When a show has great characters and some great writing, how much liberal idiocy are you willing to put up with? Boston Legal really seems to be posing that question better than any political point it ineptly tries to make. It has some of the most entertaining characters of any show (especially the characters played by James Spader, William Shatner, and Candice Bergen) and is extremely enjoyable at its best, but how much irritation am I willing to put up with to have that enjoyment? It’s like watching a good movie but having to put up with some idiot next to you who ever once in a while accidentally elbows you in the head.
I watched their latest episode last night (it originally aired Tuesday; yay, HD-Tivo), and I knew from the promos that this one might be a deal breaker. One of the cases (there are usually multiple ones per episode which one would call subplots) dealt with a woman suing the government over her brother being killed in Iraq. It had a few things inserted very clumsily for balance: one lawyer at the firm was angry about the whole case as he was a veteran of the first Gulf War and found it insulting, the parents were against the case though never appeared in the show, and Denny Crane, the rightwing buffoon – though a sympathetic rightwing buffoon that the audience is supposed to like despite his rightwing buffoonery – says a few incoherent rightwing things as usual. It still basically accepted the Michael Moore version of things as fact and the main conclusion was that not enough bad things about the war are being presented by the media.
Yes, that was really the main conclusion.
It then had the audacity to end pretending it had a neutral discussion of the issue which just furthers either its dishonesty or ignorance.
Now let me go on a complete tangent and compare The Simpsons and South Park. I haven’t watched South Park in a while – it’s often too vile for me – but it takes on many hot topics and often comes to the conservative conclusion. This can be very cathartic for those used to be inundated with the liberal viewpoint with whatever were watching, but it looks clumsy when compared to The Simpsons (or at least, older Simpsons episodes) which would take on an issue and not reach any conclusion. It’s much more skillful; it involves primarily making jokes at the expense of the stereotypes of both sides and then ending ambivalent — no alienating anyone.
With drama, being neutral is much harder. While being a political moderate take the least amount of thought, presenting an issue in a show without beating your audience over the head with your own viewpoint is quite difficult as it means you have to take both sides seriously and present each side realistically. Most TV shows wisely tend to avoid politics entirely (with perhaps a little jibe in dialog here and there), but taking on issues without alienating larges groups of thinking people is entirely possible as proven by perhaps my favorite drama right now, House. It has taken on some very controversial issues that most shows would avoid entirely (i.e., abortion) while leaving the viewer free to make his or her own conclusion. In its episode from this Tuesday, there was a character who spent his life treating TB in Africa and is frustrated by how millions are dying because they can’t get meds that drug companies have sitting in warehouses. He then gets TB himself, and refuses his meds to bring publicity to the issue. For most shows, the obvious way to treat this character would be saint-like, but in House he was made to look equal parts hero and buffoon (thanks, in part, to the ultimate curmudgeon, Dr. House), and the end let you make up your own mind about him.
How is a show written like that? I assume you need writers of both viewpoints and restrain from making contrived events in the episode that support one side or the other. The problem with shows like Boston Legal is they have talented liberal writers who probably assume they know conservatives well enough to write them when, in reality, they to conservatives are like those monkeys to the black obelisk in 2001: A Space Odyssey. And it’s disappointing because of the talent involved, but there’s a limit to how much my intelligence can be insulted and I still enjoy a show.
Just had to get that off my chest. Our next serious discussion will be why 5 is the coolest number ever.
UPDATE: I tried to see if Boston Legal has an address I could write a letter to suggesting they hire a conservative writer to explain conservative viewpoints to the other writers and that they watch House for how to handle hot button issues. Instead, I found this bboard. I wonder if they pay any attention to that.
From the bboard, here is a soldier’s opinion on the episode.
UPDATE2: I think this is the address:
American Broadcasting Co.
500 S. Buena Vista St.
Burbank, CA 91521-4622
Maybe I’ll still write them and see if I get a response. I wouldn’t care so much if I didn’t like the show when it isn’t spouting infantile politics.
But have they made Star Trek jokes yet?
I’ve seen a few episodes of this show and I totally agree with you on this! The last one I watched involved a convicted murder appealing his death sentence. The lawyer felt obligated to convince the convict, who had come to peace and accepted his impending death, that he needed to fight for his life. The case was contrived such that the convict was barely mentally competent by legal standards and did not remember the crime (I don’t think they proved he didn’t do it, though). The judge involved in the original case was shown to be a flawed judge and basically everything they could do to cast doubt was placed into the case. One of my very liberal friends (the reason this show was on in the first place) then asked me if the episode made me rethink my views on the death penalty (I may be a Democrat but I’m fairly conservative on many issues, including guns, crime, and foreign policy). I asked her if the facts were different how she would feel about the case. Specifically, I asked, how would she feel if he knew he had committed the crime, was well within the legal definition for both “sane” and “mentally competent”, and had brutally raped the victim both before and after killing her? She agreed in that case the death penalty might be justified. I do not voluntarily watch Boston Legal anymore. It exceeds my tolerance for idiocy.
