TV networks and cable companies gain media raves for programs like
"Laurel Avenue," an HBO melodrama about a working-class black family
lauded for its realism, a real black family complete with drug
dealers, drug users, gun toters, and basketball players.  It is akin
to the media presenting "Valley of the Dolls" as a realistic portrayal
of the ways of white women."

		-- Leonce Carter, in "The Revolt of the Black 
		   Bourgeoisie", New York Times Magazine, 6/26/1994