I mean, you've got a very popular show. It's making money for the network. Some large segment of the American public wants to watch the show. Under the circumstances, it's a big deal to ax it. Has it even happened before.
The main thing that came up in my search was the cancelation of "Last Man Standing," one year ago. At Vox, Todd VanDerWerff wrote "5 reasons ABC might have canceled the Tim Allen comedy Last Man Standing/Only one involves Trump."
It’s not often a network cancels its second most-watched comedy in a sudden, surprising move. Usually, if a show that important to a network has to go out, it’s granted some sort of “this will be your final season” reprieve.... The cancellation has left some conservative pundits wondering if Last Man Standing was canceled because Allen himself is conservative, and his character on the series is as well....There's also the old Bill Maher show, "Politically Incorrect":
I think there are a bunch of really good business reasons for the show to end — but I also don’t know that its increased reputation as “a sitcom for Donald Trump supporters” didn’t hurt it just a little bit...
Any time the only show of one type or another, even if it’s “the only sitcom headlined by a major Trump supporter,” leaves the air, it’s hard not to wonder.
Barbara Olson, a frequent guest, was traveling to a taping of Politically Incorrect aboard American Airlines Flight 77 when it crashed into the Pentagon during the September 11 attacks of 2001. To honor Olson, Maher left a panel chair empty for a week afterwards.And, incredibly, there's "Ellen":
In the aftermath of the attacks, U.S. President George W. Bush said that the terrorists responsible were cowards. In a Politically Incorrect episode on September 17, 2001, Maher's guest Dinesh D'Souza disputed Bush's label, saying the terrorists were warriors. Maher agreed, and replied: "We have been the cowards, lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away. That's cowardly. Staying in the airplane when it hits the building, say what you want about it, [it's] not cowardly."
Despite similar comments having been made in other media, advertisers withdrew their support and some ABC affiliates stopped airing the show temporarily. White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do." Maher apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers.
The show was canceled the following June, which Maher and many others saw as a result of the controversy, although ABC denied that the controversy was a factor and said the program was canceled due to declining ratings. Maher said that the show struggled for advertisers in its final months. There were subsequently comments in various media on the irony that a show called Politically Incorrect was canceled because its host had made a supposedly politically incorrect comment.
From 1994 to 1998, [Ellen] DeGeneres starred on her sitcom, where she played a quirky bookstore owner living in Los Angeles. Ellen was fairly popular during it first four seasons, until, in 1997, both the actress and the character came out as gay.Whoa! Do you see the common theme? I'm only noticing this after writing all that you see above. All 4 shows — "Roseanne," "Last Man Standing," "Politically Incorrect," and "Ellen" — were on ABC.
While the series continues to receive support from TV critics and the LGBT community, the ABC series also came under a hailstorm of fire from anti-gay organizations, prompting the network to go as far as adding a parental advisory before each episode aired — an unfathomable move today. The controversy resulted in declining rating and Ellen’s eventual cancellation....
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111 comments:
LMS , I would be interested in what the other reasons were. Besides the politics of the show.
“LMS , I would be interested in what the other reasons were. Besides the politics of the show.”
Althouse has thoughtfully provided a link.
2 shows making money, 2 shows losing money.
3 shows involved controversy.
Tim Allen is outlier.
“I realize we could argue about whether reacting to an expression of racism is political,”
Racism is a social construct. If you doubt that, just look how far the definition continues to be pulled and twisted to meet the current political needs.
Imus in the Morning on MSNBC, it was a simulcast of his radio show. I think that was canceled for reasons similar to the Roseanne cancellation, because of comments made about Rutgers women basketball players.
I thought Maher said something stupid but not stupid enough to end the show.
Lobbing cruise missiles from 2,000 miles away really isn't brave, it's just smart. It's the old Patton adage: "The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his."
"comments made about Rutgers women basketball players."
Nappy headed hos. Yeah, not a great thing to say about anyone, really.
"So if your comment goes into moderation then never appears, don't think you did anything wrong. I'm very sorry about this problem and have done what I can to solve it."
Althou.se would've solved it. ; )
OK, I missed the link in my pre-coffee scanning.
What is there is excuses. The last is the "The character is a President Trump supporter". Wrong. The character is a conservative. LMS was doing their thing long before President Trump. And all of the excuses require that I believe the new shows brought on will perform at a level to at least break even, given the excuses used. With the failure rate of new shows, that fact alone moves the excuses to after the fact butt covering.
As far as I know the Roseanne reboot did not have enough blacks or lgbtq characters. With blacks composing 65% of Americans and lgbtqs 45% it is a wonder the show was not scuttled sooner.
