In recent weeks, a trend has emerged of giving real-world opinions to fake people that viewers neither expected nor wanted to hear from. Leslie Knope from “Parks and Recreation” rejects what Donald Trump stands for. (Duh.) The denizens of the “Gilmore Girls” town Stars Hollow, Conn., lean Republican. (Sure.) On a recent episode of “The Affair,” Helen blasted an acquaintance for “voting for Trump.” (Whatever.)
Can’t we all just watch TV in near-comatose peace? Apparently not.
Of course, any reasonable person will understand why entertainers want to get in on such high-stakes moments. Everybody wants to be relevant and on the pulse of major world events.
During, say, a major financial crisis, your cruise ship production of “Mamma Mia!” seems downright trivial, doesn’t it? Before you crank the fog machine and turn on the disco ball, you may even be tempted to address the meltdown somehow. “Money, Money, Money” could be given heavy new subtext. Why not make “Chiquitita” as mournful as Viking funeral?
Or, how about you just do the fluffy show, and recognize that your audience — regardless of ideology — needs a break from whatever their grim reality is. After all, the relief and catharsis entertainers provide is truly important work.
There are countless vehicles for political discourse in America, and art is definitely among them. But some TV shows and movies should just sit this one out. (You know who you are.)
Does anybody really care to hear how devastated Amy Poehler’s “Parks and Rec” character Leslie Knope is by the presidential election? But that didn’t stop an unidentified writer on the long-canceled show from penning a letter to Vox in her voice.
“I acknowledge that Donald Trump is the president. I understand, intellectually, that he won the election. But I do not accept that our country has descended into the hatred-swirled slop pile that he lives in,” said the ghostwriter. “I reject out of hand the notion that we have thrown up our hands and succumbed to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and crypto-fascism. I do not accept that. I reject that. I fight that.”
“Parks and Recreation” was a very funny satire about the high-strung deputy director of the parks department in the fictional town of Pawnee, Ind. Was it expertly acted, lovable, sharply written? Absolutely! Deep, layered, relevant? Not so much. Nobody ever looked to it, its characters or its creators for moral and intellectual guidance. They came for the laughs.
In more contemporary TV, over Thanksgiving weekend hordes of fans flocked to Netflix to catch up with their beloved “Gilmore Girls,” with more than one friend telling me that it was just the escape they needed after a frenzied November.
Then, in an interview with Vulture, co-executive producer Daniel Palladino said, “[Creator] Amy [Sherman-Palladino] and I are dyed-in-the-wool liberals and very left wing. But the show, we always wanted it to be bipartisan and Stars Hollow . . . probably voted for Trump, mainly.”
This is the exact opposite of what my “Gilmore Girls”-obsessed pals were longing to hear, which is nothing at all. They wanted a warm slice of comfort pie — not a cruel bath in ice water.
It’s no wonder the most popular show on TV — “Game of Thrones” — is also the least socially relevant.