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9 Great TV Shows That Subvert the Right-Wing Worldview
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Karolina Dean...Big money STILL weaves a mighty web...
Sep 14, 2012, 10:18:07 PM9/14/12
to
9 Great TV Shows That Subvert the Right-Wing Worldview
Epic put-downs that conservatives can't ignore.
September 12, 2012 |
Culture is a flashpoint for social change, both a mirror and a
catalyst for our world, and primetime network television is the medium
with the greatest reach. Over 290 million people own a television in
the United States (that's over twice as many people as those who voted
in the 2008 presidential election) and as a primary source of
entertainment for most Americans, any sort of progressive politics on
the major stations is going to have an impact. Not to mention the over
140 million Americans who watch television on the internet, whether
through providers like Hulu, YouTube, and Netflix, or through good old
fashioned video platforms on websites with domain names registered in
unregulated countries. The average American tends to watch television
about 35 hours a week total on both platforms—that's close to a full-
time job. You could see why anybody would want to get into the TV
racket, but if you're a showrunner with a political point of view,
nudging in on primetime is particularly advantageous for spreading
your ideals.
Television show runners tend to not be as overall progressive as
Hollywood, but there's so much room for growth—witness how "M.A.S.H."
and "All in the Family" reflected the changing times in the '70s, for
instance, or how putting an upper-class, normal black family on
television affected racial understanding with "The Cosby Show."
Average blue-collar families—and feminists, and gays—were given a
voice by the likes of "Roseanne" throughout the '90s, while Xena,
Warrior Princess portrayed a feminist (and lesbian?) superhero kicking
ass. More recently, "Scandal" portrays an openly, nonchalantly gay
(and married!) Presidential Chief of Staff, and recently "Parks and
Recreation" has followed the city council campaign of Amy Poehler's
feminist patriot Leslie Knope. As we enter the fall season, there are
a number of new shows on the networks that reflect our shifting values
as a society—and their very existence is a counterpoint to
conservative values. But the goal posts have shifted, and while
conervatives moves ever right, our primetime cultural braintrust is
loosening up.
Here are some older shows that classically pissed off conservatives,
plus some newer TV shows that subvert conservative values by espousing
change or progressive values.
1. The New Normal. Fall is full of "Parenthood"-invoking,
nontraditional family situations—the aforementioned, and also brother-
sister tearjerker "Ben & Kate"—but this one is the show most likely to
freak out conservatives. Because the "new normal" is a stable family
situation comprised of a young single mom who agrees to be a surrogate
for her gay male neighbors who want to be fathers. (Also, NeNe Leakes
in the trailer, preaching on race relations like a boss.) Another
tearjerker, we can smell the markers drying on the Westboro Baptist
picket signs from here, but fuck 'em: this is our present and our
future, and it's about time we had a show depicting how gay parents
can be every bit as loving and stable as straight ones.
2. Partners. This new CBS jam from the creators of Will and Grace
evolves the gay-friendship theme into 2012: the partners of the title
are best friends Joe (straight) and Michael (gay), making the point
that prime-time is ready for male-on-male friendships that don't
necessarily have to be based on their stupid fantasy football teams or
their shared inability to raise kids. Clearly, the amount of gay-
friendly programming this season is going to be a huge point of
contention for intolerant oldsters, but for them, there's always
reruns of "Dynasty." Oh, wait! One of the gayest TV dramas ever made!
Sorry, homophobes, you're out of luck.
3. 666 Park Avenue. Have you ever felt like the 1 percent is totally
demonic? Yeah, this show does too. Starring Vanessa Williams and Locke
from Lost as a filthy-rich couple who owns a hellish apartment
building with a Manhattan status-address, this show looks like it will
be a Twilight Zone for those in the top income tax bracket. It
profiles a series of hyper-wealthy characters who live at the address
and live their lavish lives for the sole reason that by moving in,
they signed a contract with Lucifer. Delicious. At a time when many
wealthy conservatives are trying to promote the narrative that their
vampire capitalism is just a part of good-old, American, up-by-your-
bootstraps manifest destiny—and trying to convince us that Mitt
Romney's secrecy about his tax returns is just because of his modest
sense of privacy—the last thing the 1 percent wants is for the middle-
and working-class to have a fantastical validation of our disdain for
them on primetime ABC every week. They won't protest, because they're
sitting pretty in their own Park Ave apartments—but it's so nice to
have a revenge fantasy on primetime. The difference between the show
and reality, though, is that on 666 Park Avenue, extreme greed has
consequences.
