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Historically, TV's interest in "green" issues has been limited to the green that spends and makes the world go round. (That, and Martians.) As for environmentalism, TV is where people watch SUV ads on energy-sucking giant screens that are as thirsty as a Bavarian at Oktoberfest.

But with the greening of politics and pop culture--from Al Gore to Leo DiCaprio to Homer and Marge in The Simpsons Movie--TV is jumping on the biodiesel-fueled bandwagon. In November, NBC (plus Bravo, Sci Fi and other sister channels) will run a week of green-themed episodes, from news to sitcoms. CBS has added a "Going Green" segment to The Early Show. And Fox says it will work climate change into the next season of 24. ("Dammit, Chloe, there's no time! The polar ice cap's going to melt in 15 minutes!")

On HGTV's Living with Ed, actor Ed Begley Jr. offers tips for eco-living from his solar-powered house in Studio City, Calif.--see him energy-audit Cheryl Tiegs!--while Sundance airs its documentary block "The Green." MTV will set The Real World: Hollywood in a "green" house. Next year Discovery launches 24-hour eco-lifestyle channel Planet Green, a plan validated this spring when the eco-minded documentary Planet Earth became a huge hit for Discovery. "Green is part of [Discovery's] heritage," says Planet Green president Eileen O'Neill. "But as pop culture was starting to recognize it, we realized we could do a better job positioning ourselves."

Clearly this is not all pure altruism. Those popular, energy-stingy compact fluorescent bulbs? NBC's owner, General Electric, has managed to sell one or two. "When you have them being a market leader and saying this makes good business sense, people listen to that on [the TV] side," says Lauren Zalaznick, Bravo Media president, who is heading NBC's effort. And green pitches resonate with young and well-heeled viewers (the type who buy Priuses and $2-a-lb. organic apples), two groups the networks are fond of. NBC is confident enough in its green week's appeal to schedule it in sweeps.

It's an unlikely marriage of motives. Ad-supported TV is a consumption medium: it persuades you to want and buy stuff. Traditional home shows about renovating and decorating are catnip for retailers like Lowe's and Home Depot. Of course, there are green alternatives to common purchases: renewable wood, Energy Star appliances, hybrid cars. But sometimes the greener choice is simply not to buy so much junk--not the friendliest sell to advertisers.

The bigger hurdle, though, may be creative. How the NBC shows will work in the messages is still up in the air. (Will the Deal or No Deal babes wear hemp miniskirts? Will the Bionic Woman get wired for solar?) Interviewed after the 24 announcement, executive producer Howard Gordon hedged a bit on Fox's green promises: "It'll probably be more in the props. We might see somebody drive a hybrid."

Will it work? Green is a natural fit on cable lifestyle shows or news programs--though enlisting a news division to do advocacy has its own issues. But commanding a sitcom like The Office to work in an earnest environmental theme sounds like the kind of high-handed p.r. directive that might be satirized on, well, The Office. Even Begley--formerly of St. Elsewhere--notes that the movie Chinatown worked because it kept the subplot about the water supply in Los Angeles well in the background: "It's a story about getting away with murder, and the water story is woven in."

Of course, in an era of rampant product placement, there are worse things than persuading viewers to buy a less wasteful lightbulb by hanging one over Jack Bauer as he tortures a terrorist. The greatest challenge--for viewers as well as programmers--is not letting entertainment become a substitute for action; making and watching right-minded shows isn't enough in itself. The 2007 Emmy Awards, for a start, aims to be carbon neutral: solar power, biodiesel generators, hybrids for the stars, bikes for production assistants--though the Academy nixed Fox's idea to change the red carpet, no kidding, to green. The most potent message may be seeing Hollywood walk the walk, in a town in which people prefer to drive.