I have a low tolerance for this stuff and it gets lower all the time.
CSI: SVU seems like every third week has some pyschotic Christian child molester in it. I find that exceedingly insulting (think Seven, or Frailty). Pity, I like the writing and acting, but can only handle so much…
5 is a WAY cool number by the way!
I disagree about the Simpsons and South Park. Though early episodes of the Simpsons were always more subtle than South Park, they weren’t apolitical. There was always a leftwing slant lying just below the surface. Observe the jabs at Ayn Rand (the “Ayn Rand School for Tots”) in the 4th season’s “A Streetcar Named Marge.” Or observe the portrayal of a certain conservative talk show host in the sixth season’s “Sideshow Bob Roberts.”
This liberal slant was a lot less obvious than the newer seasons, where Lisa is an outspoken vegetarian, Lisa ties herself to a tree to prevent it being cut down, Homer wants to be a hippie, and Bart shows pansy regret after shooting a bird. And this is one of the reasons why the older seasons kicked ass, and the newer ones aren’t worth watching (that and the writing was much sharper). The older seasons would also occasionally throw in something conservative to shake things up (maybe there were one or two rightwing writers back then?).
Remember the episode where Bart and Lisa use Grandpa’s name to write Itchy and Scratchy episodes? Remember this classic exchange-
Lisa: Didn’t you wonder why you were getting money to do absolutely nothing?
Grandpa: I figured cause the Democrats were back in power. (“The Front,” Fourth Season).
And notice the simultaneous sympathy and bashing of labor unions in “Last Exit to Springfield” (also 4th season). I guess my point is that less (but not none) politics worked for The Simpsons, but it’s given South Park its special charm (and given rise to the maverick rightwing political movement, the “South Park Republican”). Where else can we go for hippie bashing, a defense of capitalism, and a criticism of hate crime laws? And what about the show 24? That’s a terrific show, and I think the poltics are fairly obvious (terrorist killin’ is a’ok). To answer your question, we shouldn’t encourage an apolitical show. We also shouldn’t boost a show like Boston Legal’s ratings if it has a lame liberal slant like it seems to.
The Simpsons also slammed Dems.
Lisa (talking to President Clinton (shudder)): That’s a pretty crappy lesson.
Clinton: Well I’m a pretty crappy president.
This last season they appear to have at least a mild case of BDS.
And 2 is the coolest number. By far.
Think of it, what’s better than one person making fun of Michael Moore?
Two people making fun of him.
What’s better than 1 division invading Saudi Arabia? 2 divisions invading Saudi Arabia.
See? 2 is the coolest.
I completely agree. I loved the first couple of episodes I saw. Shattner’s character was very entertaining and a great career move. I first began to become skeptical durig the episode where Denny and Allan go fly fishing and decide to help the politically correct enviromentalist with his case in Canadian court. This week’s show will be my last. I cannot take anymore Michale Moore propaganda while we have troops in harms way. Something like this never would have seen the light of day during WW II. It is a shame as the show does have good writing and interesting characters when they stay off politicvally correct subjects. But…what do you expect form the network that created an entire show to promote Hillary for president?
I feel better now. Thanks.
Mac,
In one episode, Shore was talking about lice that attacking Salmon and remarked that they called them “cling-ons” to which Denny Crane quickly said with alarm, “Did you say Klingons?”
Excellent anaysis Frank. I try to avoid shows like “the West Wing” and lefty orient shows. Make my blood boil.
I love “House” and agree with your analysis.
I throw bouquets of roses at your feet, with the exception of the 5 thing..
The number is 3.
Actually I think just the opposite. The Simpsons were not too political, or at least got both sides, but the last few seasons they have not only been not funny, but totally off the LLL cliff.
I stopped watching the Simpsons a few years ago since it is totally LLL. compare the South Park and Simpsons’ episodes of Wal-Mart. The Simpsons repeated the LLL lies like people are “locked in” and not allowed to leave. (When I worked at a grocery story they locked the doors at night too, it was so people didn’t wander in and shoot us, not to keep us slaves).
The south Park Wal-Mart episode was much more balanced.
Also see the South Park treament of assisted suicide and Schiavo. In the end, the “moral” was, “you are right for the wrong reason, and you are wrong for the right reason” which is how a lot of the country felt.
And I think they would not like the lable “conserative” they are much more libertarian. đŸ™‚
What about the Simpsons episode where Lisa gets dance lessons…
Lisa: But my parents are counting on seeing me dance! And I’ve worked ever so hard.
