Good TV May Be Making a Comeback!

For those of you who get the Sunday paper and that little insert inside called the Parade, you may have noticed this past week on the cover the picture of four beard-adorned and camo-clad men standing in a Louisiana swamp.   The four men are part of a family called the Robertsons in West Monroe, LA, and for millions of people in the US like myself, they are one of the most famous families on television, thanks in large part to a show featuring them on A&E Network called Duck Dynasty.   Although it has only been on for a little over a year, I just discovered it a couple of months ago when I was on the toilet and heard the TV - some old geezer (whom I later discovered to be none other than the crazy uncle, Silas "Uncle Si" Robertson, who is a fan favorite with good reason!) was talking about stopping to smell the roses and getting nailed on the schnozz by a big bee when doing so (his advice - stop and smell the roses quickly or you will get nailed!) and this intrigued me.  I discovered that day something many of my own family had been raving about, and instantly became a Duck Dynasty fan.  

The Robertsons of "Duck Dynasty - (l to r) "Uncle Si", Miss Kay, Jase, Korie (Willie's wife), Willie (seated), and Robertson patriarch Phil.

 

 

Duck Dynasty indicates something that similar shows - notably History Channel's Swamp People and Animal Planet's Call of the Wildman, both of which are personal favorites - airing in recent years are revealing about the public;  people like clean entertainment that they can relate to.  A bunch of gay kids on that sick show "Glee" just doesn't cut it for most, and bad screeching called "music" on these shows like American Idol and The Voice make for pretty faces with no talent.  With the Robertsons, what you see is what you get, and they are who America has said it loves.   And, the trend is repeated on other channels too - a whole network, as a matter of fact, features traditional values and has an audience of its own, and that network is RFD-TV.  On there, a good variety show called Larry's Country Diner features an equally-funny comedienne called Nadine whose witty repertoire will have you in stitches for hours.  One of Nadine's pearls of wisdom is this - "Smoking won't send you to hell, but it sure makes it smell like you've visited!" as well as gems of spirituality such as "Some people think they can sow their wild oats all week and then pray for crop failure on Sunday."  The appeal of these shows - in particular to people brought up in small-town America like myself - has always been there (remember The Beverly Hillbillies, the Waltons, and Little House on the Prairie?) but it's as if there has been a resurgence over the past few years or so.  Hopefully it continues!

 

The one and only Nadine, from "Larry's Country Diner."

 

This whole phenomenon  of rural-based entertainment goes back some years ago too, with characters both fact and fiction.   Remember The Red Green Show that used to be on PBS, for instance?  That was hilarious!  I can still hear Red Green (played by Canadian actor/comedian Steve Smith) prattle in his gruff voice, "Duct tape - the handyman's secret weapon," and along with Lawrence Welk, Red was a regular Saturday night fixture in our house for several years.  It is really unfortunate that PBS didn't see the benefits (especially with the wildly ascending popularity of the aforementioned Robertsons!) of keeping Red Green on the air, but fortunately there are DVD's!

Red Green and his ever-handy roll of "the handyman's secret weapon."

 

 

Then of course, mention must be made of the Blue Collar boys - Jeff Foxworthy, Larry the Cable Guy, and Bill Engvall.   They still have a huge following, and are some of the most talented and hilarious comedians out there today.   Now, they have become animated in a show on CMT called Bounty Hunters, and are as funny as cartoons as they are as real people.  Again, people do relate to this stuff, and only Hollywood is too stupid to realize it - they keep trying to push agendas (like sticking the gratuitous "gay" character now in almost every show, which really makes no sense!)  rather than entertain anyway, so Hollywood is becoming more irrelevant because it is out-of-touch with most normal people.  Perhaps the new center of American entertainment should be in either the South or Midwest, where quality programming could be made like Duck Dynasty which would impart values that many of us who live in the Land of Normal (as opposed to New York, Washington, DC, and LA) can relate to.  Keep praying and pushing for good programming, and maybe one day the chuckleheads at the big entertainment companies will finally get the hint.