TV Punsters Bombarding Bruce

By Jerry Buck LOS ANGELES (4) What are the television networks going to do about making people named Bruce the target of so many jokes?

So many gags have been -made about it that the fear is that the name is becoming almost synonymous with homosexual.

"We got a letter from a

mother saying her son was getting a lot of kidding about it," said Jack Petry, the National Broadcasting Co.'s West Coast director of broadcast standards.

"We told the comedians to stay away from it, but the other day a Bruce joke got on the Bob Hope show and we really heard about it."

That's just one of the

small complaints that reach the networks. No entertainment medhum receives more complaints, grumbles, growls, demands or squeals growls, demands or squeals of outrage than the television networks.

Homosexuals feel they are being stereotyped and misrepresented. Ethnic groups want favorable portrayals and more representation.

Tuesday Selections

Means Back and White

7 A.M. TODAY, CH. 3 Lt. Col. Drvei A. Taylor.

8 AM. MORNING EXCHANGE, CH. 5 Dorothy Fuldheim, Al and Marcia Schuite. "How To Plant Your Patio."

7:30 PM., DRAGNET, CH. 43 Friday and Gannon check police brutality charges filed by a respected black couple. Repeat.

8 P.M., MAUDE, CH. 8 –– A fund-raising party for a black militant becomes a crisis when all of Maude's black guests cancel. Repeat:

9 A.M... MIKE DOUGLAS. CH. 3-Sally Struth 8 P.M., COURSE OF OUR TIMES, CH. 25 ers, co-host.

9 AM. PHIL DONAHUE, CH. 8 — Susan Saint james.

4 P.M. BIG VALLEY, CH. 5 Videria is kidnaped while substituting for a locai school teacher. Repeat.

4 P.M., ADVENTURE ROAD, CH. 8-"Mediterranean island,” with Howard Pollard. Part

☛4:30 Kirk Bouglas and · Tony Curtis clash over Bodyïful Janet Leigh THE VIKINGS. TV 3

4:30 PM, MERV GRIFFIN, CH. 8 Csieste Holm, Ida Lupino. Virginia Mayo, Adela Rogers St. John

4:30 PM. MUNSTERS, CH. 61 After returning from a movie. Lily asks Herman to go out to the car to get the fur coat she left there. Repeat ●

5 P.M., THAT GIRL, CH. 5 –– Aan is indirectly responsible for her father's hiring a pop group with a surprise finale. Repeat. ---5:30 P.M., GOMER PYŁE, CH. 43 – Sgt. Carter won't believe that Gomer really knows a famous football star. Repeat.

6 P.M., PETTICOAT JUNCTION, CH. 43 — Billie Jo becomes jealous of her sweetheart. Steve Elliott, and her youngest sister, Betty Jo. Repeat

6:30 P.M., THE COMMON MARKET, CH. 25 – Martin Agronsky reports from Belgium. 6:30 PM.. GREEN ACRES. CH. 45 The dreaded "bing bug" creates an emergency for Oliver and the townspeople. Repeat. 7 P.M.. STAR TREK, CH. 61 Kirk and three crew members are beamed to another starship while their counterparts are beamed aboard the Enterprise. Repeat.

"Brazit The Military Calls the Tune," Dr. Abram Sachar looks at Brazil as a potential world power whose political philosophy is of extreme importance to the wester world.

8 P.M., THE UNTOUCHABLES, CH. 43 Hess discovers that underworld leaders plan to organize crime throughout the country. Richard Conte. Repeat❤

8:30 P.M., HAWAII FIVE-0, CH. 8The theft of a priceless violin threatens to explode into an international incident. Repeat.

8:30 P.M., BILL MOYERS JOURNAL, CH. 25 — An unblinking look at contemporary America.

SP.AL, BEHIND THE LINES, CH. 25 — Weskiy media review analyzes and evaluates the process of newsmaking.

Movies

1 P.M. CH. 43 "No Time for Comedy." James Stewart, Rosalind Russell. Small town playwright's sparkling success on Broadway is marred when he falls for wife of a millionaire, 1940. B.

4:30 P.M., CH. 3 "The Vikings" Kirk Douglas. Tony Curtis. Janet Leigh. Viking king and his son kidnap Welsh princess. 1958. B minus. Color.

"No Promises, No Pledges." P.M.. CH. 3 Jack Cassidy. Joha Davidson. Businessman's life changes. "Go Sing the Songs.. Mark." Christopher Mitchum, Bonnie Bedefin. Rock singer finds it difficult to abandon his way of life when he meets girl who teaches the deaf. No rating. 1972. Color.

