Posted on 05/28/2009 9:30:19 AM PDT by mnehring
People of color, sexually repressed religious fanatics, and reusable grocery bags were a few of the main subjects of tonight`s season premiere of The Goode Family, a new animated comedy made by the creator of King of the Hill and Office Space. This satirical spoof of the environmentalism craze documents a family of four who live by the slogan “WWAGD (what would Al Gore do)”. While this show made fun of typical conservative values such as abstinence, country music, and flag lapels; it also made fun of those who make fun of conservative values. Even though the show clearly has a political flavor to it, it is sure to make both conservatives and liberals laugh out loud.
The show started out with a few neighborhood moms perplexed about what was the current PC label for African Americans. Mrs. Goode was convinced that there was an annual convention every year where all of the minorities got together and decided what was the accepted label for that year. The episode then progressed and later expanded on the issue of the mother/daughter relationship of the family.
The issue of environmentalism as a fad was addressed when the Goodes hit the organic grocery store, which they chose to shop at even though the store across the street had some very tempting sales. As she went to check out, Mrs. Goode, who had forgotten her reusable grocery bags, had to weather the judgmental attitudes of the other women waiting in line. (We all know that we have shelled out the 99 cents per bag just to feel good about ourselves, but we never seem to remember to take them with us when we go to the grocery store). These kinds of social memes are manifest in the world of grocery shopping moms, and the show definitely brought out its truly ridiculous nature.
The season premiere also dealt with the mother-daughter relationship in terms of talking about sexual activity. The Goode daughter, Bliss, wasn`t sexually active and resented her mother for throwing condoms and contraceptive pills at her. She decided to join a chastity club and pledged her virginity until marriage, which consequently enraged her mother. Mrs. Goode referred to people who promote abstinence-only birth control as "sexually repressed religious fanatics" who negatively influence her daughter`s view on sex. The girl`s cross necklace and flag lapel were zoomed in upon and scorned by Mrs. Goode. Throughout the episode, the entire family promoted the concept of not being judgmental to others, except when it came to crazy religious people who take vows of chastity.
The show was filled with cultural political references, such as the dad’s fear of being seen at the chastity ball because he works in academia, a hybrid adorned with liberal bumper stickers, and two-ply toilet paper being separated in order to save paper. While the political positions of the show’s writers were unclear to me, it was apparent that they were simply trying to poke fun at fads, political correctness, and typical stereotypes of both sides of the aisle. This show might very well offend anyone without a sense of humor. However, to those of us who laugh at mainstream attempts to follow liberally promoted fads, this show is sure to be seen as a laugh-packed thirty minutes of hilarity.
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