Posted on 06/07/2010 10:29:46 AM PDT by inkling
Television has been dismissed as a cultural wasteland, and for conservatives, it's a barren wasteland indeed, especially over the last quarter-century. Joe Friday doesn't save the world from hippies every week: Today, the hippies are the heroes and conservatives (especially conservative Christians) are the villains.
But there is still hope. There are still good conservative television shows out there, you just have to look for them.
The Rules
No miniseries.
Basic cable or broadcast TV only.
No documentaries.
No news or opinion shows.
No sports.
Ideally, it should have DVD sets available for purchase. Good TV. No "Highway to Heaven" or the like, they must be shows that you can talk about with some measure of pride.
25. Chuck
Adam Baldwin's Casey is one of the greatest scene-stealers in recent TV history. Any show with a character who keeps a picture of Ronald Reagan on his desk had to make the list.
24. Pitchmen
Hard-working, everyday Americans coming up with great ideas, and then working even hard to make them real. Capitalism at its very best, and a great testament to the American dream.
23. Hunter
Dirty Harry with an NFL star as the lead actor. Moral relativism? Rights of the accused? Talk to the .44, baby. Works for me.
22. The Goode Family
Ooooh so close. With Mike Judge at the trigger and the silliness of political correctness as its target, The Goode Family had the potential to be a cornerstone of conservative comedy. The director was willing, but alas, the scripts were weak.
21. Magnum P.I.
A show with a lead character who's a well-adjusted, happy Vietnam veteran...
(Click link for full list...)
(Excerpt) Read more at exurbanleague.com ...
An off-the-wall honorable mention here: Star Trek, The Next Generation.
The first couple of seasons were painfully New-Agey (and sometimes just plain painful), but later eps had several outstanding episodes touting conservative themes.
One of my very favorites was the two-parter “Birthright”, in which Worf refuses not only to give up his values and way of life to fit in with the touchy-feely, kumbayah Romulan-Klingon prison camp, but also works to undermine the camp itself.
Hogan’s Heroes
Capitalism at its best. From within the confines of a Nazi POW camp Hogan and his group were able to sell anything from nylons to whiskey, and made a nice profit.
Oh! and F-Troop
Sarge and Agarn could teach Donald Trump a thing or two about capitalism.
Before the cylons attacked in the pilot of the miniseries he was at some ceremony or other - something to do with the decommisioning of the Galactica. The woman who was education secretary who became president was there. He went off on his speech about Moral Relativism and maybe the Cylons were mean because the humans were - made me sick to my stomach. That President chic stood up and clapped awwww. Adam changed his tune after the attack there was a funny interaction when he called the President “that school teacher”.
again after the pilot i watched an episode here and there and all i kept seeing was liberal parables.
maybe i caught it at off times but i did not see one iota of conservatism
“Burn Notice”. How can you argue with a show where the female lead says, “Well, in my experience, if something seems to good to be true, it’s best to shoot it just in case?”
That was a fun show. The complete series is available via Netflix.
Well, I liked that his ‘goody times’ speech was blasted literally out of the sky. Remember, this was a post 9/11 show from the start. It happened to echo the first show as well, a bolt from the blue attack after years of peace and people got complacent just like we did. That’s how I took it at least, it had mixes of both lib and con, but a balance of con/lib and mostly con kept them going.
I’m probably gonna get booted for this but here goes...
How about Kitchen Nightmares by Gordon Ramsay? Granted, he’s a foul-mouthed, crude SOB and it’s certainly not for the kids BUT looking past all that, he’s a true free-market capitalist who’s not above holding others accountable for doing a half-assed job.
ok, I’m running for cover now.
24, Firefly. And The Big Bang Theory is ROFL funny.
I remember when the writers of NCIS went all pro-muslim
on one episode. The bad guy was an evangelical christian
brother who killed his older brother who had converted to
muslim (religion-so called). Not so conservative in my
opinion.
While Quincy was cool on a CSI level, it almost always seemed like he was on a mission to get more government control/intervention (rafts on airplanes, drunk driving laws, etc...) not more personal responsibility. Of course, as a kid, I didn’t know any better, I just liked the show.
I can’t look at Bob Crane without thinking of him with his head bashed in. :(
It turned to crap with the third season. That’s when it became a parable about Iraq, with the Cylons as the US. They even had one say, “Did you think the humans would welcome us with hearts and flowers?” Even when they got back away from current politics, it was just not very good from that point until the end.
Like That 70’s Show, the last couple of seasons were sub-par compared to the first couple of seasons.
Outside of this discussion, one show I like and catch it when I can on RTV is ‘It Takes A Thief’. There was an episode where Robert Wagner, Ricardo Montalban and Bill Russell (yes that one - the Celtic) were in it. Wow, what a combo!
That’s one I let the kiddies stay up on weekends & watch - my oldest (off at college, still watches when she’s home for a visit)
Red had some of the best lines in all of television
Harold! You gotta stop reading those history books that were written by Joan Biaz."
"This tire went flat when it drove over a nail or a yawning animal or something."
Plus he made a zamboni out of a K car
I’m not sure Family Ties was trying to be conservative. They let Alex have some good moments here and there, but his views were usually shown to be cold and incorrect. Plus, I knew he wasn’t a real conservative when he was in a sweat trying to decide whether his ultimate conservative hero was Reagan or Nixon.
I got the DVDs not long after release. My wife learned to love the series too.
NCIS: Get rid of the lawyer (ick), get back to supporting the US military. I think the writers are trying to attract the Oprah crowd, forgetting about us folks that cling to our God and guns. (By the way, our daughter classifies programs and movies by a ratio of GUNS, GUTS and GUYS).
Tour of Duty is missing from that list. I'd make an argument for The Sentinel as well. Human Target looks promising from what I've seen so far.
I'd call 24 more balanced than conservative until its most recent years where it tilts left. The most conservative part of 24 and what it did best is the dealing with the bureaucrats. I thought Jack himself was apolitical, a soldier.
Of the list, Magnum PI is about the best there was on that. It was respectful of veterans, the cast comes off as regular people.
I’d put Deep Space Nine in there. Sisko was the least PC of any captain other than Kirk. Plus, I might not have been a fan of what Ron Moore did with Battlestar, but he injected capitalism directly into the Star Trek world on DS9. Plus, religion finally got a somewhat fair shake, even if it wasn’t our own (though, Sisko’s father did something shocking on one episode—he quoted the Bible).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.