Why do TV shows get more liberal as time goes on?
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  Why do TV shows get more liberal as time goes on?
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Author Topic: Why do TV shows get more liberal as time goes on?  (Read 722 times)
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BRTD
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« on: February 12, 2015, 12:58:37 AM »

I just noticed this almost always tends to happen. Examples:

The Simpsons: Very apolitical show at its start, and in fact Ned Flanders was never intended to be an evangelical religious right conservative when it began, he was actually in the early episodes someone who could very well be a Democrat and was more of the very whitebread "moral and wholesome" mainline Protestant type. The fact that Homer hated him so much was actually a swipe against Homer because he was an idiot. Then the Simpsons became more hackish toward liberalism (alas this is also when it started to suck) and then Flanders became a strawman for the religious right as well.

Family Guy: Wasn't political at all at the start, just a few gags mocking conservatives, and Brian was just portrayed as a rational voice of reasons than a liberal hack. But lately now it's become a left-wing propaganda outlet and Brian is just a spewer of liberal talking points. Unlike the Simpsons though, the show has actually greatly improved.

30 Rock: The first season struck me as having a lot less of the "Jack is a Republican and that's why he's so terrible!" stuff in it, in fact Jack was portrayed as being the voice of reason in contrast to Liz as often as the inverse. But this diminished later and it became more of a liberal hackery outlet.

The Daily Show: Started out as a mostly apolitical parody of trash celebrity gossip and tabloid news shows and didn't cover political issues much at all unless they were big news. This changed under Stewart, but until Obama took office it was more of a center-left show that just mocked the right wingers more because Bush made them much easier targets, (although Stewart and the writers were pretty clearly against the Iraq War from the start and never shyed away from this, even when it was popular.) But now it's become a pretty standard liberal hack show.

Beavis and Butthead: Wasn't political in the slightest in the original incarnation. The revival season definitely was.

The only big exception I can think of is American Dad, but that's because it started as a clear liberal propaganda hack show that used Stan as a right wing strawman but he developed and became more of a well rounded character, and even then it became more of a vaguely center-left animated show like the early Family Guy rather than some Moderate Hero or apolitical show (but of course it'd be rather difficult to keep putting in the original Stan Smith once Bush left office, reinventing him as a Tea Party-style conservative just wouldn't be the same.)
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EarlAW
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« Reply #1 on: February 12, 2015, 10:46:43 AM »

Audiences have become much more liberal.  Also, the writers wouldn't have wanted to alienate potential viewers in the first few seasons. Once shows establish the political leanings of its fan base, then it can be more preachy.
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King
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« Reply #2 on: February 12, 2015, 11:40:20 AM »

Even your boys Matt Stone and Trey Parker have been lenient to Obama.
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IceSpear
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« Reply #3 on: February 12, 2015, 03:40:25 PM »

Family Guy: Wasn't political at all at the start, just a few gags mocking conservatives, and Brian was just portrayed as a rational voice of reasons than a liberal hack. But lately now it's become a left-wing propaganda outlet and Brian is just a spewer of liberal talking points. Unlike the Simpsons though, the show has actually greatly improved.

I'm still a Family Guy fan after all these years, but...no.
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Badger
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« Reply #4 on: February 15, 2015, 01:59:55 AM »

Isn't your question disproved by your hatred of South Park? Wink
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NewYorkExpress
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« Reply #5 on: February 15, 2015, 02:10:31 AM »

South Park and Family Guy are shows that seem to skewer everybody...

I keep thinking of Law & And Order, actually... the topics discussed got generally more political (and left-leaning) over the twenty seasons it was on the air, and there were only two known Republican Characters (played by Angie Harmon and Fred Thompson), so they started out left-of center and moved even further left (which might be why it was canceled at the end, only tying Gunsmoke's record).
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