October 5, 2004 -- Here comes Terror TV.
Cable channel Showtime is quietly at work on a new series about the personal lives of an Islamic terrorist cell in the United States, The Post has learned.
The series -- to be called "The Cell" -- will be told from the view points of a group of Euro pean and American con verts to Islam who are plotting terror attacks here.
Showtime says it realizes it is walking into a potential minefield by portraying terrorists sympathetically without pulling punches about their violent aims.
HBO's "The Sopranos" and "The Wire" have found success doing that with mobsters and drug dealers.
"We're trying to look into the minds of these [terrorists] and the issues driving them, beyond a black-and-white portrayal," says Showtime entertainment president Robert Greenblatt, who will decide next month whether to commit to a series.
Michelle Malkin responds:
Do we really need a TV show that preaches that being an Islamofascist is "complex?"
As the article above points out, television shows have romanticized "bad guys" for quite a while. The Sopranos is a prime example. But I think there's a line that can be crossed by these type of shows.
The Sopranos (which is a show I watch and enjoy) romanticizes the lives of gangsters for our enjoyment. Real-life mobsters are ugly and miserable people who lead miserable lives and die young because of substance abuse or their opposition kills them. None of it is nearly as dramatic as what we see on television. But a lot of people don't know that because they never see real mobsters up close. Heck, most of them probably wouldn't even recognize a real mobster if they saw one.
So what worries me about this new show, The Cell, is that they'll romanticize the life of a terrorist. I'm worried that they'll put dramatic face on the things these people are doing and that people will look at it and get the wrong impression about these terrorists. Its like when media outlets use the words "militants" and "insurgents" to describe people who are actually terrorists.
These terrorists blow up innocent women and children. They are members of an international death cult who's objective is to forcefully convert the world to radical Islam or die trying. They are monsters who will cut the heads off any who stand in their way.
That's not something which needs to be romanticized. Its certainly not something which deserves glorification in a television series. I hope that's not what this Showtime show is.
But I will give it the benefit of the doubt until it actually comes out. Maybe it won't be so bad.