5 TV Shows All Libertarians Should Hate!: Help Crowdsource a Reason TV Video

Last week, as part of our awesome package of stories about the past, present, and future of televsion, we released a video called "The 5 Best Libertarian TV Shows." (And by the way, we get it: Firefly should have been on the list. And Green Acres. And King of the Hill. And Yes, Minister. And Gilligan's Island… We apologize profusely for our failures in discernment.)

Now we want to do a companion piece featuring the five TV shows libertarians are most likely to hate-watch.

And we want—we need—your input! What's it gonna be, loyal readers? The original Star Trek, with its calvacade of intergalactic interventions? Anything by Aaron Sorkin? Dragnet, Adam-12, The Untouchables, I Dream of Jeannie (who needs a publicly funded space program)? Cop Rock (no-knock raids you can dance to?)?

Please post your ideas in the comments section. Thanks.

Watch "The 5 Best Libertarian TV Shows" below. Go here for full text and links.

Comments

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

Anything Everything by Aaron Sorkin?

[Faceless Commenter]

OH, come on, you guys. This is shameless click-bait. You guys, what the -- are you crazy? Jeez, you're just -- you're going to get your cuffs wet! If you think I'm getting my new outfit all messed up, you're crazy.

[Fist of Etiquette]

The original Star Trek, with its calvacade of intergalactic interventions?

PRIME DIRECTIVE.

[Rix]

Dunno. The Prime Directive directs Federation star ships to not interfere with non-Federated planets. It would have been interesting if they had done an episode where the Enterprise came upon a libertarian society.

[Rasilio]

The Ferengi?

Actually the Ferengi are probably reason #1 that Star Trek is the worst show from a libertarian perspective because they are basically a progressives parody of a libertarian society

[Notorious G.K.C.]

"So he was gonna charge me 12,000 credits for the transporter, but I Ferengied him down to 8,000."

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Like almost everything Star Trek, Deep Space Nine handles the Ferengi better.

[Rasilio]

Yes but that is because when they were making DS9 they actually had to compete with a far far better sci fi show.

[JWW]

Amen to that! B5 rules.

[Brian]

I always thought the Ferengi were the Jews of space. Or, at least the negative stereo-typical version, while the Bajorans were the victim Jews of space: getting their heads shitted on for generations untill the federation finally noticed and carved them out a safe homeworld to fight over forever for. Cardassisns being the Nazis, of course.

[Vulgar Madman]

James Lileks, said once that the bajorans started out as space-palastinians and ended up as space-tibetans.

[Vulgar Madman]

James Lileks, said once that the bajorans started out as space-palastinians and ended up as space-tibetans.

[Salvius23]

"A Piece of the Action" comes dangerously close to implying that government is indistinguishable from a gang of thugs (and/or that a sufficiently large gang of thugs is indistinguishable from a government). Enough that watching it recently made me wonder if that subtext were more prominant in an earlier draft, and later got watered down by Roddenberry, or something.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Kirk ignored the Prime Directive whenever he damn well felt like it. Which typically involved scoring some alien poon.

[Steve G]

They did get rid of all money

...replaced with bitcoin I'm sure

[Fist of Etiquette]

I don't see you pressing anything into latinum.

[Mark22]

Not all money 🙂

"Well, if you don't need money, then you certainly don't need mine!"

"I'm Human, I don't have any money."

"It's not my fault that your species decided to abandon currency-based economics in favor of some philosophy of self-enhancement."

"Hey, watch it. There's nothing wrong with our philosophy. We work to better ourselves and the rest of Humanity."

"What does that mean exactly?"

"It means... it means we don't need money!"

[-Umbriel-]

The Prime Directive itself is decidedly non-interventionist, and most of Kirk's interventions are in some measure precipitated by necessity (team gets captured by the locals, or is trying to undo a previous screw up).

The real issue with the Trek universe is in its references to having "outgrown" capitalism and profit motives. They're always coy on the shows about how exactly their economy works, but it certainly smells bad to a Libertarian nose.