Vicki: I’m sorry, Lisa, but giving everyone an equal part when they’re clearly not equal is called what, again, class?
Class: Communism!
Vicki: That’s right. And I didn’t tap all those Morse-code messages to the Allies till my shoes filled with blood to just roll out the welcome mat for the Reds.
-The Simpsons, “Last Tap Dance In Springfield”
Nice article, Frank. Same reason I don’t watch Law and Order any more. Every stinkin one of them is full of liberal crap and I’m NOT GONNA TAKE IT ANY MORE.
Oh, sorry, got a little worked up for no apparent reason. I feel better now.
I agree that the South Park guys are more libertarian. They’ve said so publicly. They mock both sides for their ridiculousness with daring and gusto. I’ve been a fan of Matt Stone and Trey Parker for years and politically they are the closest analogue I can give to my own views. I was initially turned off by the vulgarity of the South Park series, but it grew on me as I realized that they intentionally blew things out of proportion in order to show the ridiculous logic behind the idiocy everywhere (especially in Hollywood!).
I totally agree with you. What amazes me is that more people can’t see through this liberal brainwashing attempt. It’s getting harder and harder to find anything worth watching on TV.
The problem with David Kelly, the creator, is that he spends WAAAY too much time indoors. He needs to get out more, and I don’t think he watches more than network news. Then again, if I were married to Michelle Pieffer, I don’t think I’d get out much either.
He’s usually fair. In this case, I don’t think he knew enough to present on this topic.
You hit the nail right on the head. I am so sick of Boston Legal pounding the left wing view of everything on the show that I now can’t watch it anymore. And I will miss Spader and Shatner. But a person can only take so much. It is also why West Wing is now called “Left Wing” at our house and I can’t tolerate that anymore either. Law and Order is next I guess. Man, we gotta get cable!
I think people DO see through the political slant of the shows by watching less and less of them. Or am I wrong? I don’t watch any of these shows (DO still watch the West Wing, though just started and wanted to see what they were up to). I think people are refusing to watch them…which is why viewership is down. They blame it on cable. I blame it on free markets determining them undesirable products.
five is coolest because it’s alive.
Goe, shouting ‘no disassemble’ as he changes channels.
I used to be a diehard Law and Order fan, but I don’t watch it much any more unless I’ve got nothing better to do. It used to show more than one viewpoint on a topic and present each of them as valid, but in the last few years it’s gotten so liberal. In particular, the episode that drove me away was one where the DA and his ADA’s are discussing the Iraq war, and the liberal ADA says something like (paraphrasing) “you war supporters are all about killing Muslims and nothing else!” and the supposedly conservative DA’s response was “Damn straight!” This was supposed to be an impartial look at both sides of an issue?? Clearly, the writers did not understand the pro-war viewpoint at all.
And it’s been like that ever since. All the episodes are now either biased like that, or over-the-top sick (I’m looking at YOU, SVU). L&O Criminal Intent wouldn’t be so bad, except that Vincent D’Onofrio’s character is sort of a really unrealistically-smart Sherlock Holmes type. I’m sorry, but only Sherlock Holmes can carry off Sherlock Holmes. And there’s only so much knowledge you can actually expect even a smart character to have at his fingertips. This guy’s a frickin’ cyborg with his head’s homepage permanently set to Google. It’s just not fun to watch.
I am sick of the left wing slant of network TV shows. I am a West Wing junkie, but this past week may be my last episode viewed. It’s bad enough having Janeane Garafalo on, but last week they almost had every character on the show say 60% of all Americans/Catholics/etc. support abortion. Not according to the polls I’m reading! But hey, they seem to think if you say something enough, America will just swallow it. I hate to give up a show I love, but I’m sick of the liberal slant these shows take.
I think the best way to classify Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s politics is from one of their own quotes- “We f#$%^&* hate conservatives, but we really f$%^&#% hate liberals.” Generally, “South Park Republican” means someone who is a social liberal, but strong on national defense, and decidedly un-PC. I stopped watching the Simpsons regularly about 5 years ago, not because of the liberal bias (which was plainly evident), but because the writing went down the toilet. The few I’ve watched here and there since then haven’t changed my opinion. I watched one where Lisa started ranting about global warming, and just shut it off.
Matty G,
That line about communism was one of the funniest lines the Simpsons ever came up with.
I never watch broadcast TV. I only watch things that are in reruns (kind of like only buying “Best of…” CD’s … why suffer through all of the cr*p?).
But, I saw that same show because my wife had it on. I was yelling and screaming at the TV the whole time. Every stupid argument I countered. Every stupid statement made from the conservative side I corrected. It was frustrating like watching old “All in the Family” episodes and realizing that this is how Libs think conservatives really are.