4. How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life).
Alternately, here's a show about some of the hardest-hit in the
economy: a middle-aged woman whose divorce left her so destitute that
she and her young daughter must move back in with her parents. As the
title suggests, the main gag is that her parents are difficult to deal
with (her mom is brassy and suggestive, her stepdad is foul-mouthed
and ridiculous), but the underlying theme is that she wouldn't have to
deal with any of this were it not for the death of the middle class.
5. The Newsroom. This Aaron Sorkin show has gotten mixed reviews, but
I love it despite its over-idealism and sometimes-cardboard women
characters: it's sorta what might happen if AlterNet had its own TV
news program (sans the super-annoying relationships). The premise: a
mediocre yet wildly popular news anchor, Will McAvoy, decides he's
tired of all the faux objectivity and cute puppy stories being
reported by supposedly serious journalists, and sets out on a mission
to report the true news, without kowtowing to particular parties or
special interests (or investors in the network on which he
broadcasts). A registered Republican, as McAvoy asserts whenever he is
accused of being super liberal, the show is at its core a vehicle for
Sorkin to convey to the American people what has actually happened
over the political clusterfuck of the last two years. Set in the
recent past—2010 and 2011—Sorkin reports, through McAvoy, on the Tea
Party, the debt crisis, gun control, SB-1070, the killing of Osama bin
Laden, Gabrielle Giffords, and most effectively, the Koch brothers. By
today's news standards, it's no wonder he's considered "liberal"—he's
reporting the facts—but there's no way conservatives are not freaking
out at the mere existence of this show. The first season basically
retroactively educated people about the obscene conservative behavior
that got us to the point we're at now, mere months before the
election. Obama's not off the hook in the show, but as in real life,
the Republicans in office have a hell of a lot more to answer to than
the president. The only way right-wingers would hate this show more is
if it were on network TV—Fox, maybe.
6. Skins (US): This MTV remake of the popular British teen show was
lambasted by the excitable Parent's TV Council for its loose depiction
of teen drug use and sex, aka things that teens do all the time
anyway. What should have been attacked, though, was how bad the remake
was of a great show—it got canceled after one season, but not before a
good bit of protest.
7. The Mindy Project. Fox Network generally goes with lighter fare
like Mindy Kaling's new sitcom, but this one from the Office writer/
actor is certain to rankle some right-winger's hairs. In one of the
only shows written by, run, and starring a woman of color, Kaling
plays a doctor looking for love in all the wrong places. While it
remains to be seen whether the show is explicitly feminist (though MIA
and LeTigre are both on the soundtrack), the pilot depicts her
character as a lonely ob-gyn whose life has been ruined by the fantasy
love of romantic comedies, and as a result pokes holes in the happily-
ever-after princess culture that conservatives seem to think every
marriage (between a man and a woman) culiminates in. Shot like the
most ridiculous, over-the-top rom-com, the first episode follows
Kaling's character through a good date that gets cut short because she
has to deliver a baby—and places her hot, gruff coworker as the dude
she'll just have to end up with. Sure, it's not Valerie Solinas (or
Shulamith Firestone)—she's excessively boy-crazy and pretty bougie and
not so socially conscious, at least so far. But if any famous, popular
young woman wants to embed the concept that rom-coms are corruptive in
the heads of her young fans, far be it from us to complain (for now).
Added bonus: she gets in some good digs about health insurance, and
wryly spoofs American race dynamics.
And now for some classics that really made conservatives deranged:
8. Will and Grace. Ellen Degeneres came out on television and in
reality in 1997 on her eponymous sitcom, opening the door for more
representations of gays on television, including Modern Family and the
aforementioned The New Normal. But first came Will & Grace, the 1998
sitcom depicting a gay man and his hapless woman best friend, living
together normally in New York City, and introducing several other gay
characters on the show. After Ellen broke that taboo box open, this
show explored various degrees of sexuality, include Will's friend Jack
who was very effeminate, and Grace's friend Karen who was bisexual.