[Vulgar Madman]

The federation is supposed to be a utopia, it doesn't have bad things in it (things Roddenberry didn't like). How does it work? People got better I guess.

[RJ The Terrible]

The federation is fascism as seen through the rose colored lens of a progressive known as Roddenberry

[Bill]

They have magic transporters and on the Next Generation the whatchamacallits that could create stuff out of thin air. Ian Banks - Matter had same idea.

Apparently you can transport anything any distance for nearly free and create anything out of thin air for nearly free. So there is no scarcity.

[cavalier973]

And they have Top Men who know how to properly allocate the resources.

"The Delta Quadrant will be low on 2% milk next Thursday; these four star systems have a surplus, so we'll just move their milk over to DQ."

[JWatts]

A post scarcity society. But you couldn't make a star ship out of a replicator, and I'm guessing all those guys welding in Vac suits weren't doing it out of their love of self enhancement.

[riak]

No. Worse: Star Trek: Next Generation - supposedly Roddenberry said that part of the concept is that there is no arguing. No wonder I found the characters boring, milquetoast and completely NOT compelling.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Luckily DS9 reversed that edict.

[Vulgar Madman]

In that show things got a lot better.

[James Anderson Merritt]

Roddenberry was very interested in the dynamic between interventionism and non-interventionism, and the shows during his tenure looked at both sides fairly well, imho. Subsequent regimes and production teams went overboard in the interventionist/socialist direction, and I agree that Ferengis were abused to mock those who believed in free minds and free markets. As much as I occasionally feel betrayed by various episodes in the several ST series, however, I don't think libertarians should "hate" this franchise, any more than we should hate the United States. The potential and ideals are, actually exemplary, and not hateful at all. But the implementation by various "governments" can be, and has been, on more than one occasion, detestable.

[JWatts]

I agree with respect to the interventionism. And I loved the show (most of the series anyway), but there were all kinds of digs at capitalism embedded in it.

[GamerFromJump]

Always thought it was bullshit myself.

"Sorry you're about to get wiped by an asteroid we could blow away with one torpedo without you even knowing guys, but you haven't met an arbitrary threshold for us to give a shit."

It's one thing to have a rule that stops people from pulling a god guise on primitive planets, it's quite another to say "never do anything."

Of course, to some Reason writers, the extinction of peoples is nothing compared to the ickiness of "intervention".

[Fist of Etiquette]

The worst hand wringing about saving a people.

[Almanian!]

"CSI Anything" - but mostly "SVU". "Fuck the laws - fuck rights - FOR THE CHILDREN!"

[Fist of Etiquette]

Any of the Law & Orderses should be on the list.

[Almanian!]

THAT's what I meant. "Law and Order". The orig CSI I actually liked, cause William Peterson....

[drugwarisevil]

Law & Order SVU is a horrible show. I actually like the other Law & Order series but from the drama perspective not because it was an actual depiction of what the police or the courts were like, much less libertarian. CSI gets particular disdain because it makes viewers think that police actually try to solve crimes. That is ones that does not involve a politician or a cop. For us mere plebeians crimes get solved by accident.

[GamerFromJump]

SVU had an ep not long ago where they were literally investigating a thoughtcrime. Not anything done or even about to be done.

[Dances-with-Trolls]

I opened this article just to vote L&O SVU as #1 in my book and I'm glad to see I am hardly alone in my reasons for doing it. Cop loving dramas are a plague but none are worse to me than SVU.

[Remnant Psyche]

I'm so happy to see people slamming SVU. Like To Catch a Predator, it panders to the audience's sick, primitive, self-righteous desire to gawk at the destruction of the "perp."

How does Elliot Stabler have and keep his job when he has such a major problem respecting the civil liberties of criminals? Even if they're disgusting degenerates, they have rights. Too much to expect the dumb audience to understand that?

Plus, the show ruined John Munch. It's insulting enough for a character to migrate from the superior Homicide to relative disposable crap like SVU, but they didn't even try to keep his character consistent.

