Liberals make and promote and distribute and champion films about assassinating Bush, sex with animals, and sympathizing with child molesters, but it's torture to save American lives which most offends them. How so very revealing…
It is over. Conservatives will no longer have even a single show on network television anymore.
Not. Even. One.
In a heartbreaking Wall Street Journal article, the death of 24 as we knew and loved it has arrived in the form of a left-wing "reinvention" which is obviously determined to remove everything which made the series special: it's unabashed patriotism and determination to protect that which is most worth protecting, America and Americans, at any cost.
In a fit of irrationalism only a liberal is capable of, last seasons ratings drop has been blamed on the war in Iraq as opposed to the poor writing and the rumors already swirling about a kinder and gentler Jack Bauer:
Ratings dropped by a third over the course of last year's sixth season.
I just want to stop here and highlight the words "over the course." The reason this happened was because over the course of last season, last season stunk. Blame Iraq all you want, but over the course of last season, the writing went to hell. But the left's been lying in the weeds with their bloody shirt and all they needed was this slip to start waving it.
Producers would later experience trouble casting roles, once some of the most desirable in television, because the actors disapproved of the show's depiction of torture. "The fear and wish-fulfillment the show represented after 9/11 ended up boomeranging against us," says the show's head writer, Howard Gordon. "We were suddenly facing a blowback from current events."
"Casting problems." That is unbelieveable. Do you have any idea how hungry actors are for work? Work in series television? Work in hit series television? When we talk about a the unoffical blacklist in Hollywood, this is exactly what we mean.
Last spring, Fox executives asked producers to come up with a plan for what to do with their onetime crown jewel. The producers decided to take the radical — and rarely attempted — step of reinventing the show. While some fans complained "24″ had grown too formulaic, the producers also grudgingly saw the importance of wrestling the show from its ties to an unpopular conflict.
The result: "24″ is nowhere to be found on the TV schedule. For weeks the show's producers tried to reconcile the show's premise with the new public mood. Should Jack atone for his sins? Is Jack bad? The script rewrites and philosophical crises left the show so far behind schedule that when the Hollywood writers went on strike in November, Fox had no choice but to delay its premiere date. The show could premiere this summer, next fall or as late as January 2009.
At the center of it all is 46-year-old Mr. Gordon. The Princeton-educated intellectual and self-described "left-leaning centrist" finds himself in the awkward position of championing a television show he loves without condoning the real-life ideology it is so often associated with. "If anything, Howard is too thoughtful," says Dana Walden, chairman of 20th Century Fox Television. "His process is so thoughtful that sometimes it's hard to get a script out of him."
"Thoughtful" Good grief. "Self-describe left-leaning centrist." You gotta love how embarrassed they themselves are of the word liberal.
The entire article is simply a long rationalization for stripping conservatives of the single network television show which respects their worldview. Read it all if you wish, but here are the lowlights [emphasis mine]:
Fox gave the writers carte blanche to "reimagine" the show. One of the team's chief considerations was how to address the controversy surrounding Jack's use of torture. Should Jack be feeling the guilt the media would have him feel?
On May 31, the show's head writers went in for a meeting at the studio to present their first big idea: sending Jack to Africa. In various incarnations, Jack would begin the season digging ditches, building houses, tending to orphans, providing security for an embassy or escorting around a visiting dignitary. "One of the themes we discussed was penance, that Africa was a place Jack had gone to seek some kind of penance. Some sanctuary too, but also penance for things he's done in his life," Mr. Gordon says. …
Here, the technical crew keeps a billboard with hand-drawn pictures of Vice President Cheney with fangs and one Photoshopped image of President Bush eating a kitten. Mr. Gordon keeps on his desk a copy of his wife's book, co-written with prominent Hollywood environmental activist Laurie David, about the dangers of global warming. As part of a larger "green" movement within News Corp., "24″ is aiming to be the first television show to go carbon neutral next season, limiting energy use and filming public service announcements. …
I need a moment to projectile vomit. … … … Okay:
The writers worked almost without interruption for two days, and the pressure began to show. There were shouting matches, not just about the creative substance of the show, but about how the writing process itself was working. But by Sunday afternoon, they had a new idea: Jack is Bad. [this idea was scrapped, but it gives you a nice look at who's writing the show now]
The writers decided to scrap the Counter Terrorist Unit, the government agency for which Jack worked for the first six seasons of the show. Instead Jack would go to Washington to address head-on the accusations that his tactics were out of line. He will make his case. He has nothing to apologize for.
"For five years, this was a wish fulfillment show," Mr. Gordon said. "At the beginning, when everybody's fear was more acute, people's tolerance for violence, their own rage, seemed to make Jack's tactics more acceptable. But in the wake of our own abuses in prosecuting this so-called War on Terror, we feel Jack is getting a bum rap. So instead of selling out the entire show and its history and its legacy and apologizing for it and ultimately invalidating it, we decided to defend it."
Yeah, that's what I want; a guy running 24 who uses the words , "so-called, War on Terror.
How come when The West Wing's ratings collapsed no one "reinvented" that show's ideology?
This show is done.
Thanks to prisoner105 for the heads-up on this article and to reader K for noting The West Wing hypocrisy. All hail, DVD. All hail, Joel Surnow… T’was nice while it lasted.