A point from Rush about the narrative:
“Roseanne Barr, COMMA, strong Trump supporter, COMMA, said Valerie Jarrett..."
~
In the same week as he turned himself in, did you ever hear, “Harvey Weinstein, strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama”?
And then there's the famous mini-series, "Path to 9/11", loosely based on the terrific book by Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower. That was one of Hillary's first scalps. It had horrible reviews by screaming journalists (read: Friends of Bill) before it even aired. The it aired once, with giant disclaimers. After that one showing, it was disappeared by...you guessed it- ABC. You cannot even find a video to buy of that movie.
And, frankly, though they had to combine some of the characters, as a story showing what lead up to 9/11, it was quite good. That was an early sign of what the Left can do to disappear information, or people.
" The controversy resulted in declining rating and Ellen’s eventual cancellation...."
I remember the Ellen show. My reaction to her coming out was, "Really? Was Ellen the last person in the world who knew she was gay?"
So, instead of a show about a quirky woman, it became a show about a "brave" actress who risked her career to come out and let us know she loved licking pussy. A lot.
Is it anyway wonder her ratings went down?
I watched Ellen through its whole run and I don't know what the ratings for the show were like, but the quality of the comedy declined when Ellen came out as gay. It was still a quirky comedy, but diluted with gay liberation. Maybe inspiring, but I came for the fun comedy not the lectures. I still watched the show but would be amazed if lots of people just got bored and watched something else.
Imus turned into a wimp. The nappy headed ho remark was right on point. The discussion was about Rutgers players using trash talk to intimidate their opponents. Nappy headed ho's was the remark in response.
What happened in fact was that Trump called the producer Bernard McGuirk on Tuesday, lobbying to get Hillary on the show. Obama was getting on and they needed the Hillary exposure the same way Imus can do. McGuirk said Hillary is banned and no way she's getting on.
Trump reported that back to Media Matters, and the very first thing Imus said on Wednesday went into news cycle outrage mode.
It was a nothing remark as to offense, and entirely justified by the conversation.
But news cycle outrage goes into its own universe, as seen over and over since. Who's listening to this crap, is the question. Nobody thinks anymore.
(Trump came on on Friday and recounted his call to Bernie the previous Tuesday.)
Maybe inspiring, but I came for the fun comedy not the lectures. I still watched the show but would be amazed if lots of people just got bored and watched something else
You will take your medicine. You just don't know what is good for you. Best to listen to your moral betters. Hollywood power brokers like Harvey Weinstein.
I stopped listening to John and Ken (KFI in LA) when, after calling Whitney Houston a crack whore after her death, they were suspended for two weeks, and then came back with a sincere apology for saying it.
There's no point in listening if they're going to do the PC line on exactly the stuff that needs accuracy against PC. That's what people were listening for. Bye.
Getting warmer. ABC has a mission, a higher mission than just putting out hit TV shows. It's had that mission since, oh, about 1996. Disney acquired ABC in 1996. Two years later they brought the hammer down on Ellen.
The mission changes with the times, but Disney serves a higher purpose than producing mere entertainment.
THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS show on CBS was canceled in 1969 while sitting at the top of the ratings due to their political humor and criticism of the Vietnam War.
Very interesting post. I do think they there’s a big difference between canceling because of declined ratings and/or advertisers pulling out and an immediate cancellation like Roseanne. If the show had continued, I can’t imagine it would have lost ratings. That said, Roseanne is such a live wire I wouldn’t be surprised if the advertisers and the execs had a plan in place already for just this sort of occurrence, so maybe it wasn’t quite as premature as it seems.
They take themselves very fucking seriously at Disney.
Scott Adams on Periscope shades away from certain PC topics, because he'd lose half his audience and everybody would drop his cartoon.
Women and Blacks. They come up only when he wants to do some illustration of how to be helpful to disadvantaged groups.
I like some of their movies, but I've never liked Disney. They put me in mind of this CS Lewis quote:
Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be "cured" against one's will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.
My favorite one was “ABC was running out of room in their lineup.” Yeah, we have to get rid of a hit show to make room for other shows that have the potential to become hits. someday...
‘Getting old” Look at Friends, Look at The Big Bang Theory.
The most likely reasons were the “deplorable" demographics.
This list is like the famous “Is Bill Clinton Guilty of Forcible Rape?” article in Slate. To read it is to clearly see the answer, despite the feeble spin Vox the “explainer’ puts on it.
A commie never forgets, though sometimes they erase. The past serves one main purpose for commies, to control the present. So some stuff must never be forgotten, and we must all pretend that other stuff never happened.
You would think that Vox would rather husband their credibility than squander it putting out weak sauce defenses of obvious political decisions like cancelling Last Man Standing. Apparently they were ordered into the breach though, and so they went. I can’t believe anybody woke up saying that justice demands that that article be written. Expedience demands it? Perhaps.