[Troy muy grande boner]

i get apoplectic every time my retarded roommate watches this. I have to explain to him that defense attorneys never allow the pigs to interview their clients once arrested. and DA's, at least in my experience, don't get to be snarky argumentative, testifying cunts. And fuck you hulk hogan, you should of killed belzer when you had the chance.

[Troy muy grande boner]

oh, and snarky cunt da's don't get to have snarky exparte communications with judges.

fuck that show.

[d3x / dt3]

Precious hateses the Law and Orderses!

[adavaas]

Totally seconding SVU. That is the most unashamedly pro-statist pro-police do-what's-right-damn-the-Constitution shows on TV.

Also, it turned John Munch from Homicide's most interesting character to a drooling idiot who at one point literally rants about black helicopters. It's sad to watch the writers treat him like an unrealistic idiot for being a civil libertarian surrounded by cops.

[Harvey_birdman]

SVU is without a doubt the most statist show on TV. Everything for the children. Fucking fascists.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

COPS?

[Mike M.]

Absolutely has to be the #1 worst at the top of the list, right?

[drugwarisevil]

I agree. This is the worst. From the music to the wholesale violation of rights.

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

What about The Independents?

[Bill]

It has to be a show people watch.

[RJ The Terrible]

+1 Welch bent over a box

[flye]

COPS should get some credit as good lesson -- if unintentional -- in why you never consent to a search.

[SIV]

Yes. Cops is very educational. They rarely fuck with calm polite people who don't obviously lie. You can learn a lot about how and how not to behave in an encounter with police.

[Redmanfms]

They rarely fuck with calm polite people who don't obviously lie.

At least not in front of TV cameras and if the contact didn't appear to be outwardly "poor." I remember cops in various cities being pretty confrontational with blacks, and poor, trailer-residing whites regardless of the earnestness and honesty of the contact.

[Harvey_birdman]

They don't show the incidents where they fuck with calm polite people who don't obviously lie. It's an edited show.

[Rufus J. Firefly]

S.W.A.T.

[Jason Reeher]

Scandal. You've got a corrupt government, a fixed election, a major storyline on gun control, and lots and lots of lawyers. Oh, did I mention that the lawyers are the ones of corrupted the government and fixed the election?

[RJ The Terrible]

So its a documentary. Whats wrong with that?

[flye]

M*A*S*H

Military interventionalism on one side, pious liberal agitprop on the other.

[Cytotoxic]

If Star Trek is on the list I will forgive Reason for all of its squirrel and mobile site shittiness and donate it monies.

[Fist of Etiquette]

I wager 400 quatloos on the squirrels.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Am I the only one who views Nick's repeated attempts to spuriously connect libertarianism to elements of pop culture to be a bit pathetic? Or desperate, perhaps? Whatever it is, it's also tiresome. Please stop.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Let's see you make libertarianism interesting.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Let's see you make libertarianism interesting.

*unzips pants*

[Dweebston]

Obviously you've never spent an enchanting evening regaling some girl you met on Tinder with the many fascinating arguments made by libertarians. I start by expounding on hard money, which I say with a wink.

[Sevo]

"I start by expounding on hard money, which I say with a wink."

VERY subtle!

[Sevo]

Should we poll the...
Ah, the hell with it.

[Trouser-Pod]

Should we poll the...

Well, HM is apparently ready.

[Trouser-Pod]

I'm ambivalent about it, but I get ya.

Of course, the discussions here can be great, but it's probably where this stuff needs to be, as opposed to being some pointless article/poll.

While I'm at it, I had to give up Parks And Rec. As much as I loved Ron, the governmental shaft worship was too much.

[prolefeed]

I gave up when Ron started to act a teeny bit statist by being supportive of Leslie being the insufferable statist twat she was.

It would of been way better for Ron to sabotage Leslie's run for office because as much as he liked her as a person, he found her politics entirely wrongheaded.

[adavaas]

I was flabbergasted when Ron gave Leslie a speech in the London episode about how government is a thankless job and she should continue to do what she knows to be right even when the people are too blind and silly to see it.