I agree with the Simpsons comment though. One of my favorites was when Sideshow Bob was being dragged off to prison he yelled, “I’ll get out one day! You can’t keep the Democrats out of the White House forever, and then I’m free!”
I tuned in to Boston legal once for just one and only one reason: Monica Potter was in that show. Very disappointed, though, since I barely saw her and had to watch the crap that filled the rest of the show.
Gimme Monica Potter, dammit!
I am sick of the left wing slant of network TV shows. I am a West Wing junkie, but this past week may be my last episode viewed. It’s bad enough having Janeane Garafalo on, but last week they almost had every character on the show say 60% of all Americans/Catholics/etc. support abortion. Not according to the polls I’m reading! But hey, they seem to think if you say something enough, America will just swallow it. I hate to give up a show I love, but I’m sick of the liberal slant these shows take.
Posted by bfol at November 3, 2005 01:18 PM
Yeah, but in some weird twist, the show has a republican nominee that is pro-choice, and a democratic nominee that thinks life begins at conception.
I watch West Wing because I enjoy the interaction between the different characters. Whenever they get too liberal, I just plug my ears or chuck something at the tv.
I’m in complete agreement with Frank, except that The Simpsons was always leftist, even back on the Tracy Ulman show. Boston Legal is an accurate representation of Boston. The population has two groups: Dead patriots and living, smarmy ingrates.
I’ve basically given up television for the last few months. My house is cleaner, my life calmer, and Doom3 is really cool. I wouldn’t mind some news now and then that I don’t have to read, but I find it sensationalistic when people say “did you see that plane land with no landing gear?” and I shrug, because I don’t give a damn about seeing it if everyone walked away (and I used to solo aircraft). The agony or terror of others is not my entertainment (unless they are terrorists or Dick Durbin).
As Ray Bradbury once said at a lecture (I’m paraphrasing from memory) “Throw away your TV! It’s full of murder victims you didn’t kill, rapes you didn’t do, and robberies you didn’t commit.” He’s right. My life has much less negativity, no lefty whinefests without an actual leftist I can talk back to, no Boondocks, Hail to the Chief, or Boston Legal. No Lifetime [of blaming men] Network.
Besides, cable was costing me over $1000 a year, and you can get a lot of DVDs for that.
Well, the problem is, what percentage of conservatives versus liberals think writing TV shows is a good way to spend your life?
And 144 is the best number.
I skipped this episode myself, knowing I like James Spayder and knowing I loved Danny Crane (even though he’s protrayed as a crazy Republican) but I knew those freaking liberal writers were going to twist the issues and I’m guessing from your post that they did it to extreme.
Have you thought of sending your comments in to ABC?? Maybe they’d do a show on how all us bloggers are crazy…like Danny Crane!
Without ever having watched one minute of Boston Legal, I can only add: Hey. The show is set in Boston. As in Boston, Massachusetts. You know…the same state that keeps electing Ted Kennedy, John Kerry and Barnie Frank. Of course they’re whiney liberals.
Now those Mythbusters guys: They may be from San Francisco, but they’re a different breed all-together. No whiney politics and they get paid to blow stuff up.
Oh–one more thing. 5 is nowhere near the coolest number. The coolest number is 333. It’s only half as eeeevil as 666.
Muh ha ha ha.
Crap like this is why I haven’t watched anything on ABC or CBS in probably 3 or 4 years.
People like me are definitely one of the reasons their ratings are plummetting & if a show garners 15 million viewers (or 1 out of 20 people in the country), it’s considered a hit.
I used to watch numerous network shows during prime time but now I’m down to only 3: House & Prison Break on FOX and Surface on NBC.
I frankly don’t care anymore whether these Hollywood idiots continue putting nothing but this crap out there. There are soooo many other options nowadays, let them continue preaching to an ever smaller choir.
Oh & South Park rocks. I had stopped watching it for a couple of years, but started up again last season & they’re back bringin’ the Funny. Haven’t seen last night’s episode yet. Got it recorded on the DVR & will probably watch it later tonight. Any reviews?
I am personally down to 3 shows, House MD, 24 and Arrested Development.
Yeah, Frank, it reminds me of watching MASH, man this show is great…but I wish Alan Alda would shut up w/ the left wing rants!
Laura Ingraham played lots of clips on her show Wed. morning. They were infuriating but not unsurprising. I generally don’t watch television and certainly wouldn’t waste precious time by watching drivel like BL.
By the way, I don’t know which episode of the Simpsons it was, but in one when Sideshow Bob was found guilty in court, one of his parting shots was that the Democrats couldn’t be kept out of the Whitehouse forever and once they were back in he would be out of prison and free to take revenge.
