That's Entertainment
Rebecca Neal notes that Ron Howard and Brian Grazer are developing a pilot for Fox about Internal Revenue Service employees that casts them as underdogs, and has hired a writer who has done work for The Office to write it. I have decidedly mixed feelings about this.
First, it's fantastic that two very successful Hollywood figures are seriously pursuing a show about federal employees that isn't about law enforcement officers or the military. Not that those categories of federal workers don't deserve attention, but in a world where we're about to have an NCIS spin-off, I think we can agree that the market is maybe a little over-saturated. Bones is one of the only shows that portrays federal scientists, and so any diversity in the portrayals is a net positive. I'm not necessarily sure about the choice of the IRS as the agency, if only because it's an agency that a lot of people already know exists, so it doesn't broaden public understanding of the kind of things government does. But given misconceptions about tax collection and the use of taxes, it could be useful for debunking falsehoods and humanizing the agency.
Second, I'm a tad worried about the choice of writers. The impulse to treat federal employees as deserving underdogs is a good one. But I'm concerned that the writers behind The Office and the producers behind Arrested Development won't be able to resist making them look deluded, even if their intentions are good. That has always been my concern with Parks & Recreation: that even if the folks involved are goodhearted, they look like like fools precisely because they care passionately about the process of governing.
We won't be able to tell until we get to see that pilot. But even if the project is a failure, I think the fact it's being taken seriously and attempted is a good thing.
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Government Executive Staff Correspondent Alyssa Rosenberg takes a look at news affecting the management and operations of the massive federal bureaucracy.
Well admittedly the IRS is an odd choice for basis of TV show. But hey having been employed there from July 7, 1967 to July 1, 1974 it does have its stories. The basic one during my time was simple. Having worked both collecting taxes and handing out government grants and contract funds, I can flatly assert that the average GS-11 in IRS was much more competent than the average GS-13 in most departments and agencies. And so on with GS-13s being much more competent that GS-15! Of course when I was there there were only two political appointees. The IRS Chief Counsel and the Commissioner. When I got to HUD in July 1974 found over 400 political appointees. What a difference and what a difference in what for want of a better word I will call "Gravitas." Not that IRS did not have its problems including the biggest of all that eventually caused the failure I predicted, an extremely authoritarian management and stovepiped system. Some of the best of the best in keeping IRS ahead of taxpayers were in the Planning and Research arena and the actuarial staff. Of course for most of its lawyers and accountants the IRS was simply a refined educational system and training ground for their future employment outside the IRS. What a waste of the brainpower of the US both public and private to not have a totally simplied tax system that is not politicized through corporate and other gifts through the IRC [Internal Revenue Code]! Tax exempt organizations would be a good starting place to prevent abuse of self-dealing and exhorbinant salaries in the NGO sector.
William R. Cumming Posted Monday, September 21, 2009 8:15 AM