Yes, Ron, as in Ron Swanson, as in the guy who literally took the job to prevent bureaucrats who want to impose what they think is right, who used to give entirely faithful libertarian counterarguments to Leslie's idealism.

Even the plot arc with her running for city council was pretty decent, with characters like Councilman Jamm showing what petty self-serving assholes most bureaucrats really are and how politics often comes down to corruption and realpolitik more than high-minded ideals. But in the last couple of seasons, it was just Leslie, who knows what's right, against the crazy stupid people who know what they do is wrong but do it anyway for profit or religion. Shit, they even had a cameo from Michelle Obama.

[Jimbo]

Ron is clearly "evolving."

[Almanian!]

Oh, I see SOMEONE's trying to deny the very REAL "libertarian moment".

*shoos away some of the 50 cats surrounding self*

[Cytotoxic]

Mostly because Nick is hipster trash.

[SIV]

See, you can, upon rare occasion, make a valid point.

[SIV]

Nick is doing valuable outreach trying to connect with the Millenials with sly references to boomer pop culture. Kids dig the vintage and retro stuff. Just look at tumblr.

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Nope, it's kind of pathetic.

That being said, still massively butthurt that Firefly wasn't on their best Libertarian shows list.

[VicRattlehead]

Exactly! How the hell is firefly not the ultimate libertarian show?

[Carolynp]

^^^^THIS^^^^

[Harvey_birdman]

A commutarian group of antisocial autististcs float around in space committing crime is libertarian?

[Rorschach Carlyle]

Hey, this is Reason. I was more surprised by the absence of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

[Cowboy]

For me, it was Colbert Report, at least for a few years. It was funny even with its liberal slant. I'm not really sure what changed, though.It seemed like in the beginning it want quite as slanted. But over time Colbert just became a John Stewart lite, so I stopped watching.

[Cytotoxic]

Colbert started as a true parody. It was funny. Then after I don't know a year it became JS TDS redux.

[ant1sthenes]

I don't know if they changed, so much as the political world did. Suddenly, speaking truth to power became punching down, and kind of pathetic. Now, they really should have changed, but oh well. In fairness to them, you run up against Poe's law really fast if you try to parody MSNBC.

[Steve G]

Shit, that's it, you glanced off it, but no one's given it the direct hit: The Daily Show...

[drugwarisevil]

The Daily Show and the Colbert Report were funny when Republicans were in power. Their gloves were off. Now they try to be "fair and balanced". I think the writers are such liberal dipshits that they can't reliably find the humor in Democrat buffoonery.

[Sevo]

..."I think the writers are such liberal dipshits that they can't reliably find the humor in Democrat buffoonery."

They don't even try. Look at Toles the poli-cartoonist. The guy twists any facts available to pitch 'RETHUGLICANS!'
Pathetic

[JWatts]

Both the shows became unwatchable by mid year 2008. John Stewart was all in for Obama and it showed. The Colbert Report just ran it's gag into the ground.

[Dweebston]

If Two Broke Girls doesn't top the list, there is no god.

I don't know whether it's specifically anti-libertarian, but it is just godawful.

[Bob_R]

Your only hope is that the Randians know that post hoc ergo proptor hoc is a fallacy.

[Heroic Mulatto]

Kat Dennings' voluptuous breasts; therefore, your argument is invalid.

[Bob_R]

Much better argument

[Dweebston]

Yeah. You can also fantasize about her obnoxious affected vocal fry.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

An argument that backfires. The continuing existence of the show means Kat Dennings is not on HBO and thus not actually showing said voluptuous breasts.

[Irish]

This is a valid point. Every day Kat Denning is on network television instead of basic cable at the very least is a loss for the human species.

[prolefeed]

Her lips and eyes and hair are her best features, but I will stipulate that the cleavage looks promising too.

[Remnant Psyche]

I love Kat's Dennings.

[HBoA]

Captain Planet!