I dislike Disney, and yet, I've just bought tickets to Orlando for a vacation to stay at one of their hotels and spend enormous amounts of cash at their theme parks. Epcott is pretty cool, but fuck the Magic Kingdom six ways from Sunday. I have three young children. I was winning the battle against Disney in my own house: yes, they liked Frozen, but I managed to convince my kids that this Princess crap wasn't cool. Then they went and bought Star Wars. Game over. Fucking tyrants.
Althouse has thoughtfully provided a link.
Dude, it was Vox. The same outfit that claimed there was a bridge from Gaza to the West Bank.
Heads up:
Roseanne will be on the Joe Rogan show Friday. Should be interesting.
I think it is on YouTube?
I listen on podcast so am not sure about the video. Audio should be available through any podcast app.
Rogan is an interesting interviewer though I don't listen that often. Most of his guests are comics or mma and don't appeal to me.
But when does get someone who appeals to me, like Danica Patrick, for 4 hours, he's really good.
John Henry
"people have to watch what they say and watch what they do." Maher apologized, and explained that he had been criticizing U.S. military policy, not American soldiers.
Yes, military history has shown since the dawn of time that close in fighting is far superior to stand off weapons. Thats why you should use a sword when confronted by an archer. Bringing a knife to a gun fight is also Maher approved military policy.
I am still laughing at Vox’s excuse of “No room in the lineup” for cancelling a hit show.
I think everybody agrees that what she said was bad and it was ABC's call if she was to be dismissed. However, it's not lost on conservatives that Liberals get to apologize (if even that's required) and go on with their business. The libs even have a defense against those that notice this double standard, calling it "whataboutism" like it's a magic incantation.
The Smothers Brothers goes back a bit. The networks had their own censors. They had to be concerned about governments and legislatures, and such things as the fairness doctrine (which Trump has thought aloud about bringing back--only for broadcasting?), but their constant preoccupation was with the public, "taste," and possible blowback. They would beg performers to back off something delicate to make life easier for everyone. As with the ABC cases, they wanted to be praised for their courage in presenting cutting-edge material, but in some cases they squeezed out their courage using an eye dropper. With so few shows, and practically everyone watching TV, there was a concern that a few hundred angry letters would indicate potentially thousands of people were enraged. It may be worth recalling that there was at least as much of a hair trigger affecting careers as there is today.
There was probably more than one thing that got the Smothers cancelled by CBS. Pete Seeger wanting to include a verse of a song that clearly implied the U.S. was stuck in a quagmire in Vietnam; David Steinberg's mock sermons; Harry Belafonte sending up the famous 1968 Democratic National Convention--the event which probably got Nixon elected; among others. President Johnson would actually call the Chairman of CBS and demand changes to the show. https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130569467
This comment is already too long, but: 1) TV has always attracted bright and talented people, trying to work within (literally) a small box, despite all the limitations; 2) The Ed Sullivan censors asked Bob Dylan to change songs; he refused, and left; they asked the Stones to sing "Let's Spend Some Together," instead of the actual words, and the supposedly dangerous iconoclasts submitted.
The Disneyfication of America isn't merely a comment about thinge authentic vs. things ersatz. We should all understand, per CS Lewis, that it it represents a far more sinister phenomenon.
"Lou Grant" was axed back in 1982 by CBS -- it didn't have Top 20 ratings, but could have survived, except that star Ed Asner had begun getting extremely open about his very far-left politics in the wake of Reagan's election, and the network (which already was dealing with the blowback of naming Dan Rather as Walter Cronkite's replacement for the CBS Evening News) decided the ratings weren't high enough to deal with a star who refused to stop giving CBS critics more ammunition to work with.
And their theme parks are absurdly expensive. Who the fuck do they think they are?
"Whoa! Do you see the common theme?"
Why yes, yes I did. I thought it after your third example. "Ellen" was just confirmation.
Samantha Bee? Naaah, she'll be fine.
"Racism is a social construct. If you doubt that, just look how far the definition continues to be pulled and twisted to meet the current political needs."
Hugh Betcha! It's defacto criminalization of even racist thoughts much less behavior, a crime which nearly every human commits to one extent or another, is no less political.
so here's my What IF:
What IF: Joy Behere (sic?) the lady from The View,
had said That Exact Quote about Condoleezza Rice??
Does Anyone Wonder if she'd still be working?
Let’s see. ESPN (ABC/Disney) abandons entertainment [E] and sports[S] for social justice[P]olitical Network. Star Wars becomes Social Justice “mythmaking” (ABC/Disney)..
It’s almost as if there was a pattern there, but Naah!