Five is a way cool number! A Roman five (V)is also an English V. Also if you write “chi” in Japanese it looks like the arabic “5” (see.. ち), however the real five or “go” in Japanese looks like 五, well I don’t know what it looks like, but the Chinese and Japanese think it looks like 5.
Sorry, I just think you should begin the “why 5 is the coolest number” post.
I’m no expert, but I think the key to presenting things in a balanced way is to invest only the characters, and not the plot, with a point of view. You’d think a world full of actors, who are trained to convincingly pretend to be evil people or good depending on the story, would understand this.
And 37 is the coolest number. It is always the right answer when you have to guess, and it’s also a good number for hyperbole. As in, “If I’ve seen one crappy show about the death penalty, I’ve seen 37.”
Greg Zywicki
You guys are SOOOO right about Law and Order. I am getting really sick of those shows. Especially Criminal Intent, which used to be my favorite, but I can barely stand it anymore. Now if I watch any of them, I don’t watch the last 5 minutes, since I don’t want to sit through a lecture.
CSI is little better.
Even Battlestar Galactica, which was great the first season, the 2nd made you sit through lecture after lecture on how bad humans are. And then the Zena episode, I felt dirty after watching that one. I saw an hour long special by the writers on how they were so unhappy Americans weren’t picking up their anti-war message. I guess they decided to make it a little more pedantic for us less intelligent Americans.
My favorite cop drama now is The Shield. No criminal coddling on that show!
Matty G that’s an old episode.
I think just the last few seasons have been really bad. Before it wasn’t as much.
Oh if anyone’s interested I put up a “lost Simpson Episode” on my blog today, actually being shown in Saudi Arabia right now.
Jimmyb …. what network is CSI: SVU on, I like all the other CSI shows so adding another might be fun … LOL
My wife doesn’t understand why I don’t like L&O … but you folks nailed it …. liberal moral lessons … and liberals don’t got morals, they got Moore.
All the other shows you’re talking about …. well, if I want looney left rhetoric, I just turn on the network news …. I ceratinly don’t need Hollyweird writers preaching to me. As far as I’m concerned, the more liberal “message” series there are, the better … it keeps me away from TV, and it energizes people who can think …. to oppose liberal “messages”.
oh by “the Zena episode” I meant the BG where Lucy Lawless guest starred.
Xena is spelled with an “X”…uh no, I’m not a fan or anything…
Law and Order (the original) has the same problems.
There was an episode where the DA was going after gun manufacturers. He wins the jury trial, but the judge throws out the verdict for no particular reason.
The conclusion and moral, as spoken by the main character (paraphrasing, but this is close): “Whats the point of passing laws if the courts are clogged with all these conservative judges??”
A real hoot.
I felt dirty after watching that one. I saw an hour long special by the writers on how they were so unhappy Americans weren’t picking up their anti-war message.
So what are the humans supposed to do, roll over and allow the Cylons to exterminate them? Last time I checked, the title was Battlestar Galactica, not The French in Space.
I’d thought the underlying message was that sometimes the fight comes to you — even when you want nothing to do with it — and you sometimes have to fight that fight even if you don’t want to in order to protect those you love. Silly, un-nuanced me!
I’m no expert, but I think the key to presenting things in a balanced way is to invest only the characters, and not the plot, with a point of view.
You got it. This is why Stargate SG-1 and Babylon 5 work whereas Star Trek: Voyager fails. The latter beats you over the head with social messages at the expense of character development. For example, the writers attempted to create an ‘everywoman’ in the personage of Janeway and thus ended up with a very dull character who had no distinct personality of her own. (Plus, that whole thing with Q screamed Mary Sue)
By contrast, B5 and SG-1 certainly have a number of topical issues beneath the surface, but the shows are driven solely by the rich characters that the writers craft. In the end, it’s not the issues themselves that the show delves into, but how the characters react to them.
The thing is that some writers think they are on this glorious mission from Who Knows What to Change the World…while some writers understand that they are nothing more than entertainers.
The worst decline ever IMHO is Saturday Night Live. I simply cannot watch anymore. There used to be just the occasional joke or skit at the sitting administration, whether Rep or Dem, but now every other joke is aimed at the current administration. It’s not that I’m offended politically,it’s just not funny. It used to be comedy. Now it’s thinly veiled political satire. What a shame. Mad TV is what SNL used to be, without the music.
Frank. I’m with you. This was the straw that broke the camel’s back. After seeing the promo for this episode I didn’t even bother watching it.
The irony is that on some of David E. Kelley’s earlier efforts like “Picket Fences” he actually was able to present both sides of issues pretty fairly. I suspect that since the 2000 election he has slipped further into Bush Derangement Syndrome and now he’s just lashing out.
