Despite Protests, Dr. Laura Debuts On TV

While protesters picketed outside Paramount studios, radio talk show host Dr. Laura Schlessinger launched her first daytime TV show on Monday.

Schlessinger has antagonized the gay community because of her comments that homosexuality is "deviant" and "dangerous." Others oppose her stance against abortion, feminism, interfaith marriage and divorce.

But no one stormed the studio and her show's debut proceeded peacefully, reports Paul Dandridge of KCBS-TV in Los Angeles.

For her TV premiere, the syndicated Dr. Laura chose a troubling but not so controversial topic: "Teens and Drugs."

"What is to blame?" Schlessinger posed at the top of the show. "Whatever it is, I'm sick of it, I'm very worried, and I want it stopped."

With that in mind, she led into a no-nonsense, consensus-seeking hour.

Although the format and arena setting of the Los Angeles-based series resemble those of a dozen talk-show counterparts, one difference stood out: Schlessinger's guests were polite and well-dressed, with those who had made mistakes apparently on the mend.

In other words, Schlessinger puts a premium on solutions and contrition.

Her first guest, a mother named Kristin, described the drastic stand she took by sending her teen away for a year of drug therapy. How did daughter Lauren feel on getting roused in the middle of the night by two attendants with handcuffs? Mad? Scared?

"I was happy," Lauren said.

Another guest represented a company that markets drug tests for parents to use on their children. Schlessinger tested Mike, a 17-year-old former abuser, as his mother looked on. Mike came up negative. The audience applauded.

But Sharli, a fresh-faced 17-year-old, confessed to enjoying marijuana.

What personal need might that reveal? Schlessinger asked the girl.

"A feeling that I don't have control of myself," Sharli replied.

"That's a very important point," Schlessinger said.

Later in the hour, she explored a Texas high school's policy of mandatory drug testing. When her Web site poll revealed that 44 percent of respondents were against such a program, she wasn't pleased. "I think you guys gotta think a little more about the moral obligation involved here."

Outside Paramount Studios activists waved signs and chanted slogans like "Two-four-six-eight, Schlessinger is full of hate."

But, overall, the debut avoided talk-show pyrotechnics and the shrill tone of her call-in radio show. A kinder, gentler (if no less resolute) Dr. Laura made her TV debut smartly without making waves.