ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL: DON'T TOUCH (TV)
Summary
One in this series of dramas intended for young audiences.
Molly Stewart, a young girl, is celebrating her birthday, and her parents give her a large dollhouse as a present, much to her excitement. Her teenage babysitter Karen drops her off at Molly’s father’s hardware store before going out with her friends. Mike, one of Mr. Stewart’s employees, takes Molly into the back room, where he gives her some small dolls for her birthday. However, he soon starts making comments which make Molly uncomfortable. Karen is suspicious of Mike but chooses not to tell anyone. Karen plays with Molly one afternoon and is surprised to find that Mike has come to visit; he comes for dinner every Monday night, and claims he wanted to come early to make cookies with Molly. Karen calls Mrs. Stewart, who says it’s all right to leave Molly alone with Mike; she leaves them alone, albeit hesitantly.
That night Karen has trouble sleeping and has a nightmare about encountering a strange man who leers over her speaks to her in a similar manner as Mike does to Molly. The man she saw in her dream was her uncle Walter, who lived with the family until he died when Karen was a little girl. Mike comes over to see Molly the following Monday, much to Karen’s discomfort. Mike brings Molly into his car and drives off with her. Karen acts strangely around her friends, and her boyfriend David asks her what’s wrong. She tells him that she is unnerved by Mike’s attentions towards Molly; she has no concrete evidence that Mike is doing anything wrong, but she has noticed a number of clues which lead her to believe that Mike has perverse intentions. Mike takes Molly back to his apartment, where he gives her an accessory for her dollhouse. She allows Mike to put body paint on her arm, and he coaxes her to lift up her shirt in order to paint on her back. He then asks her to take off her shirt in order to clean a paint stain off of it, although she is reluctant to do so.
Later that night, Mike comes over for dinner and Mrs. Stewart goes to put Molly to bed. She tries to tell her mother that Mike makes her uncomfortable, but cannot fully articulate her thoughts and so her mother suspects nothing. Mike offers to look after the store and take care of Molly while Mr. and Mrs. Stewart go out of town for a trade show. David comes across Karen having another nightmare and tells him that it was about Walter, but will not say any more. David is frustrated that Karen is keeping secrets from him, and finally she tearfully admits that Walter molested her when she was a child. She notes that her nightmares started when she first became suspicious of Mike, which triggered her memories of Walter’s actions. David attempts to comfort Karen. Mrs. Stewart tells Karen that they may be going away for the trade show, and Karen offers to look after Molly instead of Mike, but Mrs. Stewart says they would feel better if Mike was there. David offers to talk to Karen more about her molestation, but she says she would rather try to forget about it and move on. She tells him that she doesn’t want to go to a concert with him and their friends that weekend, but will not explain why, making David upset.
However, both of them soon regret their argument and apologize to each other the day after the concert. She tells him about the situation with Molly, and he suggests that she try to talk to Molly herself about it. She takes his advice and tries to speak to Molly, although she is not forthcoming about her true feelings about Mike. Slowly, Karen manages to get Molly to open up to her about Mike, using her dolls and dollhouse as a way for Molly to convey her feelings. Through this, Molly reveals the full extent of Mike’s molestation of her, and Karen is horrified, promising not to leave Molly alone with him again and to help her inform her parents about Mike. Molly’s parents return, along with Mike, and Karen goes to confront them. She speaks to Mrs. Stewart in private and gets Molly to tell her about Mike’s actions. Mrs. Stewart is similarly horrified and promises to resolve the situation, telling Molly that what happened was not her fault. Karen offers to have Molly come over to her place for a while Mr. and Mrs. Stewart call the police, and Mrs. Stewart agrees. Soon Molly begins to recover from her experiences, and Karen is happy that she is safe. Karen also tells David that she no longer wants to forget about her own childhood experiences and will tell her mother about what happened. Includes commercials.
Details
- NETWORK: ABC
- DATE: December 13, 1986 4:00 PM
- RUNNING TIME: 0:57:44
- COLOR/B&W: Color
- CATALOG ID: B:08589
- GENRE: Drama
- SUBJECT HEADING: Drama; Sexual abuse; Teenagers
- SERIES RUN: ABC - TV series, 1972-1997
- COMMERCIALS:
- TV - Commercials – Raisin Bran breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Aim toothpaste
- TV – Commercials – Baby Soft cologne
- TV – Commercials – Betty Crocker food products
- TV – Commercials – Bisquick baking mix
- TV – Commercials – Cool Whip whipped topping
- TV – Commercials – Crispix breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Fab laundry detergent
- TV – Commercials – Honey Nut Cheerios breakfast cereal
- TV – Commercials – Listerine mouthwash
- TV – Commercials – M&M’s candy
- TV – Commercials – McDonald’s restaurants
- TV – Commercials – Mrs. Butterworth’s maple syrup
- TV – Commercials – Palmolive dishwashing detergent
- TV – Commercials – Ritz crackers
- TV – Commercials – Shield deodorant soap
- TV – Commercials – Snuggle fabric softener
- TV – Promos – “ABC Afterschool Specials”
- TV – Promos – “Dads”
- TV – Promos – “Swiss Family Robinson”
CREDITS
- Diana Kerew … Executive Producer
- Fred Berner … Producer
- Alison Bassett … Associate Producer
- Beau Bridges … Director
- Jeanne Betancourt … Writer
- Garry Sherman … Music by
- Blair Brown … Cast, Joan Stewart
- Kelly Wolf … Cast, Karen Anderson
- Niki Scalera … Cast, Molly Stewart
- Corey Parker … Cast, David
- Lisa Bonet … Cast, Carrie
- Joey Lawrence … Cast, Mattie
- Matte Lawrence (See also: Matthew Lawrence) … Cast, Matt
- Lenny von Dohlen … Cast, Mike Rivers
- Kadeem Hardison … Cast, Paul
- Debra Mooney … Cast, Mrs. Anderson
- Stephen Mendillo … Cast, Mr. Anderson
- Paige Price … Cast, Allison
- Lenny Wolpe … Cast, Uncle Walter