It’s part of a movement for “diversity” in corporate boards, and then once you have that, you identify the conservatives and drive them out by consumer boycott and then you have control of the whole corporation, its mission, and its “charitable" giving.
Rush Limbaugh had a late night TV show that regularly won its time slot. It was cancelled. He says it was a good thing for him, but still.
“I realize we could argue about whether reacting to an expression of racism is political,”
If only there were an expression of racism to react to...
That tweet about Muslims and apes didn't mention or refer to race in any way.
The people who are calling it "racist" are either racists themselves ("can't make fun of the looks of non-white people") or purposely misusing the term for political reasons.
one big bang theory episode - penny wears a Hillary t-shirt
Well, the Penny character is a moron.
"THE SMOTHERS BROTHERS show on CBS was canceled in 1969 while sitting at the top of the ratings due to their political humor and criticism of the Vietnam War."
Well, score one for the uptight silent majority 50 years ago, Cookie.
In the same week as he turned himself in, did you ever hear, “Harvey Weinstein, strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama”?
Waiting for the article questioning how the Obama’s could allow their teenage daughter Malia to spend her gap year working for Harvey Weinstein.
Everyone knew.
I remember exactly the moment I stopped watching ABC. In the late nineties, their slogan, which appeared on screen underneath the abc logo, was “a new kind of family. “ whoa. Even back then, I had an inkling of what that meant...out with Mom N Dad, in with Rainbow Unicorns.
The parallels aren't exact. Michael Richards wasn't the star of the show, and the show was in syndication when it happened, but it is instructive to note how the business people circled the wagons and protected the Seinfeld show after Richards had his meltdown. Iirc, Richards, in the company of Seinfeld, went on Letterman and delivered a heartfelt apology. Richards was roundly condemned, but his coworkers didn't go out of their way to pile on. His racist outburst, which was far more vile than that of Roseanne, was judged to be an aberration rather than a character flaw. The Seinfeld show continues to prosper in syndication, and there has been no effort made to cancel it........Richards career is effectively over, but he has made appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Comedians in Cars. Wanda Sykes' sensibilities have allowed her to appear on Curb but not Roseanne.
Rosanne Barr is NOT A CONSERVATIVE.
She said it pretty distinctly on Jimmy Kimmel: "I am still in the exact same place. It's the rest of you who have gone so far Left that no one supports you any more." (Paraphrase).
She is not a 'brave conservative voice.' She happens to believe in things like free speech, the rule of law, and caring about the working class (mostly the later) because as a free speaking comedienne, her entire career is based on free speech and the ability to offend.
And if the audience turns on her (as it did with the national anthem), that is THEIR free speech.
Here, ABC shit on her free speech without letting the market have their say.
So I did not lose a conservative voice. Frankly, never saw the show, don't care about the show, and when I saw her recent interviews, she comes across as a lottery winning homeless woman with some substance abuse problems.
However what this DOES display is that ABC is intolerant and shit on the only show which was mildly 'pro Trump' and that simple message to it's fans will gleefully be pounded home by demagogues like Rush and Hannity.
And it will be effective. It's like the networks think that disparaging 40+% of their audience is a winning strategy.
Could be deeper conspiracy theories (for example, I just heard one where Solo was made a failure just so Kathleen Kennedy could forget the entire old series and focus on her Mary Sue 80 lb girls killing 300 lb trained killers)
But the big message is: ABC cancelled a pro Trump comedy...again.
ABC: Anything But Conservatives.
I don't watch Network T.V. I watch a little but not much. There are no voices for me there.
The moral of the story here is don't say racist things and take particular care not to say pro-Trump things.
And then there's the famous mini-series, "Path to 9/11", loosely based on the terrific book by Lawrence Wright, The Looming Tower. That was one of Hillary's first scalps. It had horrible reviews by screaming journalists (read: Friends of Bill) before it even aired. The it aired once, with giant disclaimers. After that one showing, it was disappeared by...you guessed it- ABC. You cannot even find a video to buy of that movie.
Since the election, there are sources for the DVD which was hidden by Disney for almost 20 years. I bought one, but only after she lost the election.
It should have been an in-kind contribution for the FEC
Hillary got the FEC to take down HIllary, The Movie. People don’t really realize how partisan the FEC has become. They were involved in the IRS scandal.
Face it, the US Government has become a rotting cesspool of putrescence. And the cockroaches are freaking out that there is a new sheriff.
It’s not racist to proclaim that blacks are not fully adult and are unable to deal with the rough and tumble of politics. They must be kept in their political childhood. Any other attitude is racism.
I haven’t watched Roseanne since she desecrated the Anthem back in 1990.
