Karen Townsend
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The entertainment elites just can’t get enough of painting President Trump and his administration as racists. In the latest episode of Stephen Colbert’s Showtime animated cartoon, Our Cartoon President, President Trump is proudly racist and has to learn to tone down his rhetoric as the campaign for his re-election in 2020 continues.
I knew that everything was going too smoothly with the fourth and final season of Lifetime's Bachelorette-style drama UnREAL, all 8 episodes of which were unceremoniously dropped on Hulu on July 17 with the announcement that the show was canceled. Sure enough, the very last episode of the series included a main character’s abortion, so everything went back to normal for this dumpster fire of a television show.
In a move that shows the desperation of the writers of Stephen Colbert’s Showtime animated series, the episode of Our Cartoon President that aired on July 29 shows Vice President Mike Pence confessing to an affair to take the heat off Trump. Pence confesses in a press conference after a trip to Mar-a-Lago with the president and his cabinet.
What better way to squash a young, woke bisexual woman’s enthusiasm for being a spokesperson for a skin care company than to tell her that the company’s CEO contributed money to the Family Research Center? That is exactly what happened in the July 24 episode of Freeform’s The Bold Type titled “Plan B,” when the FRC is called one of those "racist, anti-LGBTQ groups."
The July 17 episode of Freeform’s The Bold Type exposed the unwillingness of anti-gun leftists to accept gun owners, even if one is their best friend. Budding writer Jane Sloan was traumatized at a very young age by the Columbine school shooting and she is horrified to learn that her roommate, Sutton, owns a shotgun.
Taking a swipe at the Democrats as the return of Our Cartoon President aired on Showtime, Stephen Colbert’s animated show has House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer come up with a new slogan for Democrats in the 2018 elections. The slogan “We're Sorry” was hatched to win back voters on the July 15 episode titled “Russia Investigation.”
It was all about social justice during the 2018 BET Awards on June 24, hosted by Jamie Foxx.
Actor Chris Pratt accepted the 2018 MTV Movie & TV Awards show’s Generation Award and delivered a powerful and moving speech to the young audience that was sorely needed. Taped on June 16, the show was broadcast June 18 and Pratt’s speech alone was worth slogging through the rest of the show.
It only took two episodes for the second season of TNT’s over the top dramedy series, Claws, to broach the topic of abortion. The storyline played out with some bizarre twists, including the young woman wondering if she is carrying “the next Obama” but then callously declaring she "D&C'd that shit, bitch!"
These days, what’s an awards show without some politics mixed in, right? The latest example happened June 10 during the 72nd Annual Tony Awards on CBS, honoring the best on Broadway. The three-hour show started off relatively tame in comparison to some of the Hollywood extravaganzas but nonetheless, they persisted.
Has liberal Hollywood just completely run out of original material? Season four of Netflix’s Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, a ditzy, nonsensical comedy series, makes me think so. The first six episodes released on May 30 are randomly sprinkled with snide comments against President Trump and conservatives in general, and even beats the dead horse of white privilege.
In the May 22 season finale of ABC’s Roseanne, titled “Knee Deep,” Roseanne is in need of knee surgery but the family doesn’t have the money to cover it. Desperate to find a way to bid jobs cheaper to win contracts, Dan decides to hire illegal aliens for the first time.
The 2018 Miss USA pageant aired May 21 on Fox. Hosted by the husband and wife team of Nick and Vanessa Lachey, got political by delving into feminism, gender inequality, and #MeToo.
During the May 16 episode of Fox’s Star, ICE agents were portrayed as unfeeling ogres, as is currently the style this season on network television shows, but this one hit a new low. After a funeral, ICE surrounded a church to haul off one of the pallbearers, leaving his family and friends crying and screaming in the street with the casket.
Season Two of Netflix’s Dear White People began airing on May 4 and this season’s ending took a real twist. Instead of ending in violence or tragedy, the 10-episode series ends by exposing a controversial black conservative as a performer, her beliefs for sale and not at all sincere.
The May 8 episode of ABC’s Roseanne titled “Go Cubs” introduces the Connor’s new neighbors, a Muslim family from Yemen. Roseanne uses a visit to their home as a way to ease her fear of them.
The May 6 episode of Fox’s Family Guy titled “HTTPete” took great pleasure in lampooning a favorite target – Millennials. In order to reverse lagging sales, Peter Griffin’s employer realizes he must reach out to Millennials to capture their market.
With a title of “The ICEMen Cometh,” the April 30 episode of CBS’s Superior Donuts had no intention of dealing with the issue of illegal immigration and lawful deportation in an honest way. The liberal narrative that ICE agents are arresting innocent people and legal immigrants are unreasonable for expecting everyone to obey the immigration process dominated the story.
In the April 29 episode of Fox’s The Simpsons, “Forgive and Regret,” the Legends of Demolition Derby comes to Springfield and Homer’s old car is entered. His car makes it to the final round and the challenging car is called "Car-rak Obama’s Affordable Healthcare Mobile," which, the announcer adds, “You can’t kill no matter how hard you try.” That would be funnier if it weren’t so true about the struggles against Obamacare.
It's April 25, 2018, and the bitter feelings about the November 2016 election of President Trump continue to carry over into primetime television shows. The episode of Fox’s Empire, titled “False Face,” included a reference to a vote for Hillary Clinton from one of the show’s regular characters. How timely.