Kelley’s shows tend to start of well, but over time the characters and situations just become so bizarre and implausible that they lose viewship and get cancelled. I’m hoping that’s what happens to this show but I think there may be too many lefties who get into it.
Though I didn’t see the episode I would suspect that the complete lack of merit on this particular case would mean that in real life if would be thrown out of court. Of course, that never stopped Kelley before.
Good post.
You all are hopeless…
Have you not been aware that all TV criminals are white males, and all minority suspects are framed?
This has been going on for at least a decade. Only recently has diversity entered the picture with the inclusion of frustrated white homemaker/hookers/drug dealers and myriad white Christian fanatics.
How naive is Frank J. to state that this is just now boiling over and it’s due to a few myopic liberal writers?
Dude! How many points in the polls might you credit to MTV, BET, ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, PBS, ETC., ETC., ETC. all pushing in the same direction? Probably a third of the population is directly hardwired to most of these outlets four or five hours a day.
Good God people! Where would the left be without this fifth column?
This is a coordinated effort by an indoctrinated army of graduates from an endless number of university communication departments and fine art programs across the country. 95% of these schools are openly hostile to any conservative thought right of Al Sharpton.
And it’s entrenched, it has leverge, it has numbers and momentum…
Sell the house, sell the kids, make peace with Allah or Darwin, it’s over people…
I am SO glad you said that, Pluto’s Dad.
I tried to do Enterprise, got a pro-terrorist episode (Post 9/11!), a poor-persecuted-gay-minority episode (the “Reagan let people die ’cause they deserved it” BS again) … Archer let 100 million people die in the name of evolution; It got so bad couldn’t watch it. Who am I supposed to root for?
I was stoked about Galactica–The miniseries was amazing–And bait-and-switch it is, huh? I feel dirty after nearly episode I watch. It gives me the creeps that people could see existence that way. The baby-machines? Its survival horror, not sci-fi. There is a book I’ve been wanting to read; one sec … ok, don’t know what the forum will do with it tho:
http://www.conservativebookclub.com/products/BookPage.asp?prod_cd=c5548
(Monsters From the Id: The Rise of Horror in Fiction and Film)
–and thinking about this is making me really pine for it.
BTW, great site! Just drifted in from Michelle Malkin, from Ann Coulter, from … etc. đŸ™‚
And er … 3 is cooler, but 5 is special. Ask Johnny đŸ™‚
I like the show E-Ring, though this week’s episode was preposterous. It was about right wing Christians holding hostages at a mosque. The previous shows were pro-military. Maybe they had to throw a bone to their critics.
explain conservative viewpoints to the other [liberal] writers
Sometimes, I think explaining the conservative point of view to a liberal is like describing the color blue to someone who’s been blind for their whole life.
I have to disagree about the second season of BSG. Yes, a lot of humans are shown to be lousy, but that’s in keeping with the show’s primary theme: “Are humans worth saving?” This was annuciated by Olmos’ Adama in the pilot miniseries. To truly ask and answer this question, you have to show the rotten side of human beings as well as the good. The writers do this best with a character like Tigh, who’s a screw-up, but still a screw-up who’s proved his value by saving the fleet a number of times.
One point of agreement, the mid-season cliffhanger episode with Michelle Forbes is pretty damned weak and transparent. I was sorry to see an otherwise good series stumble so awfully.
FOUR man, It’s gotta be four.
I absolutely LOVE watching House… there was one episode where he dinged Republicans and it pissed me off … but House is such a grouchy old goat that he just pisses everyone off.
Other shows that seem somewhat a-political to me are Surface (I’m totally hooked), CSI (the original), and of course Survivor (I admit it…I love it!).
I never even started watching Boston Legan, the original Law & Order, or the West Wing. Why bother?
I agree that the show has gone too far.
I used to watch it, and like it. But the Gun lawsuit episode and the Sue the Army episode have soured me to the show.
I haven’t watched for a couple of weeks now. I don’t miss it. (Well I guess I miss it – if only it wasn’t so leftie)
West Wing is the classic example of this. The show in the early years was well written and the characters were very interesting and worth rooting for. So much so that the occasional rant about gun control or taxing the rich could be overlooked. Now it is basically a fancy version of Hardball or Countdown with a great number of liberal clichĂ©s thrown in about conservatives. And surely they could have gotten Tom Selleck or someone like him to take the Alan Alda part geez…talk about limited imagination. I would vote for Jimmy Smits over Alda.
I’ve never watched Boston Legal because it looks like the Practice starring T.J. Hooker.
And three is the greatest number of all time because how many Stooges were there?
Don’t watch.
