When You Wish Upon TV

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It's not that these shows are necessarily conservative by design. Talking with TIME about the inspiration for Three Wishes, Grant practically sounds like Barbara Boxer. "There is such a disconnect between the haves and have-nots," she says. "The wealthy are riding on the backs of the working poor." But it's the working people who bail one another out on Three Wishes; to pay off the injured girl's medical bills, for instance, the town holds a carnival. It is inspiring and heartbreaking. But it reminds us that there isn't a Ferris wheel big enough to help all the uninsured and undereducated.

Solving the middle-class squeeze is complicated, and it's not as if anyone expects a prime-time TV show to advance political solutions. But intentionally or not, these series make a quasi-political statement of their own. Buried under hospital or tuition bills? Take care of your own. Hold a bake sale. Live right; don't grumble; pray. Says one woman in a preview reel for The Miracle Workers: "Don't give up. You will find your miracle too." Until then, keep wishing, and keep watching. --Reported by Jeanne McDowell/Los Angeles