[HBoA]

Excuse me, I forgot to add "and the Planeteers".

[BuSab Agent]

Totally second this. Because a factory whose sole purpose is to create pollution but no other product is totally what corporations do.

[VicRattlehead]

hahahhaa teh evul koch-perations killinz teh treezzzz

[Road Warrior]

Add on How I met Your Mother with all their anti-Corporate selling out talk and Lilly constantly whining about Marshall being an environmental lawyer.

[Warty]

Does the NFL count as a TV show? Because fuck the NFL.

[Almanian!]

Mostly...well, yeah. Fuck the NFL in its entirety.

[Hugh Akston]

Agree. There's really nothing good at all about pro football.

[Warty]

I really like football. My hatred for the NFL burns hotter than the furnace I wish Art Modell had been burned alive in. What a bunch of degenerate welfare queen assholes determined to ruin the game.

[drugwarisevil]

Ditto what Warty said.

[Hugh Akston]

Warty, I bet you didn't even know that in the rest of the world "football" is what they call soccer.

[Warty]

Rugby football is football, Gaelic football is football, Australian football is football, American football is football, Association football is football, even Canadian football is football. Every English public school for assholes has its own football code. Association football is the most popular in the world because every 5 foot 3 malnourished Third World peasant can play it with no more equipment than a needle-strewn patch of dirt and a dead dog's head, but that doesn't give it exclusive right to the word football.

[Swiss Servator, Grundgesetz!]

*rises and gives thunderous applause*

[Catatafish]

I'm setting aside my complete love of football (soccer) to acknowledge this as the funniest comment I've read in recent memory.

[Almanian!]

Is "un-libertarian" anything like "un-metal"? Only wimpier. WAY wimpier?!

[Warty]

I don't think libertarianism has quite as many subgenres.

[Dweebston]

Does that make Metalocalypse the libertarianest show ever?

[Almanian!]

"That Metal Show" FTW

[Warty]

Reposting: WHEEL! OF! SUBGENRES!

[Almanian!]

THAT. is fucking awesome!

Reminds me of a Steve and Gary ("scumbag, wormy - idiots") Show on WLUP Chicago back in the mid 80's. They kept playing the same metal riff over, and over, and over and taking calls - "this is speed metal, right? *play riff* but this is more like thrash metal, right? *play same riff again*" "Yeah, totally...." So funny...

[Tman]

There has to be something by Sorkin on the list so are we agreeing it should be The West Wing?

It should be the West Wing.

[Almanian!]

damn your quick, nimble fingers...and brain

[flye]

I enjoyed The West Wing, and could suggest a couple of mitigating factors... but no. It and one of the Star Treks (TNG is probably the worst of the bunch) are the alpha and omega of this list.

[Tman]

I thought the same for a second, but then you think it about it some more and I mean COME ON MAN.

Dude has never written a moral to the story that didn't indict capitalism somehow.

GOD I HATE THIS SHOW SOOOO MUCH.

[flye]

Yuuuup. The occasional counter insight notwithstanding, like Josh telling Donna that as Democrats they don't want to rebate a surplus because they don't trust people to spend it right.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

I wonder how that pitch even went.

"Hey, let's create a show where we depict the Clinton administration, only we populate it with characters that aren't sociopaths so our audience can root for them and believe in the benevolence of our superiors in government."

[PACW]

It worked on me. . . . not enough to actually vote democrat, but enough to believe that good and decent people enter into politics. At least until the show was over and the news came on.

[Dweebston]

The smug is strong with Sorkin.

[Cytotoxic]

If only smug made for good writing.

[Kaptious Kristen]

I tried to re-watch Sports Night recently, because I remember kind of enjoying it on its original run. I got about 5 minutes into the first episode and quit. Gawd awful writing.

[Tman]

Sorkinisms - A Supercut

Sorkinisms II - The Sequel

Smug does not make for good writing. In fact, it makes for terrible writing.

And that's without getting in to the annoying "money is the boogeyman!!" morality play from the guy whose hypocrisy makes Michael Moore's almost look downright respectable.

