How would you characterize The Goode Family? On the one hand, the Goodes are seen as moronic losers because of their extreme liberal-environmental politics, and their ultra-liberal friends are either evil or laughable. On the other hand, the major conservative character is worse, and the Goodes are portrayed as nice people who are just trying to do the right (no pun intended) thing, and would be great neighbors and friends.
So I don’t know.
Actually, I don’t think this is true. They are the definition of posers, I think…they have this idea in their head of how they want to be perceived, but don’t really act that way when push comes to shove. Remember what Lily’s like in the flash forwards?
Yeah, I think Boston Legal, especially in the last couple seasons, wins. The viewpoints of Brad and Denny (especially Denny) are never, ever taken seriously. And they even ran Brad off before they went off the rail. I think they removed his character because they knew the direction the show was going to take, and they couldn’t realistically keep the “sensible” conservative around on the show.
IMO the social conservative bias in Juno was clear. For example, note how the “planned parent” stand in she went to (or was it even a stand in? Was it portrayed as an actual planned parenthood clinic?) was portrayed as cold nasty and uncaring.
Roseanne was working-class liberal.
I’m not saying it’s moronic to discuss the ideas. I’m saying it’s foolish to take the show as a straightforward debate on terrorism, security, and torture, or to say that because Jack Bauer tortures people at the drop of a hat, the creators believe people should be tortured indiscriminately.
As far as Juno goes, I always felt the clinic scene was pretty cheap and was a halfhearted explanation for why the character didn’t have an abortion, not an indictment of abortion or Planned Parenthood in general. In terms of the story there does have to be a reason that this girl decides not to have an abortion when she has every reason to get one. After that scene, the reason is that nobody cares about her pregnancy except her.
The scene is pretty lazy I think it’s typical of Juno’s failings.
Oddly enough, I’d say the Simpsons. As pointed out by another poster, the show is quite liberal overall, and certainly makes fun of Ned Flanders. However, if you take a hard look at what he actually does and says, I’d argue that he comes off as (with the possible exception of Marge) the best person in Springfield.
Sheldon Cooper’s Mom, played by Laurie Metcaff (sp?) ROSANNE’s “sister”.
cjepson- I did think of Flanders, who in the earlier eps was a lot cooler, even brewed his own beer. He’s certainly shown affectionately & is the best person in Springfield- maybe he’s portrayed as respectfully as they show anyone there except for Marge & Lisa, the real “moral centers” of the show.
A rich New York liberal?
Anyone who thinks that KotH is a conservative show is missing the point, I would say. It’s a friendly satire of right wing, middle class America. Despite poking fun at some liberal characters - animal rights activists and so on - the message is generally socially liberal in the end.
Before there was West Wing there was Sports Night EVERY character in that show was liberal and had a running competition on who was holier then thou. The early shows were particularly bad at this. One show involved Dan doing nothing but going around trying to figure out what charity to give to and so each character got a chance to talk about THEIR wonderful charity. I hope I’m not getting confused but I’m pretty sure that’s the one that ends with Dan learning a lesson while sharing a sandwich with a homeless man. Note: I love Sports Night btw but it did have some horrible preachy moments.
I’d also like to chime in and say I don’t agree about Juno either. Just because she doesn’t get an abortion doesn’t make it conservative. That flat doesn’t make sense. She doesn’t really get ‘punished’ for her underage sex. She’s adopting the kid out to a woman who’s getting a divorce. Hardly a bastion of social conservative views.
Dharma and Greg is a show I used to watch (yes I know it’s crap) and I always felt that conservative Greg usually was the one that had to bend to liberal Dharma on most occasions. Though in that show it wasn’t really about issues then about lifestyle.
I thought that was a balanced scene. Sure, the planned parenthood building was cold and sterile (I’ve never been in one, but the ones I’ve seen do look like that), but the Christian pro-life girl was an idiot spouting off talking points she didn’t even understand.
King of the Hill is a show about real people. Odd that for years the most realistic family sitcom was animated (acknowleding that Peggy survived skydiving with no chute). Most things are more complicated than liberal/conservative. Even in a rapidly growing Texas exurb.
I also remember an episode of *Angel *in which some guys were infected by a…virus? Something suitably magical, that caused them to, as one character said, “unleash the misogyny inherent in every man.” That statement was left unchallenged, sounds pretty leftist to me.
Some mention must be made of the two great dueling 50s sci-fi movies, The Thing from Another World (The alien/Communist menace is a threat and diplomacy is useless! Kill it kill it kill it!) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (The alien wants us to quit our aggression, but we shoot him because we are xenophobes and just can’t get along). Of course, there is that authoritarian aspect of TDESS, with the alien willing to eliminate us if we expand our aggression to the interplanetary level and Gort as the interplanetary coalition’s perfect policeman…
Blue Collar anything (comedy tour or the tv show) is something I’d consider pretty right wing…
Nah. Some of the humor was from a conservative standpoint, especially Larry the Cable Guy, but most of it was more Good Ol’ All-American Bad Taste.
“Pretty right wing” really should only be used to describe stuff Nazis would find funny, except that once you take out the Jew and Slav jokes you’re left with Good Ol’ All-German Bad Taste, like fart jokes. And more fart jokes. Then a beautiful woman comes onstage with her bosom falling out of her top, and farts.
The yuppie couple broke up because Jason Bateman was too juvenile for fatherhood and a white-collar job, and it’s presented as a happy ending when Jennifer Garner opts to adopt the baby by herself. That’s not a socially conservative movie.
Indeed, are there any shows in prime time other than The Simpsons that show main characters regularly going to church?
False equivalence. Saw a bumpersticker today for my my wife and eldest daughter, “Proud member of the religious left.”
Or have God as a recurring character? 
I am still trying to figure out whether the Brady Bunch was left or right wing. On one hand, Mike, the father seemed to make an ungodly amount of money as a regular architect so that he could support eight family members and a live-in maid. They were close to aristocracy and even managed to take fancy vacations. OTOH, the kids were always pulling some type of hippy-trippy crap like forming a band. Don’t get me started on Greg’s Johnny Bravo thing. The real-life cast congealed into a virtual love-fest at some points so this one is a toss-up.
The original Scooby Doo is a real contender for the left-wing side. They lived in a virtual commune in the Mystery Machine van. Shaggy was a pothead although it is unclear if Scooby was too.