Michael said: "As far as I know the Roseanne reboot did not have enough blacks or lgbtq characters. With blacks composing 65% of Americans and lgbtqs 45% it is a wonder the show was not scuttled sooner."
While I appreciate the joke, you obviously never watched the new ROSEANNE. She had one black grandchild, one gender-fluid grandchild, a black daughter-in-law, and Dan's best friend was black. Roseanne also had a prominent lesbian friend (Sandra Bernhard). And show writer Wanda Sykes is black AND a lesbian.
I forget which network it was supposed to be on, but that eight part series on JFK was shelved. You can't make a biopic series on JFK that highlights his adultery and drug use. What were they even thinking?
"Bridget Loves Bernie", a sitcom about an interfaith marriage, was a Top 5 show in 1972-73 but was cancelled after one season. Per Wiki:
The series was controversial due to the differing faiths of the married characters. Some Jewish groups charged that the series "mocked the teachings of Judaism." Rabbi Wolfe Kelman, executive vice-president of the Rabbinical Assembly of America, called the show “an insult to some of the most sacred values of both the Jewish and Catholic religions." Rabbi Meir Kahane dedicated full columns to the episode. Orthodox rabbis met with CBS officials several times. A conservative rabbi organized a boycott by advertisers, and reform rabbis met with CBS staff in secret to have the show cancelled. Rabbi Abraham Gross, president of the Rabbinical Alliance of Orthodox Rabbis and Educators, described the show as a "flagrant insult" to Jews, protesting that intermarriage was strictly forbidden under Jewish law. Threats followed. Meredith Baxter said, "We had bomb threats on the show. Some guys from the Jewish Defense League came to my house to say they wanted to talk with me about changing the show." Threatening phone calls made to the home of producer Ralph Riskin resulted in the arrest of Robert S. Manning, described as a member of the Jewish Defense League. Manning was later indicted on murder charges, and fought extradition to the U.S. from Israel, where he had moved.
You know who the commenters here who are so deeply shocked and outraged by this ill-advised, but not horrific tweet remind me of? Racist Aticus Finch from Go Set a Watchmen. He had a couple long rants about how blacks were political “children” who couldn’t be fully trusted with real democratic power. Valerie Jarret sat perched on the highest rungs of American political power. She and Michelle Obama, who demanded that the show be cancelled, are punching down on the working class. Don’t think that the people being punched down on don’t know it.
Wanda Sykes got fired because of Rosanne’s tweet? Ha ha ha! Well, every cloud has a silver lining.
"It’s not racist to proclaim that blacks are not fully adult and are unable to deal with the rough and tumble of politics."
Yeah, it's racist to say a race is "not fully adult."
The controversy resulted in declining rating and Ellen’s eventual cancellation....
Ellen's show was funny before she came out. Afterwards, it was all lesbian all the time. Boring. Lesbianism is about as funny as feminism.
Trumpit has trouble with sarcasm, as with much of the rest of life,
Ellen was cancelled because it finished 42nd in the ratings during its last season. What is interesting to me is that the numbers of viewers it had then would make it top 5 today.
I watched Ellen because of Clea Lewis- had a huge crush on her at that time.
Remember Duck Dynasty's cancellation?
I think Trumpit is a parody account sometimes, but other times it is so authentically stupid that either we are witnessing the work of a Swiftian level genius or a supermarket bagger posting between customers.
Ellen was cancelled because it finished 42nd in the ratings during its last season. What is interesting to me is that the numbers of viewers it had then would make it top 5 today.
Well, when networks are identity politics assholes who are openly contemptuous of half the population, what do you expect when you shrink your audience to thinly.
Yeah, it’s racist to say a race is "not fully adult."
OK, I’ll bite. Which side here is saying that blacks can’t deal with the rough and tumble of normal politics? Is it you or me?
Scott Adams on Periscope shades away from certain PC topics
Not always (Should be required viewing for angry black people.)
"I realize we could argue about whether reacting to an expression of racism is political,"
It is now officially racist to mention apes in a sentence about a black woman, even if you were not aware that she was black. Let's see, "monkey" is out too. What about "cat"? No problem with "cat"? Huh.
"it’s hard not to wonder."
Funny stuff.
Roseanne, on her show, is the planet. It all revolves around her. Now, she's going to be a really big star again.
Doing a little web reading. Apparently the Weavers were not allowed to perform on the Jack Paar show in the early 60s because they would not sign a loyalty oath/disavow communism. Grace Slick performed in blackface on the Smothers Brothers show. No cancellations but different times....
Unknown unknown is right: it's time to move. You could feasibly crowd source archiving this, but there is not much need; you can preserve it and link back when necessary.
Second, this looks like a sophisticated move by Iger to strike at Trump. Roseanne Barr is a known quantity.