[RAHeinlein]

Nope - it is definitely THE NEWSROOM. The West Wing at-least tried to pretend...

[Almanian!]

Also, "West Wing". And "The Monkees".

WAIT! No! "The Monkees" should have been on the "most-libertarian" list.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

+1 Prefab Four

[NotAnotherSkippy]

Should we walk, or should we poll?

[Fist of Etiquette]

Prediction: Dreamcathers

[Fist of Etiquette]

Or, uh, Barnie Miller, to be on topic.

[Russell]

I'm rooting for the reptile- at least he wears a necktie.

[Bardas Phocas]

I'm going with "Justified".
Can Raylan go 15 minutes without violating some hillbilly's constitutional rights?
Why is that man still in any police force?

[Pope Jimbo]

Yeah, but Boyd Crowder - the bad guy - is the most likable person on that show.

[MJGreen]

Sure, but we're never supposed to think Raylan is doing the right thing. He's a lovable lawbreaker, sure, but the point is that the only difference between him and Boyd is that Raylan has a badge.

[Catatafish]

Yeah, that's kind of why we should LIKE the show.

[Pope Jimbo]

The new Hawaii 5-0

http://reason.com/blog/2011/02.....-s#comment

In addition to blowing up peoples' work places with grenades, they also have dangled them off buildings and thrown them in the ocean with sharks.

[Steve G]

Since someone opened the door to 'reality' shows with COPS, I'll just put this here:

Nancy Grace

[Dweebston]

Ding ding fucking ding. She is insufferably twatty.

[Steve G]

Yeah, libertarian, shlibertarian, I hate-watch the bottom out of that show regardless... on the rare occasion I'm stuck somewhere having to watch it that is.

[drugwarisevil]

Absolutely Nancy Grace.

[Scruffy Nerfherder]

That's not anti-libertarian so much as raving lunatic bitch.

[PeasHorsdoervesGoodGovt]

1. The West Wing and 2. Madame Secretary (treacle-laced propaganda)
3. Homeland (Great TV, but horrible rights violations and fear mongering)
4. Downton Abbey (Great TV, but Lords and Ladies? Really?)
5. Blue Bloods

[Irish]

3. Homeland (Great TV, but horrible rights violations and fear mongering)

Did you watch the first few episodes of this season? I don't think it's possible to make a show more cynical about American foreign policy than the first episode this year. ATTENTION: HOMELAND SPOILERS AHEAD.

***SPOILER ALERT***

They 1. accidentally bomb a wedding because 2. one of the CIA's station chiefs was selling American military secrets to a terrorist for tips and 3. The terrorist double crossed the station chief and had him killed. Then, it turns out the fucking head of the CIA knew about the illegal sale of classified information and a mentally ill adrenaline junkie who almost drowned her own baby used this information to manipulate him into sending her back to an active war zone so that she wouldn't have to see her own child.

***SPOILER END***

Homeland shows all sorts of rights violations but the lesson seems to be that these people are fucking scum who are scarcely better than the terrorists they target.

The most sympathetic character is Quinn, and he accidentally shot a 10 year old in the face during an assassination attempt. I don't think you're supposed to feel positively about Homeland's rights violations. The real problem with Homeland is that many of the characters seem completely incompetent...which might actually be realistic given the state of the CIA.

[RAHeinlein]

Downton Abbey is a definite; thanks for taking taking your 2014 prog agenda back in-time. Look for a big climate-change theme this season...

[Kaptious Kristen]

West. Wing. (is that a Sorkin?)

[PapayaSF]

A late suggestion for the pro-libertarian list: The Goode Family. Well, maybe it wasn't pro-libertarian so much as anti-PC, but it was funny and I think most libertarians would enjoy it.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

1. 24, aka Antonin Scalia's favorite show.

