. Two programs in particular broke with
CBS News tradition: The Plane that Fell from the Sky and The Gift o f Life. Both of
these were anchored by Bill Kurtis, who now produces investigative programming
for the Arts and Entertainment Network.
The Plane that Fell from the Sky, broadcast 14 July 1983, tells the story of a
TWA Boeing 727 that plunged from 39,000 feet to 5,000 feet before the pilots
regained control of the aircraft. Sauter invited the passengers and crew to