The fact is, liberal biases show in entertainment because that is what the public wants to see. It is the marketplace of ideas, and liberal ideas outperform conservative ideas, at least in entertainment. It is the free market at work.
I watched Boston Legal the night that Denny Crane shot a client (child rapist/killer) in the kneecaps. It was fabulous. Until Spayder got all serious in court about global warming not being funny. Vomit. TV off. Go to bed.
FIVE THINGS I LEARNED FROM BOSTON LEGAL THIS SEASON:
1) Corporations are purposely destroying all salmon in Canada
2) “Assalt rifles” are machine guns
3) That clowns are fired for preaching the truth that the world will be ecologically destroyed by economic explotation, but they are fired not because an evil corporation, but because the truth of eco-genocide is not funny.
4) That Boston law firms are not “evil corporations” – they are apparently nonprofits, which pay little in wages and are there to save the world. Lawyers are the little guy.
5) Canada is good, US is evil.
6) A full 20% of the population have sex with animals. If we can accept bestality, why can’t we redefine marriage to let gays get married?
Overall, I found this show to be very right-wing. But then again, I hang out at Indymedia and DailyKos.
Go Dems. Free Mumia & Saddam. GOP= Nazis. Bush Lied.
24 is the coolest number. No, I mean it’s the coolest show. PI is the coolest number.
The zealous missionary leftism in popular culture has truly reached the point of national embarassment. I recently let my subscription to GQ–of all things–lapse, solely because I couldn’t take the relentless–and stupid, so very, very stupid–anti-Bush/Republican slanders anymore. They even put them in the fashion Q&A column now. At least when I cancelled the NYT, it was for a serious political reason.
After considering for a moment, while the specific politics are infuriating, it’s the solemn muffle of preachiness, regardless of the specific purpose, which I find truly unbearable. The combination of crude moral dialectic, childish propaganda, and creepy self-congratulation is guaranteed to make any viewer with a trace of sensitivity or intelligence champion the other side, such as the depression seeing Finian’s Rainbow left me in when I realized I was racially disqualified to join the KKK.
Solemn muffle of preachiness, regardless of the specific purpose; crude moral dialectic; childish propaganda; and creepy self-congratulation.
Hey, isn’t this Dick Wolf’s resume?
I, too, was a die-hard Law & Order fan, from the days when Chris Noth still had his boyish good looks. But after last night’s episode, I’m done. I kept giving it another chance, but it’s over. All the complexities and naturalism of the characters, all the real legal issues, all the inventive plotlines…gone.
I’ve written numerous complaining e-mails to the various shows that we started watching and enjoyed until they shifted into their Leftist Shrill Mode.
My husband and I have stopped watching many formerly entertaining shows and about to drop Boston Legal. Do they deliberately hook viewers at the outset in order to propagandize them later on? It happens so often that it must be more than accidental.
We “live” on the internet and by talk radio. We subscribe to Wall Street Journal and National Review for good editiorials and news summations.
We spare ourselves the tragedy tv specials, the news accounts of rapes, abductions, murders — not-to-mention weather hysteria. Much happier.
..the irritation at Boston Legal’s “sledgehammer liberal wit” (is there any other kind of liberal wit?) can always be tempered by the fact Candice Begren — the maven who played the darling of liberal hate-Quayle set back in the early 90s — has become a desiccated old codger with an exploded, cellulite-ridden figure cloaked in voluminous (and hideous) Hillary-esque pantsuits, a splotchy complexion, and your grandmothers’ purple lips.
..and that’s when she’s made up for the shows; one can only imagine what a fright she must be in person!
I like Boston Legal very much, but this season has been much more political than the last. The thing that annoys me is that they trot out these unrealistic straw men to represent conservative positions; their writers don’t really understand what they are doing, and so the whole plot suffers.
The episode from this week (aired 11/15) was decidedly non-political, though. I hope this marks the beginning of a trend.
E-ring his about to do the wame garbage. Last week’s show had a snide comment from good old lefty Dennis Hopper’s character defaming Linda Tripp. This week’s will be all about, you guessed it, White Supremacists as the “terror threat” we need to deal with.
AND, recall a show on TNT called “Wanted”? They too, had a “run in” with “skin heads” and referred to them as “Young Republicans.”
How about Al Qaeda and the PLO as “Practicing Democrats”?
Charles the Good
South Park is the last bastion of Ethical discussion in America.
I have been a big Boston Legal fan since the beginning and I wish it was still on Sunday night after Desperate Housewives. The writing is fresh,funny and witty. At least it was until the Iraq episode. That show was pure crap. If I want to see troop strength and body armour argued I’ll watch Hannity & Colmes. I wrote ABC. Will they get the message?