While it got a little forced-campy, it truly did open doors—to the
chagrin of some clergy and other homophobic groups, particularly after
Will & Grace addressed themes about anti-gay groups, and spoofed
Christianity. Whoops! The show ran until 2006.
9. Murphy Brown. The 1990s culture wars piqued on television with the
emergence of Murphy Brown, which depicted Candace Bergen as the
hardscrabble anchor of the title. It was one thing that she was a
strong feminist character emblematic of the era's fierce third-wave
feminism, but at one point, she had a kid out of wedlock—and that made
jokester Vice President Dan Quayle freak the hell out, giving a speech
lambasting the show. "Primetime TV has Murphy Brown," he said, "a
character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid
professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a
child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." He was
roundly mocked, obviously, but the speech embodied the disconnect
between society's long march forward and politics' backwards-thinking
leaders.
Epic put-downs that conservatives can't ignore.
September 12, 2012 |
Culture is a flashpoint for social change, both a mirror and a
catalyst for our world, and primetime network television is the medium
with the greatest reach. Over 290 million people own a television in
the United States (that's over twice as many people as those who voted
in the 2008 presidential election) and as a primary source of
entertainment for most Americans, any sort of progressive politics on
the major stations is going to have an impact. Not to mention the over
140 million Americans who watch television on the internet, whether
through providers like Hulu, YouTube, and Netflix, or through good old
fashioned video platforms on websites with domain names registered in
unregulated countries. The average American tends to watch television
about 35 hours a week total on both platforms—that's close to a full-
time job. You could see why anybody would want to get into the TV
racket, but if you're a showrunner with a political point of view,
nudging in on primetime is particularly advantageous for spreading
your ideals.
Television show runners tend to not be as overall progressive as
Hollywood, but there's so much room for growth—witness how "M.A.S.H."
and "All in the Family" reflected the changing times in the '70s, for
instance, or how putting an upper-class, normal black family on
television affected racial understanding with "The Cosby Show."
Average blue-collar families—and feminists, and gays—were given a
voice by the likes of "Roseanne" throughout the '90s, while Xena,
Warrior Princess portrayed a feminist (and lesbian?) superhero kicking
ass. More recently, "Scandal" portrays an openly, nonchalantly gay
(and married!) Presidential Chief of Staff, and recently "Parks and
Recreation" has followed the city council campaign of Amy Poehler's
feminist patriot Leslie Knope. As we enter the fall season, there are
a number of new shows on the networks that reflect our shifting values
as a society—and their very existence is a counterpoint to
conservative values. But the goal posts have shifted, and while
conervatives moves ever right, our primetime cultural braintrust is
loosening up.
Here are some older shows that classically pissed off conservatives,
plus some newer TV shows that subvert conservative values by espousing
change or progressive values.
1. The New Normal. Fall is full of "Parenthood"-invoking,
nontraditional family situations—the aforementioned, and also brother-
sister tearjerker "Ben & Kate"—but this one is the show most likely to
freak out conservatives. Because the "new normal" is a stable family
situation comprised of a young single mom who agrees to be a surrogate
for her gay male neighbors who want to be fathers. (Also, NeNe Leakes
in the trailer, preaching on race relations like a boss.) Another
tearjerker, we can smell the markers drying on the Westboro Baptist
picket signs from here, but fuck 'em: this is our present and our
future, and it's about time we had a show depicting how gay parents
can be every bit as loving and stable as straight ones.
2. Partners. This new CBS jam from the creators of Will and Grace
evolves the gay-friendship theme into 2012: the partners of the title
are best friends Joe (straight) and Michael (gay), making the point
that prime-time is ready for male-on-male friendships that don't
necessarily have to be based on their stupid fantasy football teams or
their shared inability to raise kids. Clearly, the amount of gay-
friendly programming this season is going to be a huge point of
contention for intolerant oldsters, but for them, there's always
reruns of "Dynasty." Oh, wait! One of the gayest TV dramas ever made!
