I watch a very few shows on TV. I enjoy “Ridiculousnes,” I occasionally see an old movie on TCM, I check the weather channel in the morning, and I wouldn’t miss “Fashion Police.” That’s it.
I have not seen “Veep,” “Scandal,” “House of Cards,” or “The Americans,” but I have read enough to know that they aren’t healthy for American democracy. When the F.B.I. wiretapped mobsters after “The Godfather” films came out, they heard Mafia guys quoting lines from the movies. Torture became more acceptable to millions of Americans after watching “24” on Fox. Cocktails made a comeback after “Madmen.” What is fictional becomes part of the milieu in which we operate, and that goes for politics as well.
The message of these new political shows is that all politicians are motivated by greed, a lust for power, or just plain lust. This, of course, plays into the belief that since all politicians are crooks, why vote. People can feel superior to the whole process--cynicism is taken for wisdom.
In 1961 a series about two lawyers--father played by E. G. Marshall, son by Robert Reed--made its debut. The son was very idealistic; the father more of a realist, but that show tackled such issues as censorship, the blacklist, abortion, and euthanasia and did it with intelligence. I didn’t switch my major to pre-law, but that show was inspiring. (It went off the air in 1965.)
Heck, I was even affected by Davy Crockett. One commentator said the protests in the Sixties were not a result of Karl Marx; rather they were inspired by Davy Crockett. His motto--according to the Disney version--was “Be sure you’re right, then go ahead.” Not a bad philosophy to live by. Certainly better than the cynicism of “Veep” or “House of Cards."
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