Remember when I said that movies need to be movies, not sermons? That goes for TV series, too.

Regrettably, much of last week's White Collar -- usually an excellent show -- was pretty much a public service announcement on behalf of same-sex marriage. I believe, primarily from ads that ran during the show, that this may have been tied to the USA network's Characters Unite campaign, which is supposed to make us all not hate each other. (Because obviously, disagreement with the prevailing point of view in the entertainment industry constitutes hatred.) The T-shirt in one of the ads that read "I Won't Stand for Intolerance" is the best example of irony I've seen in quite some time.

Just as faith-based films these days tend to err on the side of propaganda, forcing their point of view via awkward and pointed dialogue, so do many productions that take an opposing point of view. I guess that's one thing they have in common, at least. But I will say this much for the Christian films: I usually don't get the sense from them that if I were to disagree with their viewpoint, some of the people behind them might turn all that unfashionable hate on me.

But I'm wandering into the realm of the hypothetical, probably farther than I should. I will retreat from there, and add only this: It's a free country, and the denizens of Hollywood are free to believe what they choose. They're even free to try to sell it to us. But if they're going to do it so blatantly and unprofessionally, I'm afraid they'll have to pardon us if we remain unconvinced.