2. Law & Order: SVU.

3. COPS

4. The West Wing

5. Captain Planet and the Planeteers

[OldMexican]

Re: Grand Moff Serious Man,

2. Law & Order: SVU.

SVU is decidedly disgusting and unwatchable, but not as in-your-face anti-libertarian as Law & Order with Sam Waterston. The violations of basic rights in that one were so egregious that I don't know how the show is not used as a didactic tool for new civil rights attorneys.

[Steve G]

The new and improved Cosmos

[OldMexican]

Ugh. Yeah. But some parts are not that bad.

[Steve G]

Yeah, the non-AGW parts

[Tman]

It had some cool stories about the history of our understanding of the light spectrum and things like that, but it went off the rails pretty fast at the end, almost negating the beauty of the first half. The Evolution episode for instance- using dogs to describe how it works was brilliant.

What a miss.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I wouldn't hate the whole thing, but it doesn't seem to draw the line at advocating individual, voluntary activity to deal with the several global problems it examines. Where it seems to be calling for global government (or an approach that fairly requires it), is where I part ways with this show.

[CapitalistRunningDog]

I would argue that the original series of Star Trek has a fair amount of anti-authoritarianism and pioneering spirit, making space safe for new settlement and trade. The later series, not so much.

[Rev-Match]

I tried to go back and watch TNG chronologically since I only ever caught bits of hit here and there as a kid. I couldn't get through 2 episodes. Way too much commie propaganda.

[Kaptious Kristen]

TNG was incredibly anti-market. The Ferengi? The only race engaged in meaningful commerce are the slimy joke characters.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

The Ferengi are basically Shylocks in Space. But then DS9 came along and gave us probably the greatest scene in all of Star Trek:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5J_qn93Nkc

[Heroic Mulatto]

This was also a great scene.

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Dammit everyone beat me with the good Ferengi scenes!

Fine. Here's the douchebag KGB bureaucrats that work in the shadows to keep the Federation 'safe'.

[James Anderson Merritt]

I always hoped that DS9 would gets its own movie, in which Quark, disgusted by the political and cultural deterioration he sees on Ferengenar, goes on a pilgrimage to reconnect with the core of his faith. At one point, he encounters a hermit, who informs him that the "old religion" was based on voluntary relationships between people, and the free market as the generator of ever greater wealth based on win-win transactions; that the complex brains (and larger lobes) of Ferengis evolved to help traders make such intricate transactional connections as demonstrated by Nog in the "Treachery, Faith and the Great River" DS9 episode; and that the highest value is respect for individuality and liberty. A divergence from and corruption of this faith led to the crony capitalism of TNG/DS9-era Feregenar, but in the mirror universe, free-market fundamentalists emerged to became freedom fighters against tyranny.

I thought that this single movie could have erased a great many socialist sins that the various Treks ever committed, "rehabilitated" the Ferengis as Klingons had once been, and focused more kindly attention on free enterprise economics, while telling an entertaining and tightly-plotted, intellectually and emotionally satisfying story. Alas, there never would be a DS9 movie, but maybe in a parallel universe out there, that movie was made, and became an instant classic along the lines of "Wrath of Khan." We can only hope.

[Rev-Match]

I thought the Ferengi came off more as thieves that were passed off as "capitalists". Or maybe I only recall how they were represented in Enterprise.

[Drake]

I can't put my finger on why exactly, but the Star Trek Enterprise series felt far less left-wing than any of its predecessors.

[Toki Wartooth]

Anything with Roseanne Barr in it.

[Steve G]

7th Heaven

Too soon?

[OldMexican]

Hmm, no, not too soon... just sad.

[Almanian!]

Funniest part for me? Some ex-metalhead wrote the theme song! Perfect

[Hugh Akston]

Actually the first eight seasons or so of Roseanne were pretty great.

[Toki Wartooth]

Well I cant stand her voice and she's a raging anti gun twat, so she ranks pretty high on my Go Fuck Yourself list.

[OldMexican]

She's an avowed communist. That should be enough to make her more repulsive than she already is.

[Toki Wartooth]

I may have to retract my statement about Roseanne being anti gun. I always thought she was against guns but some searching revealed she may be more supportive of gun rights than I thought. Well if she is kudos to her. She still has an annoying voice.