I have officially stopped watching Boston Legal. I love the show, but this season they have jumped off the Left Cliff. I cannot enjoy the show anylonger. I still watch CSIs and Law and order shows, but they are starting to annoy me as well. They have just not gotten as bad as Boston Legal.
very interesting comments here. i agree with points about many of the shows mentioned here. SNL is worthless these days with Tina Fey (a flaming libtard .. but hot) writing most of this liberal crap and thinking we are all laughing with her…hell, we are turing off the set uninterested.
Boston Legal has officially jumped the shark in one season. it is now impossible to watch; same Sorkin’s podium and most of the NBC lineup.
Let’s instead look at the other side of the coin. Can anyone name shows (network or 1-100 cable) with a decidedly Conservative Republican slant? I’ll stay here for suggestions. Personally, I can’ think of any.
also, MJ. you are a freaking idiot but typical libtard. Free Saddam? GOP=Nazi? are you insane or just being funny?
my mistake MJ. i meant to flame Educated Compassionate Progressive
Anyone who watched the last season of “The Practice” will agree that David Kelley does suffer from BDS. In “Boston Legal”, it looks like he just kept the nonsense coming.
The first few episodes of Boston Legal really annoyed me, but for some reason I liked the characters. I look forward to watching it now because I know what I’m getting. It helps if you think of it as a comedy, not a drama (which I think is accurate.) The LLL crap falls victim to my “At Home” laugh track and I look forward to seeing how insane they can make Shatner’s conservative character. When they dressed him up like Paul Revere a few weeks back, I knew I had to keep watching because he’ll be naked in a fountain somewhere before the show gets cancelled.
I loved West Wing (again, because of the characters), but that was before 9-11. Now I find it deplorable.
No show, in my opinion, can beat “Monk”. It is a treat.
I grew up on MAS*H. When I was a kid, I was politically unaware of everything. Alan Alda appealed to my siblings and me, I think, BECAUSE we were ignorant children. He appeals to the LLL now because THEY are ignorant children.
Not long after I watched the Boston Legal episode, I watched an E.R. episode in which a woman giving grace at the dinner table said bless the soldiers, then blamed them being there on a lying president. Last E.R. episode I’ll watch.
“Go Dems. Free Mumia & Saddam. GOP= Nazis. Bush Lied.”
–Posted by: Educated Compassionate Progressive
You are really perverse. It’s laughable that you feel the need to call yourself “educated” when you are completely ignorant. If that quote represents what you really think, I truly pity you.
Free Saddam?
Putz.
I concur with your thoughts on Boston Legal. I was very put off by David E. Kelly toward the end of The Practice. He threw his political points in where they were not even pertinent to what the story was telling. (never watched the show until Spader was brought in). I like Boston Legal but can do without the politics. There are many stories to tell without bringing it up.
The season opener of South Park was by far the greatest breath of fresh air I have had the pleasure of absorbing! It spoofed not only Katrina/NOLA, but the dialogue surrounding it. Blame Bush and Global Warming. It put into perspective just how silly the rhetoric becomes!
John K, from the acceptance speeches of Spader and Shatner, it appears that Kelly needs to start spending some time on the set speaking to the cast. Both slammed him at the emmies by saying that they may have said hello twice!
Thanks for your comments regarding the silliness of damaging the entertainment value of a show by injecting so much political vitriol. I gave up on CBS’ Cold Case earlier this year after it seemed every show was about some sexual minority who ended up dead because of mouth-breathing bigots. Click here to read “COLD CASE Cancelled — On My TV.”
A so called Southpark conservative is either a libertarian or a politically incorrect liberal. The level of grossness in the language is a good indication of liberalism. Also who are Boston Legal and their ilk gonna love after the next election when Paul Martin and the Libs get booted from power in Canada? Their minority coalition is hanging by a thread. They’ve lost so much support they’ve been reduced to promising to reduce taxes! in Canada!
Educated Compassionate Progressive,
If you were being sarcastic with your previous post, I apologize for my misinterpretation. Seriously.
If you were not sarcastic, though, you are still a putz.
Either way, have a nice evening.
Best Simpsons political quote was, of course, when ex-con Sideshow Bob runs as a Republican for mayor against corrupt Democratic (redundant much?) incumbent Mayor Quimby.
“Your guilty conscience may move you to vote Democrat, but deep down inside you long for a Republican to lower taxes, brutalize criminals and rule you like a king!”
David E. Kelley Productions
c/o Manhattan Beach Studios
1600 Rosecrans Avenue,
Manhattan Beach, CA 90266-3708
Ya gots yer Military Channel,
Ya gots yer CourtTV (Forensic Files, YAY!)
Pretty soon yer gonna have the Military History Channel.
The hell ya watchin’ network teevee fer?