My beef with ABC as it related to LMS was that they did NOTHING to support the show, once it found an audience. They kept it in a horrible time slot, Friday night 8PM. If they were more invested in the show they could have moved it after the first season or two, to follow The Middle, or later The Goldbergs, both also about families. I know ABC, or one of their affiliated companies, did not produce the show, which also counted against it's prospects (think syndication $$).
I thought the point of the "they're just like us" line was that we are all humans with the same wants and needs and desires and share many of the same struggles and successes. (and as in-joke to ABC itself that Roseanne and those shows are all simply sitcoms about families.)
But no, race is the be-all end-all of humanity's existence. So exhausting.
Paul Jackson, ABC killed that show because they're part of Disney. As part of Disney, besides providing entertainment to the masses, they are trying to enrich the culture. They have a mission. Mission changes over time, but it's always about "family." In the 90s, it was about protecting the family from too much exposure to loud proud lesbians. In 20teens, it's about showing us all that brown and yellow and white families are all exactly the same. Also, protecting the family from the deplorables and anyone who would suggest that such mollycoddlying is anticomedic, as Roseanne did.
Etienne, Walt Disney wasn't Jewish, even if many of their top execs are. Channing Dungey isn't Jewish either. If you used slightly less provocative wording, your message would find a greater audience. You're on to something but you're leaving yourself open to the charge of harboring some resentment against the Jews.
ABC's real problem is that they have a black female social justice warrior President. She will run them into the ground just as the Mayor and District attorney of Baltimore destroyed their city.
Just look at what she is doing with a franchise property like the Bachelor. She is insisting that they have black contestants who are guarantied a spot in the final with a white woman as the Bachelorette. Good luck with that one.
Roseanne is smart. When she decided to explain herself where did she go? The Today show? Sixty Minutes? The View?
No. She went to a podcast. Joe Rogan.
Roseanne knows that broadcast TV on the Big Three are going the way of the dodo bird.
If she is smart she will set up her own platform. Sell subscriptions. People buy pay per view movies all the time. With a flick of the mouse. She could produce her show and sell it for $20 and make millions.
She really only needs to get Sarah Gilbert to be on the show. If she does the rest will all fall in line or can be replaced. DJ can go back in the Army and be written out. That lets Roseanne keep his little pickaninny as proof that she is not really racist as she is raising her black granddaughter. Dan can die. They already killed him off once. Becky will take the money no question. Laurie Metcalf has been horrible on the reboot and can be replaced by a new wacky best friend. The bitchy granddaughter can be recast. She already doesn't fit because she looks too old for the part. So if she gets Sarah Gilbert on board she is golden.
If Roseanne can generate 80 million which I think she can she can just offer her say 20 million and that muff diver will fall right in line. Watch and see.
Both Roseanne and LMS are dangerous for the left and for Democrats. LMS essentially spent much of its time poking fun at the left, showing how stupid much of it really was. If Democrats were really as smart as they think that they ar, they would be Republicans. The problem is that the show probably didn’t change a lot of minds - it was probably preaching to the choir. A large percentage of the LMS viewers would probably never vote for a Dem at the national level, knowing what they do about progressive ideology. Roseanne though was the dangerous show. Trump won by stealing the Roseannes from the Democrats. As did Reagan. The Roseanne demographic has been a strong Democrat constituency since probably Andrew Jackson. And Crooked Hillary essentially chased them into Trump’s hands. Roseanne essentially normalized their defection, which is why her show was the more dangerous of the two.
A lot of talk these days about how the left is vigorously deplatforming the right. For example, Legal Insurrection lost its status as an Amazon affiliate, hurting it financially. No excuse was ever apparently given. Killing the Roseanne show then can maybe be seen as deplatforming working class whites, who voted for Obama, then Trump. It is important for Dems and the left to keep this demographic from feeling its power, and the Republicans from permanently bringing them into their coalition - without them, the Dems have a hard time seeing their permanent electoral majority.
Which is why a smart conservative money man like the Mercers should fund Roseanne in making her own platform to produce her show. It would even make money!
There is a no paradigm. Streaming, Youtube and pay per view has ended the dominance of the three big networks. They are failing. Sure they make money but the writing is on the wall for them. People are cutting the cord and the main thing they are losing are the big three and their regularly scheduled programming. The rest of it is available on the streaming services.
It is really older Americans who are the audience for the big three networks. Through habit and inertia. But you know what? That is Roseanne's demographic. She can bring them to a new platform in an explicitly political and pro Trump program. Let them add some conservative news and opinion programs and a Duck Dynasty type reality show or two.
Dare I say.........Trump TV.
