Extreme green doesn't float on television.

• Author: Lamer, Timothy

Several times, prime-time television has tried to sell business-bashing, environmentally extreme dramas. These shows share a common theme: The planet's environment is heading downhill fast, and business and industry are to blame. Viewers, however, clearly don't seem to be buying.

A good example is the demise of the futuristic sci-fi show "seaQuest 2032." The show foresaw underwater colonization of the oceans early in the next century, and the seaQuest was a state-of-the-art peacekeeping patrol submarine. The Steven Spielberg production, which ran for parts of three seasons despite disappointing ratings, reveled in bashing business, especially for wreaking environmental havoc, with the prime evil-doer being mega-capitalist Larry Deon of Deon International.

Viewers found out from the seaQuest's captain that Deon had "been a grandstander since he sold IBM off in a yard sale when he was 23." Lucas, another "seaQuest" hero, stated that Deon "is a privateer, and his companies are turning the world's water supplies into sewage." Responding to Lucas, one of Deon's employees, said: "Well, our stock options have increased 1,700% in the last six months." Lucas replied, "Well, it's going to be pretty hard to drink stock options when the planet runs out of clean water, right?"

In one episode, Deon managed to break off an iceberg "the size of New England" from a polar icecap because he needed it to melt near the Middle East so he could process the fresh water for the Saudis. It didn't matter to him that doing so would flood much of the region. Deon described the impending disaster as a "natural catastrophe with a profit motive."

In another episode, Deon hijacked haulers, who carry shipments from the underwater mining colonies to suppliers, including Deon himself. Asked why Deon would steal his own shipments, seaQuest's captain replied, "So he can bankrupt the mining colony, take over the claims, and still get their ore." In the next week's episode, Deon worried about the Omni-Pacific, a transcontinental, underwater rail, because it would compete with his airline. He had one of his henchmen sabotage the train. "Just make sure you discredit the technology," he told his underling. "The railroads will not start competing with Deon International Air. We can't have that."

The "seaQuest" team always foiled Deon's plans, but they never could bring him to justice because the government was afraid of his power. A government official told the seaQuest crew: "So what are we supposed to do, embarrass him in...