Sorry, homophobes, you're out of luck.
3. 666 Park Avenue. Have you ever felt like the 1 percent is totally
demonic? Yeah, this show does too. Starring Vanessa Williams and Locke
from Lost as a filthy-rich couple who owns a hellish apartment
building with a Manhattan status-address, this show looks like it will
be a Twilight Zone for those in the top income tax bracket. It
profiles a series of hyper-wealthy characters who live at the address
and live their lavish lives for the sole reason that by moving in,
they signed a contract with Lucifer. Delicious. At a time when many
wealthy conservatives are trying to promote the narrative that their
vampire capitalism is just a part of good-old, American, up-by-your-
bootstraps manifest destiny—and trying to convince us that Mitt
Romney's secrecy about his tax returns is just because of his modest
sense of privacy—the last thing the 1 percent wants is for the middle-
and working-class to have a fantastical validation of our disdain for
them on primetime ABC every week. They won't protest, because they're
sitting pretty in their own Park Ave apartments—but it's so nice to
have a revenge fantasy on primetime. The difference between the show
and reality, though, is that on 666 Park Avenue, extreme greed has
consequences.
4. How to Live With Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life).
Alternately, here's a show about some of the hardest-hit in the
economy: a middle-aged woman whose divorce left her so destitute that
she and her young daughter must move back in with her parents. As the
title suggests, the main gag is that her parents are difficult to deal
with (her mom is brassy and suggestive, her stepdad is foul-mouthed
and ridiculous), but the underlying theme is that she wouldn't have to
deal with any of this were it not for the death of the middle class.
5. The Newsroom. This Aaron Sorkin show has gotten mixed reviews, but
I love it despite its over-idealism and sometimes-cardboard women
characters: it's sorta what might happen if AlterNet had its own TV
news program (sans the super-annoying relationships). The premise: a
mediocre yet wildly popular news anchor, Will McAvoy, decides he's
tired of all the faux objectivity and cute puppy stories being
reported by supposedly serious journalists, and sets out on a mission
to report the true news, without kowtowing to particular parties or
special interests (or investors in the network on which he
broadcasts). A registered Republican, as McAvoy asserts whenever he is
accused of being super liberal, the show is at its core a vehicle for
Sorkin to convey to the American people what has actually happened
over the political clusterfuck of the last two years. Set in the
recent past—2010 and 2011—Sorkin reports, through McAvoy, on the Tea
Party, the debt crisis, gun control, SB-1070, the killing of Osama bin
Laden, Gabrielle Giffords, and most effectively, the Koch brothers. By
today's news standards, it's no wonder he's considered "liberal"—he's
reporting the facts—but there's no way conservatives are not freaking
out at the mere existence of this show. The first season basically
retroactively educated people about the obscene conservative behavior
that got us to the point we're at now, mere months before the
election. Obama's not off the hook in the show, but as in real life,
the Republicans in office have a hell of a lot more to answer to than
the president. The only way right-wingers would hate this show more is
if it were on network TV—Fox, maybe.
6. Skins (US): This MTV remake of the popular British teen show was
lambasted by the excitable Parent's TV Council for its loose depiction
of teen drug use and sex, aka things that teens do all the time
anyway. What should have been attacked, though, was how bad the remake
was of a great show—it got canceled after one season, but not before a
good bit of protest.
7. The Mindy Project. Fox Network generally goes with lighter fare
like Mindy Kaling's new sitcom, but this one from the Office writer/
actor is certain to rankle some right-winger's hairs. In one of the
only shows written by, run, and starring a woman of color, Kaling
plays a doctor looking for love in all the wrong places. While it
remains to be seen whether the show is explicitly feminist (though MIA
and LeTigre are both on the soundtrack), the pilot depicts her
character as a lonely ob-gyn whose life has been ruined by the fantasy
love of romantic comedies, and as a result pokes holes in the happily-
ever-after princess culture that conservatives seem to think every
marriage (between a man and a woman) culiminates in. Shot like the
most ridiculous, over-the-top rom-com, the first episode follows
Kaling's character through a good date that gets cut short because she
has to deliver a baby—and places her hot, gruff coworker as the dude
she'll just have to end up with. Sure, it's not Valerie Solinas (or
Shulamith Firestone)—she's excessively boy-crazy and pretty bougie and
not so socially conscious, at least so far. But if any famous, popular
young woman wants to embed the concept that rom-coms are corruptive in
the heads of her young fans, far be it from us to complain (for now).