The only advantage that regular TV had was sports. Specifically the NFL. However the Social Justice Warriors have fucked that up with the Kneeling monkey shines so millions of people stopped watching and lost the habit. So cutting the cord is easy.
Get woke go broke.
ABC 2009: You put two gay people on TV with an adopted Asian daughter, pretty soon people think they're just normal people!
ABC 2018: You put people who say they voted for Trump on TV, pretty soon people think they're just normal people...
Wait? What? CANCEL! CANCEL! CANCEL!
Looks like Samantha Bee, if the rules are applied equally, can be added to this list.
I know, I know. I'm funny to think they will be.
"There is a no paradigm. Streaming, Youtube and pay per view has ended the dominance of the three big networks"
I assume that was "new" paradigm. But it looks a lot like the old paradigm. YouTube is using its near-monopoly to suppress right-wing ideas. As is Google, and FaceBook. The internet broke the strnglehold of the networks, but Google, FaceBook and YouTube have a stranglehold on the internet. Meet the new Boss ...
Maybe there is something about monopolizing the sale of advertising that tends to drive organizations leftward. I don't get it.
Well, we are told by our betters that racism is endemic in America and that implicit bias goes hand in hand with white privilege -- just unavoidable if privileged (in that sense) is who you are. Add to it the reality that any comment, no matter how anodyne (America is the home of the free and land of the brave!) is so insensitive to some that it will always be enough to trigger and offend oh-so-delicate-many.
The good news is that, if ABC and the other networks applied their PC principles evenhandedly, every show on television would have to be cancelled. Now that would be progress ardently to be wished for.
Yes I mean new paradigm.
Youtude is analogous to Twitter in that it dominates the market but is extremely left wing and run by vicious social justice warriors. So conservatives and nationalists need to look for alternative platforms.
Gab is that platform for Twitter. Imagine what would happen if President Trump left Twitter and went to Gab. That is what would happen if Twitter banned his account and is why they will never censor his tweets.
There are alternative platforms to Youtube including Vimeo and Crackle. With the right product and money behind them they could make a dent in the Youtube market. If every conservative or nationalist or Trump supporter left Youtube it would take a very significant hit.
That is the direction President Trump should go to defund his bitter enemies.
Traditionalist, nationalists and even conservatives need to develop their own platforms and their own means of communication.
There is a lot of money out there for someone with the vision to see it.
Imagine a network with Bill O'Reilly, Eric Bolling, Sean Hannity and other right wing stalwarts. Anchored by an entertainment division with "Last Man Standing" and "Roseanne" and "Duck Dynasty" and "The Celebrity Apprentice."
I bet the President could still do the show while he is President. He has the energy and it would keep Donald Jr and Ivanka out of trouble.
Add Martha Stewart after he pardons her and that dot head dude making documentaries.
The possibilities are endless.
Hollywood used to portray blacks as simple minded buffoons, Indians as bloodthirsty savages, effeminate men as either silly or decadent, WWII Germans and especially Japanese as fiendishly evil. The people who make movies haven't radically changed. They still stereotype and demonize people they don't like. What's changed radically is the people they don't like.
Judging by Rush today;I expect more to come. Roseanne was no hill to die on for either Conservatives establishment types or Trump supporters. The latter may have appreciated at least one show that didn't portray Trump as a neo-Nazi, but I don't think there was carry over love to Roseanne.
Instead, she's an example of the new rules, and as Kurt Schlicter notes, the left is going to hate the new rules it imposes. So today's target is Samantha Bee. If calling a woman a ape is bad, what about calling a woman a c*nt? Does such a person deserve a media award? Could this be a new #MeToo movement, but on the right, in which old tweets are resurrected to show liberal Hollywood hate and demand deplatforming?
Althouse, you have a short memory. The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour was cancelled by CBS at the direct request of President Johnson. The show was at the top of it's popularity but was still taken off the air because of it's merciless satire of LBJ, other political leaders, and especially it's opposition to the Vietnam war.
The original Star Trek was canceled because Captain Kirk was always sexually harassing green alien space women.
Does that count as political?
The final straw was when Spock gave into the sexually charged atmosphere and inserted his fingers in the Vulcan peace sign into Nurse Chapels vagina.
This is what finally did it:
Keep your Vulcan hands off me!
Have you ever seen the bootleg clip where Spock uses the Vulcan pinch on Sulu's taint. It was too far ahead of it's time.
Gene Roddenberry was a visionary.
"There is a lot of money out there for someone with the vision to see it."
Fox was such a platform.
Limbaugh and others in talk radio made theirs.
The problem is not in the ability to create platforms, but the money to do it.
The big money is not available to populist creators.
Rush didn't have big money behind him. Only talent.
