December 16, 2009, - 12:07 pm
Pigs ‘R’ Flyin’: Lib Obama Judge is Racist Villain in TV Drama
For all of the hype over NBC’s “Law & Order” and its consistently overt attacks on (and lies about) conservatives, sometimes there is turnabout. And when it happens, as the saying goes, turnabout is fair play.
CBS’ “The Good Wife” Says Yes, Liberals (& Obama Buds) Are Racists, Too
I thought I was dreaming, last night, when I watched the latest episode of the CBS legal drama, “The Good Wife,” and the villain was a racist, crooked, LIBERAL judge. It’s one of the only shows I watch anymore on prime time TV. Ostensibly, the show is about a scorned wife, Alicia Florrick (Julianna Margulies), whose politico husband (Chris Noth) is caught in an Eliot Spitzer-style affair and scandal and sent to jail, and how she must pick up the pieces and go back to work as a lawyer. But, really, it harkens back to one of those serious legal dramas from the ’80s a la “L.A. Law.” It’s not sophisticated and doesn’t pretend to be. But it’s CBS’ top-rated new show.
On last night’s episode, a liberal judge (played by Tony Goldwyn, grandson of Samuel Goldwyn of MGM fame) who is friends with Barack Obama, discriminates against Black juvenile offenders. He sends them to long prison sentences, sparing the White kids juvie time and sentencing them to probation. And in a “ripped from the headlines” moment, he is also sending all the kids to a privately run detention facility and taking kickbacks to pay off his gambling habit. It’s a riff off the case in Pennsylvania, in which a liberal judge was doing the same (taking the kickbacks from the juvie center, but not a racist–he sent all the kids to hard time for petty, trivial crimes, regardless of their race).
But the dialogue shocked me, as I never dreamed I’d hear lines like these on a major broadcast TV network drama:
White Lawyer at Law Firm: No way, the Judge would never discriminate. He’s liberal all the way. Million Man March and everything.
Black Lawyer at Firm (incredulous at assumption): So, you’re saying a liberal can’t be a racist?! Sorry, man. The facts are clear. He discriminates.
Then, there was this exchange between Julianna Margulies, the main character, who is representing a Black juvenile sent to prison for nine months for throwing a book at a bully.
Racist Liberal Judge: You’re accusing me of being a racist? Look at these pictures. Who are these? [Motions to pictures of himself with Barack Obama and Illinois U.S. Senator Roland Burris.] Barack Obama, Senator Burris. They’re African Americans. And you’re accusing me of being racist?!
And, in fact, he is a racist. A liberal racist, who is tight with Obama and Burris.
And on top of that, Democratic Party judges pressure a partner at the firm to get Margulies to drop the racism claims. And when she doesn’t, she loses her chance at the Dem party nomination for a judgeship. Was pleasantly shocked to see that, too.
It’s refreshing and rare to see this kind of stuff on TV, since Hollywood prefers the easy villain–the conservative ogre as racist.
Rare, but ever so special and delicious when it happens. For the sake of the writers of this script, I hope they used the name, “Alan Smithee” . . . or they may never work in Hollywood again.
Tags: Barack Obama, CBS, Chris Noth, Elliot Spitzer, Julianna Margulies, Liberal Judge, liberal racism, liberal racists, Racism, racist, The Good Wife, Tony Goldwyn, villain
I’ve seen the show. Debbie, you should be a TV critic, too. Most shows aren’t watchable but the good ones last seasons. In the old days, few serious actors did TV work. Now most of them have done at least one TV series. And “sleeper” shows go on to find a second life in DVD syndication.
I should have caught that one – will see try to see it in a re-run. Its indeed a rare break in the pattern of painting conservatives as the stock villain. We can sometimes be surprised by the entertainment industry.
NormanF on December 16, 2009 at 12:39 pm