Women," Robert Conrad. Julie Sommars, Stefanie Powers, Joan Hackett. Bradford Diliman, Arjonette Comer. Denise Nicholas. Five coffege friends find themselves at mercy of an unknown murderer. 1971. S minus. Color.

Women complain that their roles are too often coufined to the kitchen. And many people fear networks are about to sneak X-rated films into the living room.

In the front lines to receive these complaints are the networks' assault troops, the departments of broadcast standards. Most often, they're called censors because of the snipping they do on the movies and shows. But finding a remedy for the numerous complaints is another important function.

"I'm not aware of any organized pressures from any particular group," said Thomas Swafford, Columbia Broadcast System vice president for broadcast standards. "But we have had some very interesting and productive meetings with the Gay Activist Allianee, for instance. They told us of some of the stigmas attached to homosexuals. It's good to be aware of what offends them.'

The homosexuals are

8:30 PM., CH. 5. 23 "Fire Desperate probably the most vocal în their complaints to the networks at present. Demands from blacks have abated as they were brought into the mainstream of television life and more and more black stars were signed. Complaints also have lessened from women and from such ethnic minorities as Mexican-Americans.

9 P.M. CH. 61 "Bad and Beautiful.” Lana Tumer, Kirk Dougias. Hollywood cinema society display ambitions and romances. 1952. B.

P.M., CH. 43—“Nun's Story,” Audrey 9:30 P.M., BLACK JOURNAL, CH. 25 — Weekly Hepburn, Peter Finch. Devoted noa begins magazine covering black news.

10 P.M., NBC REPORTS, CH. 3 "The Ultimate Experimental. Animal Man,” the role of human beings in American medical experimentation will be examined. Robert Rogers reports on bow and under what controls research projects are extended to a group of human subjects.

10 P.M., COME TO FLORIDA BEFORE IT'S

GONE. CH. 25 Comedians Stanley Myron Handelman and Pat Paulsen examine environmental decay in Florida:

P.M.. THE AVENGERS. CH. 61 Steed attends a fancy-dress party only to find that it is taking place on an airplane. Repeat.

11:30 P.M.. TONIGHT SHOW, CH. 3 – Starring substitute hast Bill Cosby and guest Errell Garner, Richard Pryor, JoAnne Worley.

to doubt significance of her sacrificial vous when her family and country are ravaged by World War II, 1959. B minus. Color. 9:30 PM. CH. 8 "Your Money Or Your Wife," Ted Bessell, Elizabeth Ashley, Jack Cassidy. Script writer takes revenge an actress by writing her into kidnaping scheme. 1972. No rating. Color.

11:30 P.M., CH. 43—“Sailor of the King," Jeffrey Hunter. Michael Rennie, Wendy Heller, Commander finds his son, born of World War I romance, 1953. C plus.

11:40 PM.. CH. 8 "Helen Morgan Story." Ann Stuth. Paul Newman. Famous blues inger, her cutest and life in her time. 1957. B. Color.

1:40 AM. CH. 8—"Nearly a Nasty Accident.” Jimmy Edwards. Shirley Eaton, Kenneth Connor. Escapades of British Royal Air Force technician 1962. C.

The homosexuals complained that an episode of "Marcus Welby, M.D.," presented homosexuality as an illness that required medical treatment. One activist group occupied a section of the ABC building in New York in protest.

"The gays say they don't mind the jokes, but they don't want to be the brunt all of the time," Petry said.

Swafford said: "They feel that too often on television they have been stereotyped by the lisp and the limp wrist. I think perhaps they have a point. It has become a kind of shorthand. I think in a lot of areas like that we've tended to be unthinking. I think that's why it's good to meet not only with homosexuals, but with Asians and Mexican-Americans and others.

He said when CBS aired "Anna and the King," since canceled, and the Saturday morning cartoon "Chan and the Amazing Chan Clan" the network voluntarily conferred with Asian groups to solicit their reactions.

"We have not abdicated any veto power to them, but we do want their views," he said. "It's the same as when we have a religious ceremony in a scene, we call on someone of that faith to see that we're doing it right."

One of the most persistent campaigns and to the networks the most puzzling is the barrage of letters pressuring the networks not to show X-rated movies.

Network officials have repeatedly said they would not carry such films, and that the R and GP films that are shown are subject to heavy censorship.

CBS did show an X-rated movie. The Damned," on its Late Movie last year, but the film was extensively edited. Had it gotten a rating at the time of its airing it would have been G.

Most of the letters are directed to CBS. Swafford said. "We're subjected to a campaign that appears to be organized, but we don't know by whom or where it's Coming from. The rumor inst won't die out.”