Two recent productions -- a TV miniseries and a movie -- point to issues in the depiction of social protest and civil disobedience in the entertainment media.  CBS pushed hard to launch a future series with its pre-summer mini-fare, The Red Line, a sudser about crime and racism set in Chicago. Sadly, this series was lacking in vision, insight, or even common sense, as well as in ratings.  Exploiting headlines about police shootings in various cities, particularly in Chicago, it began with the heartbreaking killing of an African American doctor, trying to help an injured clerk in a convenience store, at the hands of a young police officer (Noel Fisher, in an excellent performance). The doctor was the same-sex husband of a white high school literature history teacher, Daniel Calder (Noah Wyle) and they had adopted an African American daughter, Jira (Aliyah Royale) now a teenager and a student at Daniel’s school.   Facing the horror...(Read Full Article)