Parents Weigh In on Eli Stone

The pediatricians gave their thumbs-down early, but ABC went ahead and aired Eli Stone last night anyway, and now it's time for parents to have their say.

I was intending to sum up the controversial vaccine case on the show's pilot episode here, and share my thoughts on whether the American Academy of Pediatrics' stern response was an overreaction. But reader LisaA beat me to it, making the following comment on an earlier post (and I'm excerpting here for space, so do go back and read her whole comment):

"The AAP should have waited and issued a statement AFTER they watched the show. ... Eli Stone is, at most, a mediocre TV Pilot. It is a poorly written reincarnation of Ally McBeal. In the show, the fictional drug company is said to be the ONLY company left that hasn’t taken the fictional mercury-based preservative out of their vaccines. And Eli Stone only wins his case because the fictional CEO of the fictional drug company MIRACULOUSLY admits that he would not let his own daughter be vaccinated with anything from his company. His fictional child’s fictional pediatrician used a vaccine that was manufactured by a different drug company. ... In my opinion, the AAP 'dost protest too much.' They made themselves look even worse and provided a field day for conspiracy theorists. What would their reaction to the show have been if the drug company won the case?"

If, indeed, as the AAP fears, any of the 11.2 million viewers who watched the show put their faith in its arguments, they'll be easy to spot, because they'll be asking their pediatrician to give their child the flu shot without the "mercuritrol" in it.

I was surprised that the autism-vaccine case was such a major part of the plot; I thought it would be less prominent. What surprised me even more, though, was the way autism was portrayed. Now, I've read that the young actor playing the boy does in fact have autism, and so I suppose there is no challenging the accuracy of the performance. I've read two blog entries today by parents of children with autism -- on About.com Autism and Adventures in Autism -- who felt the depiction was perfect.

I do not have a child with autism. But I'll tell you, as I watched that boy trot dutifully along every time his mother said "Come on," and sit quietly in courtrooms and conference rooms, a small bad part of my brain was wondering: "Hmm, where I can I get my son some of that mercuritrol?"

Similarly, those blog entries from autism moms expressed enthusiasm for Laura Benanti's performance as an autism mom -- feisty, concerned for the welfare of others, doing her research and fighting the good fight. But did she have to look so clean and fresh and lovely while doing so? She looked awfully well-rested for the parent of a child with special needs.

It appears from a look at IMDb as though Benanti's character will be a recurring one, so maybe we'll see more facets of autism and special-needs parenting as the show goes on. I try never to judge a series by its pilot episode, because the need to pack in exposition and set up a premise often compromises things like coherent short-term storylines. So I'll probably give the show at least one more chance, on DVR if I can't stay awake past 10 p.m.

Did you watch Eli Stone? What did you think? Add your thoughts in the comments.