He took an existing platform and made talk radio what it was. For a little while. Now it too is a pale parody of what it once was.
FOX is at the end of its life cycle. At one time it was a valid alternative. Through the feminist purges and the ascension of the Murdoch liberal spawn it has gone SJW. Appointing and affirmative action woman in place of Roger Ailes is the final nail in the coffin.
The opportunity is there for someone who wants it. There is a market for a populist alternative to the major networks and the social justice monopoly on entertainment. As they trash franchise like Marvel and Star Wars they open up a spot for some one to swim against the tide.
It needs a bold visionary.
Trump was planning to do this if he lost the election.
Now the field is open for someone who wants to fill that slot.
The old saying about "he who pays the fiddler calls the tune" explains everything.
Fiddlers (artists, singers, actors, scribblers, storytellers, etc.) all do as their patrons bid. These days their actual patrons aren't their audiences.
Since, perhaps, the early 19th century (and earlier, sometimes), in many places around the world, their audiences really were their patrons, keenly observed by the businessmen who made money out of their popularity. The career of Giuseppe Verdi is an interesting case, perhaps the first great composer entirely independent of patrons. And who would indeed risk the wrath of the powers that be, often enough, chasing the audience dollar.
But no longer, because there is much bigger money to be had, again, in being courtiers.
Its as if they were kapellmeisters to some 18th century German Elector. They will compose and play what pleases the prince, and so entertain the people according to his judgement. They aren't going to seek out what the people want to hear.
The dynamic is illustrated very well in that excellent film "Amadeus". Mozart is surprised to discover that his tunes from "Don Giovanni" are actually popular. He hadn't bothered about pleasing the people, just his patrons. This popularity was just a happy accident. That is almost where we are, again.
Etienne said...
To understand ABC, you have to understand how Jews run their business.
I see coupé the wet-brain is back. Hi, coupé! Kill anybody lately?
The switch from patron to audience is even better illustrated in the case of Joseph Haydn. Originally he was one of those kapellmeisters, in the service eventually of the Princes of Esterhazy, on their massive estates. But he was able, under a liberal contract, to distribute his music, and thus established an international audience.
From the Wiki, quoting a biographer -
" By 1790 Haydn was in the paradoxical, if not bizarre, position of being Europe's leading composer, but someone who spent his time as a duty-bound Kapellmeister in a remote palace in the Hungarian countryside."
After the death of his last true patron, Prince Nicholas, Haydn went fully commercial, working in a very modern manner through agents and impresarios.
Modern conditions have created an opposite dynamic.
Roseanne did not make a racist comment. For it to be racist, Roseanne would have had to have known the race of Valerie Jarrett, which she didn't, and then believed that her (Roseanne's) race was superior to Valerie's. Impossible if Roseanne didn't know the race of Valerie. I wonder how many Americans knew that Valerie was African American.
the businessmen who made money out of their popularity. The career of Giuseppe Verdi is an interesting case, perhaps the first great composer entirely independent of patrons.
The example of Pierre Beaumarchais, who wrote "The Marriage of Figaro," is another.
The Marriage was written as a sequel to The Barber. In his preface to the play, Beaumarchais says that Louis François, Prince of Conti had requested it. The play's denunciation of aristocratic privilege has been characterised as foreshadowing the French Revolution.[2] The revolutionary leader Georges Danton said that the play "killed off the nobility"; in exile, Napoleon Bonaparte called it "the Revolution already put into action."
Thanks to the great popularity of its predecessor, The Marriage of Figaro opened to enormous success; it was said to have grossed 100,000 francs in the first twenty showings,[5] and the theatre was so packed that three people were reportedly crushed to death in the opening-night crowd.
Then the King found out about it.
It was accepted for production by the management of the Comédie Française in 1781, after which three years elapsed before it was publicly staged. Initially the text was approved, with minor changes, by the official censor, but at a private reading before the French court the play so shocked King Louis XVI that he forbade its public presentation Beaumarchais revised the text, moving the action from France to Spain, and after further scrutiny by the censor the piece was played to an audience including members of the Royal Family in September 1783. The censors still refused to license the play for public performance, but the king personally authorised its production.
The opera came much later.
And the corollary: unpopular tv shows that are not cancelled for political reasons.
Google "Smothers Brothers", who were also fired for a political insult.
"White House press secretary Ari Fleischer denounced Maher, warning that "people have to watch what they say and watch what they do."
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Not exactly true. Fleischer was responding Maher's statement but he was also referring to a comment by Louisiana GOP Rep. John Cooksey, who said after 9/11 that anyone wearing "a diaper on his head" should be investigated in connection with the attacks."
In essence, Fleischer was telling everyone on both sides to "cool their rhetoric".
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