Just tell a freaking story
I was a huge fan of the show The Closer starring Kyra Sedgwick. Great characters. A nice mix of funny and dramatic. And I’m a sucker for cop shows.
In 2012 when Sedgwick decided to leave, I was actually very happy that the producers chose to continue the show under the new title Major Crimes.
And, though it is nowhere near as good as The Closer, I have been a loyal viewer of Major Crimes.
Okay, in part because I have a big crush on Detective Sanchez.
Without Sedgwick, the new show doesn’t have a central character that ties it all together. Sure, Captain Raydor (played by Mary McDonnell) is in command, but the writers have scattered the focus throughout the cast of characters which fragments the overarching plot.
And, really, if they killed off the obnoxious Rusty Beck, I’d be a happy camper.
The other things I’ve noticed about Major Crimes is the writers love to inject their own political agenda into the stories (something that The Closer rarely did, or, if they did do it, the writers were a hell of a lot more subtle about it).
Now, I’m a political animal. I spend every day focused on politics. When I sit down to watch a little TV, I want to take my mind off of it for a while.
I do not appreciate being lectured to or proselytized by Liberals who can’t just tell a freaking story. No. They have to beat the drum for their pet causes or Leftist beliefs.
In past seasons, Major Crimes was able to obscure their agenda positions somewhat so as not to make it so in your face. As it is with, say, Law & Order Special Victims Unit.
They did an episode about drug cartels killing Federal officials who were in favor of decriminalizing drugs. And, maybe only political junkies like me caught the subtle Liberal agenda infused in the writing. But it was there. Clearly the position of the writer was “we should decriminalize drugs because then gangs would lose their power.”
Major Crimes also took on the whole “ripped from the headlines” transgender thing in Season Two. In this episode, the murder victim was a 13-year-old boy who thought he was a girl. Naturally, the writers included a moment when Captain Raydor explains that “gender dysphoric disorder is real.”
Of course it is.
At the end of the episode, the well-meaning do-gooders at Major Crimes did a little PSA about “gender dysphoric disorder” just to make it clear to their audience that those of us who think that mutilating your body doesn’t change your gender are hateful, hateful people.
But this Monday’s episode took the cake for me.
The episode opens with two police officers who have been gunned down at what appears to be a traffic stop. However, they had an illegal alien in the back of their vehicle at the time, and he’s nowhere to be seen.
The squad assumes he was the reason the cops got hit when they discover that he is the nephew of the head of MS-13 in El Salvador, and he was arrested for making phony US IDs for Salvadoran gang members who sneak into the country.
But when they find him, the squad discovers he had nothing to do with the murders, but was only a witness.
So, they offer him a deal.
In the scene at the end where they offer him and his parents citizenship and witness protection for not only testifying in the murders of the police officers, but also in providing information on his drug kingpin uncle, he says this:
I lived in this country from my third birthday. I grew up in American schools. I spent my whole life pledging allegiance to the flag of the United States. And when I’m nineteen, I get deported to a country I didn’t even remember. Where I was in danger every day and I was told never to come home. And now it’s all okay because now I witnessed a murder, like maybe I can stay legally? I mean come on! How’s that right, man?
Can’t you just hear the violins?
Boo hoo hoooooooooooo!!!
Oh, why, oh why do we not let these illegal DREAMers become citizens?!!!
It isn’t their fault that their parents brought them to America illegally!!
Oh, waaaaaaa-waaaaaa-deeee-waaaaaaa!!!
And, in case you’re wondering, that was exactly what I hollered at the screen after he made this impassioned argument for Obama’s DREAM Act.
I was so disgusted that I went to Major Crimes’ Facebook page (which I follow) and wrote this comment on the post about that episode:
Please stop using entertainment television to advance a specific political agenda. Half your audience may agree with you, but then again, half may not. But I can guarantee you, almost all of your audience watch Major Crimes as a way to get away from the constant political drumbeat. If your writers want to advance Amnesty or the DREAM Act, tell them to start a blog or go work for a politician. Please don’t use episode plots as a method of advancing political agendas.
Michael Jordan is purported to have said that he refuses to become vocal about his politics because not all of his fans may share his political views, and why piss off half your fans?
It’s time television writers stopped being wannabe Obama speechwriters and do their job. Which is just tell a freaking story, douchebags.
—
If you like the work at Patriot Retort, please consider contributing
Hit the tip jar DONATE button in the side bar. Even a few bucks can make a world of difference!
Books by Dianny:
RANT 2.0: Even More Politics & Snark in the Age of Obama,
Liberals Gone WILD!!! The Not-So-Silent Conquering of America,
RANT: Politics & Snark in the Age of Obama,
and two novels: Sliding Home Feet First and Under the Cloud
You can find my e-books at all of these fine stores:smashwords.com, Amazon Kindle Store, Apple iTunes, and Barnes & Noble Nook Store.
I totally agree with you and have noticed this happening more and more with many other shows.
Golf and football are the only exceptions for the Lowe’s to watch NBC, CBS or ABC . We almost totally boycott these networks due to their liberal views.
I agree with you. The Closer was much better. It seemed to me to have a hint of the liberal bias, but great acting, writing, and direction more than made up for it. But, to use that old cliche, Major Crimes jumped Fonzie’s feared fin without Kyra Sedgwick. I really have a hard time even trying to watch it. I like the characters well enough, but I feel that I need someone there to ask, “Can I help yew?”
You hit the nail on the head. I am tired of having “The Message of The Week” pushed at me. Just do your job.. entertain.. don’t influence.
Dianny, it’s all propaganda — whether network television, cable channels, movies, news — it’s all about advancing an agenda. I can’t think of any, but I’ll hold out that there may still be some “pure vanilla” telecasts. I remember in the early 1980s watching a half-hour German news show — Bericht aus Bonn — hosted by Friedrich Nowottny covering the story of demonstrations in Bonn against medium range missiles in Europe (Soviet SS-20 and US Pershing II). The program opened with ABC Evening News with Peter Jennings (in English with German subtitles) and his report featured images of Germans with signs only saying no to SS-20s. The next clip was the opening of Vremya (Moscow news in Russian with German subtitles) and their reporters stood in front of Germans carrying signs only saying no to Pershing IIs. The next clip was Heute (East German news) and their reporter stood in front of Germans with no signs. Then came Nowottny who said, “Now let’s find out what really happened in Bonn.” In those opening moments of his show, Nowottny presented the clearest examples of propaganda at its finest — partial truths advancing agendas attempting to influence malleable minds. We Americans don’t like to think that we deal in propaganda, but the media, entertainment industry, social programs, even sports all are engaged in it. But then isn’t that what social communications is all about — getting everyone to think alike for harmony’s sake? The year 1984 has come and gone long ago, but Orwell’s world seems to me to be just around the corner.