Added bonus: she gets in some good digs about health insurance, and
wryly spoofs American race dynamics.
And now for some classics that really made conservatives deranged:
8. Will and Grace. Ellen Degeneres came out on television and in
reality in 1997 on her eponymous sitcom, opening the door for more
representations of gays on television, including Modern Family and the
aforementioned The New Normal. But first came Will & Grace, the 1998
sitcom depicting a gay man and his hapless woman best friend, living
together normally in New York City, and introducing several other gay
characters on the show. After Ellen broke that taboo box open, this
show explored various degrees of sexuality, include Will's friend Jack
who was very effeminate, and Grace's friend Karen who was bisexual.
While it got a little forced-campy, it truly did open doors—to the
chagrin of some clergy and other homophobic groups, particularly after
Will & Grace addressed themes about anti-gay groups, and spoofed
Christianity. Whoops! The show ran until 2006.
9. Murphy Brown. The 1990s culture wars piqued on television with the
emergence of Murphy Brown, which depicted Candace Bergen as the
hardscrabble anchor of the title. It was one thing that she was a
strong feminist character emblematic of the era's fierce third-wave
feminism, but at one point, she had a kid out of wedlock—and that made
jokester Vice President Dan Quayle freak the hell out, giving a speech
lambasting the show. "Primetime TV has Murphy Brown," he said, "a
character who supposedly epitomizes today’s intelligent, highly paid
professional woman, mocking the importance of fathers by bearing a
child alone and calling it just another lifestyle choice." He was
roundly mocked, obviously, but the speech embodied the disconnect
between society's long march forward and politics' backwards-thinking
leaders.
Truth Teller
Sep 14, 2012, 11:29:01 PM9/14/12
to
You'd better start citing sources on this crapola, especially when the article says, "I love it." Who the heck is "I?" The fact that you do not cite sources makes me think you have something to hide.
Jason Todd Akin Schadenfreude
Sep 15, 2012, 12:53:07 AM9/15/12
to
ces makes me think you have something to hide.
Something to hide...hmmmm....you mean like he might possibly be an
RSPWer who constantly talks about what a good Christian he is and how
Homosexuality is a sin, and yet spends almost $2,000 on gay porn web
sites, and trolls the bus stations downtown area looking for Rough
Trade??
You mean that kind of "something to hide"?
Jason
The Void Era Man
Sep 15, 2012, 1:59:13 AM9/15/12
to
trij...@yahoo.com (Truth Teller)
know dean is right and your side is full of shit.
_
/'_/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'7,
/'/ / / /" /_\
('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
CRIPES A'MIGHTY 3RD!
SHORTBUS O'REETEE STICKLER.
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012: YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
>You'd better start citing sources on this crapola, especially when the
article says, "I love it." Who the heck is "I?" The fact that you do not
cite sources makes me think you have something to hide.
And you going into 'fact check' mode all of a sudden makes me think you
article says, "I love it." Who the heck is "I?" The fact that you do not
cite sources makes me think you have something to hide.
know dean is right and your side is full of shit.
_
/'_/)
,/_ /
/ /
/'_'/' '/'__'7,
/'/ / / /" /_\
('( ' Fuck /' ')
\ You' /
'\' _.7'
\ (
\ \
CRIPES A'MIGHTY 3RD!
SHORTBUS O'REETEE STICKLER.
BEWARE OF OL' JEEZL PETE.
2012: YEAR OF THE ROBBY.
robert
Sep 17, 2012, 11:53:45 AM9/17/12
to
On Sep 15, 2:00 am, BillV2...@webtv.net (The Void Era Man) wrote:
> trijc...@yahoo.com (Truth Teller)>You'd better start citing sources on this crapola, especially when the
> trijc...@yahoo.com (Truth Teller)>You'd better start citing sources on this crapola, especially when the
whats this shit?
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