The Paper Chase (TV Series) The Choice (1985) User Reviews

With a plot that you wouldn't have seen on network TV back in 1985!

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 27 March 2018]

A common cliche used in TV shows is the person who suddenly appears in an episode and is supposed to be an established character. In this case, the show begins with Ford having a steady girlfriend...and they act as if this has been going on for some time! I hate that and wish they'd taken some time in previous episodes to get the stage for this relationship.

So why did they need a girlfriend for Franklin Ford? Well, because the show is about abortion...and SOMEBODY has to be pregnant for that! So, they created a relationship and now she's pregnant....and she doesn't want it. But in an unusual shift, it's the guy who wants the baby and he wants to fight to have the baby come to term. Again, however, like the sudden appearance of a girlfriend, there never had been any indication that Ford wanted a child or was anti-abortion.

This is certainly NOT the sort of topic you'd normally find on network TV back in the mid-1980s! Not surprisingly, after its first season on CBS, the show was rebooted several years later on Showtime...a pay service. That being said, it's well made and if you are against abortion, then the show might annoy you.



By the way, if you think the character Weinstein is familiar, it's because it's played by Cathy Silvers...who played the recurring character Jenny Piccolo on "Happy Days". Unfortunately, this new character seems very annoying and one-dimensional.

No Surprises Here

[cbl-44021 · 6/10 · 13 May 2024]

Once again, as with many, although admittedly, not all, TV shows nowadays, there is an overriding pro choice sympathy in the episode. This is especially in how it turns out, given that the young lady and young man fornicated, had their fun, and ultimately did not live up to their responsibilities. Initially we thought the Baby would have a reprieve, but in normal fashion, they have to kill this unwelcome intruder, for perish the thought that the consequences of one's actions should come back to haunt them. Sure, this might be what happens in real life, but what also happens is that some of the ladies decide to have their babies - not that there should be any choice in the matter. Rose said in her day they had no choice, but it was more that they were following the right course, and then all of a sudden because a group of geriatric judges makes a decision, then that gives them the option. The right and wrong is in GOD's Will, not man's, no matter what laws man might pass to oppose Him. He gave that Baby life, at least within the story, and the script writers took it away. There were other people in history who also decided who should live or die based on their own preconceived notions, and they were justly destroyed - and now abortion is the leading cause of death in a number of countries - to our eternal shame.