Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 1989. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
San Francisco Chronicle - Wednesday, July 19, 1989
David Tuller, Chronicle Staff Writer
The episode that caused the controversy was broadcast in December. It infuriated people with AIDS and their supporters because it portrayed a woman who wanted to shoot the bisexual man who had infected her with HIV, the virus that causes the disease. The protesters said the episode would encourage violence against people with AIDS, and they forced the producers to make revisions in the script.
In the upcoming episode, another woman infected by the same man will be followed as she struggles against the disease. The producers contacted the San Francisco AIDS Foundation several weeks ago for its advice on the script.
"We wanted their assistance because there's a lot of knowledge that they can pass on to us that we don't have," said "Midnight Caller" executive producer Bob Singer. The three local groups - ACT UP (the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power), the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and Mobilization Against AIDS - spearheaded the protests last year.
In a meeting last week with one of the show's writers, they suggested that the character confront difficulties in obtaining an experimental treatment for an AIDS-related illness and, as a result, become involved in causes advocating better treatment for those with the condition.
"Treatment access is the most important issue in AIDS today, and an episode dealing with that would be able to put that across to millions of people across the country in a way that only television entertainment can do," said Paul Boneberg of Mobilization Against AIDS, one of the participants in the meeting.
In addition to meeting with the AIDS groups, the writer has visited the Coming Home hospice for people with AIDS in the Castro District, discussed treatment issues with a doctor from UCSF, and talked with women with AIDS.
A draft of the script is expected to be completed within a couple of weeks and will be circulated among the AIDS groups for comment. Those attending the meetings praised the producer, Lorimar Studios, for contacting them before the script was written, and said the writer seemed open to incorporating their suggestions.
Still, Michelle Roland of ACT UP's treatment issues committee said that she wants to see the final script before ACT UP agrees not to protest the episode. "I'm not making any promises that ACT UP will be nice just because (the producers) included us in a meeting," she said.
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