TV Imitating Life (Sort of) : A Talk With the Real People Who Hold the Jobs we See on TV

Television really likes certain professions. With a regular dose of programs about lawyers, TV anchors, doctors and police officers, you probably feel you know how these careers work. You may begin to think you could do the jobs yourself--witness the influx of law students during the most popular days of “L.A. Law.”

But it’s a different story when TV depicts your job. Anyone who knows an occupation is bound to offer the same comments: It’s not so glamorous, most say. Don’t forget the boredom and the tediously hard work. And who can afford the clothes worn by their fictional colleagues?

So how does TV score when it gets a reality check?

TV Times asked seven people to watch TV shows about characters doing jobs similar to theirs:

“Murphy Brown” CBS

Like Murphy today, KNBC anchor Kelly Lange was a single mother and a television reporter in the early ‘70s. Times would have been different then for a Murphy Brown character, says Lange, who remembers a news director turning her away from a job in 1971, saying, “Sorry honey, we already have our girl.”

“I can relate to being a single mother and working incredible hours. I was unlike Murphy because she’s older and has money to have a nanny. I would get my daughter up at 4 a.m and throw her in the back of the car or take her up in the traffic chopper with me. It was always hard. When you are a mother with a career that is demanding, you never get any sleep.

“Like their newsroom, our newsroom is a huge bunch of people making jokes and getting the news out. What you don’t see on ‘Murphy Brown’ is the work in progress. You see them sitting around a table and laughing.

“Of course, it’s television. It’s not real life. They are going for comedy, and they couch issues into comedy. It’s not just a television show about a newsroom but it’s about women. She says things that women think.

“When I came into this business, it was the beginning of the women’s movement. I have seen the women’s movement flourish in my time and change Los Angeles news. Murphy Brown comes on the scene and really says a lot to us women in the business about being strong and prevailing.”

“Martin” Fox

As a licensed psychotherapist, Marilyn Kagan gives advice to L.A.’s troubled souls on KFI Talk Radio between 9 p.m. and midnight. She watched the new show “Martin,” which is about a fast-talking relationship counselor who advises troubled lovers on the radio.

“I thought the show had a good message about males and pomposity. It celebrated a relationship, which was great.

“When Martin and his girlfriend were together, you could see that they were really working on themselves and their vulnerabilities. For everyone else, Martin had to be the male, macho creep. On the inside, he was a mush ball.

“Some of the characters that floated around them were trite and flat.

“His advice wasn’t real advice. It was just entertainment. It made people angry and that was good. People yelled at him. He would do well in radio because those who stay in radio are the ones who let their personalities show through.

“The only advice I remember him giving was that men don’t cry, which is pissy advice.”

“Here and Now” NBC

Brandon Shamim is a junior at USC who volunteers in a neighborhood after-school program, much like A.J., Malcolm-Jamal Warner’s character on his new sitcom.

“Students my age are trying hard to eradicate the image of being apathetic and uncaring. The similarity between ‘Here and Now’ and my experience is that when I talk to kids about drug awareness, I usually get educated.

“It’s really hard for a TV show to catch the gritty essence of the street. Kids try so hard to be kids, but they’re robbed of their childhood.

“In the episode I saw, A.J. was being threatened by a kid’s older brother. I think if I was in that situation, it wouldn’t be a happy ending. It was funny that they could make light of a violent situation. It’s so difficult to make guns and day-to-day violence entertaining that you have to wrap it in a comedy, or else know one else would watch it. But did they present the stories in a true-life way? I would say no.”

“Home Improvement” ABC

Bob Vila’s do-it-yourself “Bob Vila’s Home Again” is the serious side of Tim Allen’s fictional fix-it show “Tool Time” on “Home Improvement.” The difference is that Vila uses the tool belt he wears, while Allen fumbles and in the process admires and laughs at fierce men and fierce tools. In fact, Vila once appeared as himself on “Tool Time,” as the star guest who intimidates the host with his knowledge and experience.

“I like the show very much. They’re successful in turning America’s preoccupation with home improvement into a successful sitcom.

“My persona is very much in the background there. The idea of there being a person who is a TV star who does a TV show about home improvement is who I am. Tim Allen’s character is obviously patterned closely on me, with the added flavor of his own personality as a stand-up comic.

“I don’t think they’re poking fun at people who are interested in home improvement. They’re poking fun at the character who is a TV celebrity, a mythical character who is a bumbling sort of guy.

“I don’t think the program has been disrespectful to the huge amount of Americans who are into home improvement. I’m coming in contact with men who earn a living wearing a tool belt or men who like to put on tool belts--I haven’t had exposure to do any tool-belt jokes except on the show.”

“Civil Wars” ABC

Harry Faim has been a divorce attorney in Beverly Hills for 40 years. His clients have included Elvis Presley, Cary Grant, Mickey Rooney and Lee Majors. He had never watched “Civil Wars” until asked to catch an episode for TV Times.

“W.C. Fields once said that the reason for divorce is in essence the marriage. The whole trend in the last 25 years has been to eliminate fault in divorce cases.

“The ‘Civil Wars’ episode I saw was so unreal, so removed from the real experience of couples going through divorce today that I found it a waste of time. Today, divorce lawyers ask two questions: ‘Have you and your husband (or wife) experienced irreconcilable differences and have these differences caused an irremediable harm to the marriage?’ That’s it. Pure and simple. The show seemed to say that everyone has to go through finding fault to get divorced.

“In the show I saw, an attempt to reconcile a couple came at the very end. Before starting the process, divorce lawyers generally make it a policy to say, ‘Are you sure?’ to prevent people from even initiating the divorce.

“From the standpoint of my professional experience, I was left with a feeling of boredom, and to some degree, disgust. Maybe it’s entertainment for people. If someone asked me if I would see this again, I wouldn’t waste my time.”

“Angel Street” CBS

This new one-hour drama, which CBS recently announced it is canceling, stars Robin Givens and Pamela Gidley as homicide detectives who are partners but not exactly friends. We talked to a black female homicide detective with the LAPD. She asked not to be photographed and that her name and city not be identified because it could affect her work.

“The show was OK. The way they do things isn’t the way we do it. A lot of times when they were doing things by themselves, they would have asked for backup.

“We don’t wear high heels and chase suspects. When you know you’re looking for someone everyday, you wouldn’t even dress like that.

“In the episode I saw, the officer had to deal with sexual harassment. Harassment is not something we deal with, not at the LAPD.

“Also, when there is a problem in this department with two partners, they will separate them. You can’t concentrate in the field when you don’t get along with your partner. But for TV, it was OK.”

“Roc” Fox

Ardis Herd of Compton works in the South Central Yard of L.A.’s Refuse Collection Division. He watched “Roc,” which stars Charles Dutton as a Baltimore sanitation worker.

“It was interesting but only two of the parts were really funny.

“I liked the main character and also the brother. People looked up to Roc because of his size and maybe because he seemed to be an intelligent person.

“In the show I saw, Roc was moonlighting trying to make extra money. He was a black person in the white person’s neighborhood and he was arrested for no reason. That’s real life. It happens very often.”