Our Yellow Brick Road

The Public Broadcasting System has been accused of veering too far to the left (in 1992 then-Sen. Bob Dole threatened to block its federal funding because of its “far-out, liberal” shows) and to the right (in 1994 liberal activists protested the network’s refusal to air a series on human rights). But no such charges can be leveled against “Talk to Me,” a PBS special airing tonight. With historical illustrations, diaries, film clips and interviews with contemporary Americans, the program takes the middle road, painting a portrait of our culture through the years that is equal parts admiration and criticism.

The show celebrates faith, courage and individualism, characteristics that unite the explorers of this continent and beyond, from Christopher Columbus, who spoke of venturing “alone in an uncharted part of the galaxy,” to Capt. James T. Kirk, known for going boldly where no man had gone before.

It also suggests that we may be losing this faith. Historian John Kuo Wei Tchen says American self-reliance may deny our “basic human need to be connected,” while writer Rosemary Bray wonders whether hard work still leads to upward mobility: “My mother used to say, ‘We’re not poor, we’re just broke.’ And so I knew there was a way out. I knew that if I did what I was supposed to do, I could get out. I don’t think any kid feels like that now.”

Some will suggest that “Talk to Me” is siding with the many people it portrays who have soured on the American dream. But the program takes care to point out that the dream has never been easy to pursue. That’s why, author Allan Gurganus explains, the Founding Fathers never promised happiness; they merely opened a door to the pursuit of happiness.

If anything, the show’s sympathies lie with Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz.” In film clips we see ambivalence in Dorothy that is quintessentially American. She wants to go home to Kansas, where everything is familiar. On the other hand, she can’t wait to see what lies around the next bend in the yellow brick road.