Start the Revolution Without Us

The cruel reality of Popular Entertainment is that it needs to be entertaining before it can be popular. Your mileage may vary with the next tentpole comic-book movie to desecrate your local multiplex, but as the producers of the Spider-Man musical have learned, it’s not as easy as it looks.

Which is why we’ve never had much patience with the Liberal Hollywood Conspiracy complaint. Yes, Norman Lear wore his politics on his sleeve, but All in the Family was funny, and Rob Reiner certainly wasn’t an untouchable youth hero. For that matter, jumping ahead a generation, we thoroughly enjoyed the fourth season of 24, which was so wonderfully over-the-top that we felt deprived if Keefer didn’t shoot somebody in the thigh on a given Monday night.

And hey, we still enjoy Mamet, even if he is a fucking asshole.

All of which is to say, the well-intentioned producers behind a new direct-to-DVD TV series are missing the point:

Those who belong to the conservative movement known as the Tea Party are acutely aware of the power of popular culture, so they have been cautiously delving into the creation of entertainment that promotes their values. It usually manifests itself in snippets of online political parody. Coming Sunday, though, is perhaps the most ambitious effort yet: A “TV show” created by a couple of Tea Partiers who have formed their own production company.

The one-hour drama is called Courage, New Hampshire, and it premieres Sunday at a movie theater in Monrovia, Calif. Co-hosting the red carpet activities are Saturday Night Live alumna Victoria Jackson and radio personality Tony Katz, both of whom regularly speak at Tea Party rallies.

See, teabaggers love the Revolution, so setting a show during the Revolution should appeal to teabaggers, right? Especially if the dude who put up $120,000 for the pilot is also the writer and director. He’s an “experienced Patrick Henry impersonator”, so you know it’s a quality production.

And if naming the lead heroine “Sarah Pine” sounds like another Sarah you might know, that must be just a happy coincidence. Never mind that Sarah Pine is also the September 2009 Employee of the Month at the oh-so-NSFW Playboy Blog.

Tea Partiers Create Their Own TV Show and Production Company [Hollywood Reporter]

nojo
7:00 am • Monday • June 27, 2011
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9 Comments

ManchuCandidate

7:42 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

Maybe if it were like Deadwood?
Oh right… no nudity, swearing or really edgy topics like tax increases.

8:04 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

TJ/ I know many of you here loathe sport. Don’t blame you, but the story of the Los Angeles Dodgers (sorry DB) being used as a piggy bank by well connected assholes (who did not pay a single cent in income tax either) is a microcosm of what is happening in the non sport world.

http://itsaboutthemoney.net/archives/2011/06/21/commissioner-selig-frank-mccourt-must-go-a-petition/

So tell me why should we lower taxes on the rich?

al2o3cr

9:37 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

Nah, the whole “Hollywood liberal” thing is mostly a dog-whistle since it’s no longer considered appropriate (even for wingnuts) to drone on and on about the “Jew-run Hollywood” nonsense. It’s a minor variant of the GOP strategy in the ’60s that switched out “we gotta keep them n-words down” for “we need LAW and ORDER in our communities”.

Although I seem to recall that some folks on TPM pointed out that there *weren’t* really any British regulars in NH – as if teahadis gave two shits about historical accuracy.

Serolf Divad

9:54 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

I’m looking forward to the episode in which Paul Revere rides around warning the British not to take the colonists guns while ringing a bell.

redmanlaw

10:00 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

@Serolf Divad: @Serolf Divad: Mellbell and I are waiting for the episode where Paul Revere starts a band and records “Indian Reservation” to win the Red Indian over from the French.

Walking Still

11:19 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

@redmanlaw: I’m sure some out-of-work Oakland football players are available to be his “Raiders”.

TJ/ Jamie Sommers /TJ

11:57 am • Monday • June 27, 2011

Good news, everybody. (And good morning).

The Supreme Court just struck down Arizona’s campaign finance law, a law that allowed the far right wing to run (and win) without having to bow down to the moderating influence of the C0fC’s money.

karen marie has her eyes tight shut

4:04 pm • Monday • June 27, 2011

“snippets of online political parody”

If by this the writer means “vaguely resembles” or “intended as,” then yes.

Dodgerblue

5:32 pm • Monday • June 27, 2011

@ManchuCandidate: I am vacationing in your excellent country for the next two weeks, and I wom’t be letting that asshole McCourt screw up my trip.