# Most American TV show **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 2, 2018, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159 "2018-07-02T14:31:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/41 "2018-07-02T21:12:42Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > The Most American TV Show can’t star a foreigner. So no _Star Trek_, no _24_, no _Band of Brothers_, no _Bonanza_, no _Firefly_, no _Homicide_, no _Perry Mason_. You forgot _ **Designated Survivor** _. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/42 "2018-07-02T21:13:04Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > 😃 I’d clearly been whooshed. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/43 "2018-07-02T21:19:27Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Bonanza or The Rifleman > > Nothing like a western to scream America! That was my thought too. While there are certainly westerns set in other countries, in my mind the genre is overwhelmingly associated with the American West. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/44 "2018-07-02T21:23:36Z")
I’d string a bunch of Super Bowl games together. Actually, given our notoriously short national attention span, I wouldn’t even bother with entire games, just highlights. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/45 "2018-07-02T21:46:29Z")
> [@Sir\_T-Cups](#): > > Bonanza or The Rifleman > > Nothing like a western to scream America! How about Gunsmoke? That’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of a television western. Plus, it ran for 20 years on network TV. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/46 "2018-07-02T21:51:47Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Another vote for ST:TOS. I think it represented the American Values we strive to show. inclusiveness, lack of prejudice\*, fighting for the best ideals, protector of the oppressed. They did the right thing, even when the right thing was hard. They were willing to die to defend those ideals. You left out “We \*insist \*you let us help you, so you can be as good as we are!” :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/47 "2018-07-02T22:37:03Z")
Monster Jam. Ain’t nuthin more 'merrican than monster trucks! Unless they were being driven by bald eagles wearing camo. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 10:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/48 "2018-07-02T22:54:26Z")
The MOST American TV show is obvious. [Justified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_(TV_series)) ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [July 2, 2018, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/49 "2018-07-02T23:13:36Z")
> [@Typo\_Negative](#): > > The MOST American TV show is obvious. > > [Justified](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Justified_(TV_series)) Well, that is the most “Kentucky” of television shows (unless you are actually from Kentucky in which case you point out that the piney Southern California exteriors look nothing like the green hills of Kentucky) but it isn’t particularly American, given the thematic basis in the intrigues of Medieval and Renaissance Italy. A great show to be sure, but it doesn’t reflect much of the “American experience” and more than “Deadwood” does, despite the theatrical trappings of Americana. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![janis\_and\_c0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/janis_and_c0/32/21_2.png) [@janis\_and\_c0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/janis_and_c0)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/50 "2018-07-03T01:01:14Z")
Another vote for the Simpsons ---
**Author:** ![asterion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/4da419/32.png) [@asterion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/asterion)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/51 "2018-07-03T01:17:13Z")
I’d think Cops. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 6:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/52 "2018-07-03T06:24:59Z")
> [@asterion](#): > > I’d think Cops. FISH Cops. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 6:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/53 "2018-07-03T06:59:34Z")
Baywatch Somebody figured out that they could pander to the worldwide market with David Hasselhoff and a bunch of women in bathing suits running in slow motion. _That_ is America. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/54 "2018-07-03T13:03:20Z")
It’s really remarkable just how white most of these suggestions are. Not only do most of them have only white characters among the main cast, many of them don’t have any non-white characters at all. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/55 "2018-07-03T13:38:27Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s really remarkable just how white most of these suggestions are. Not only do most of them have only white characters among the main cast, many of them don’t have any non-white characters at all. WTF? Trying to make this some sort of politically correct statement is stupid. The nation’s 63% white today, with no one other minority topping out over 17% (hispanics). And historically it’s been even more overwhelming; until the 1990 census, the percentage of white people was above 80%, and being closer to 90% for most of the twentieth century. Even going as far back as 1790, the percentage was never below 80%. So it’s not at all surprising or even racist that the media of the time would reflect that. And it’s also not surprising that “white” stuff would also be _the_ archetypical “American” stuff as as result either, as much as some people like to bitch about how “white” stuff is or was. ---
**Author:** ![Hook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecae2f/32.png) [@Hook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hook)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/56 "2018-07-03T13:43:01Z")
The Lawrence Welk Show. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/57 "2018-07-03T14:04:55Z")
> [@Hook](#): > > The Lawrence Welk Show. Doesn’t get much whiter than that! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/58 "2018-07-03T15:05:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It’s really remarkable just how white most of these suggestions are. Not only do most of them have only white characters among the main cast, many of them don’t have any non-white characters at all. Is that the problem of the SD, or Hollywood? Hard to pick primarily non-white shows when there aren’t that many, compared to the long history of TV. People have already commented on the unrealistic Whiteness of Mayberry, while acknowledging that the show is very “American”. Maybe that’s the core of the question - to an outside observer, maybe all-white shows really are the true reflection of “America”. America pretends POC don’t exist, or is too scared of offending anyone (and losing sponsors) to actually make shows with non-white characters. “America - the Bottom Line is Tops!” That about sums it up. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/59 "2018-07-03T16:04:15Z")
> [@bump](#): > > WTF? Trying to make this some sort of politically correct statement is stupid. I don’t think that’s what **Chronos** was doing. As I read it, he was just making an observation (IMHO a legitimate and significant one), not claiming that it was surprising or racist. And, IMHO, it is worth doing a little soul-searching to see if, deep down, we consider some people, settings, or subcultures “more American” than others, and why. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2018, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-american-tv-show/817159/60 "2018-07-03T16:15:00Z")
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