[PACW]

You may be confusing her with Rosie O'Donnel. . . . . so many similarities.

[Faceless Commenter]

Speaking of Rosie O'Donnell, what about The View?

[RJ The Terrible]

Twatzilla

[Freedom Rocks]

Newsroom...most disgustingly anti libertarian. It is a political show, so there is no need to pretend to create liberal undertones or anything, just the best opportunity to fuck libertarians directly

[Irish]

Newsroom is one of the worst shows in T.V. history. His entire first speech is terrible writing. To begin with, you have a fucking college student asking 'Why is American the greatest country in the world?' In real life, that college student would have asked some bullshit question about rape culture or microaggressions, but that wouldn't have given Sorkin the opportunity to write a retarded speech about the wondrous majesty of socialism.

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Say what you want about Ken Finkleman being a pretentious weirdo, but his Newsroom is a lot better and a hell of a lot more cynical towards modern news outlets.

[OldMexican]

The worst shows you can watch as a libertarian.

5. Captain Planet And The Planeteers.
4. The West Wing.
3. Newsroom.
2. Law & Order (post Michael Moriarty)

and the number one anti-libertarian show (drum roll):

1. Star Trek: The Next Iteration.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

Eh, as a caveat we can specify that TNG seasons 1-3 were the worst. Once Roddenberry croaked the other writers got a chance to make the Federation more ominous.

Ron Moore in particular liked to write up these mad Starfleet admirals from their secret intelligence division, which was more prominently shown on DS9.

[bartzman86]

-Parks and Rec
-West Wing
-The Daily Show
-Something that's anti-market (nothing comes to mind, but I'm sure it's out there)
-COPS

As television in general, not bad shows in general. But from an ideological perspective, not so good for REASON at least.

[OldMexican]

The Daily Show is obviously anti-libertarian but then again it makes no effort to hide its fascism, which is why it would not be in my top five. You know what you get when watching it.

[bartzman86]

That's a fair point. I guess the guidelines for this were a bit unclear.

[Bob_R]

Come on. At least P&R has a sympathetic (sometimes heroic) nominally libertarian character. Ron Swanson is a small beacon of light in modern TV.

[bartzman86]

Don't get me wrong, I love Ron. He is the standard by which all should strive for.

[adavaas]

Yes, but the last two seasons or so have really shown a lot of bias that wasn't there before.

Ron actually gives Leslie a speech in the London episode on how government is a thankless job and that government bureaucrats should do what they know to be right even if the people should hate them for it.

Yes, THAT Ron Swanson, the one who took a government job just to stop other bureaucrats from doing anything useful. It's so out-of-character for him it's painful. The writers have seriously stopped caring about neutrality or characterization.

And really, Leslie has always been a leftist ideal. P&R used to be good, but now it's yet another left-leaning show where the government is the good guy, Republicans are cartoon villains, government intervention is both effective and benevolent, and democrat leaders make cameos to talk about their platforms for one scene. Michelle Obama made a totally out-of-left-field cameo in the last season finale just to promote her anti-obesity efforts.

[drugwarisevil]

Anti-market? How about Bill Moyers?

[Kaptious Kristen]

Watch the episode of Parks & Rec called "The Bailout" and get back to me.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Surprisingly one-sided episode, and not the side you would think.

[RobbG]

The Jetsons.

[Almanian!]

Oh, duh- how could I forget LITERALLY EVERY SUNDAY MORNING GABFEST ON EVERY NATION.

Meet the Depressed? Suck my libertarian dick.
Faux News Sunday? Suck it
Deface the Nation? Yeah - here's my balls - SUCK 'EM

And don't get me started on that fucktard Tavis Smiley, or Charlie Rose, or...Bill Moyers (shuuuuuudddddddddddder).

Fuck 'em all

[Almanian!]

"every nation"

Seriously? "station"

[Rev-Match]

I think MeliTHa HarriTH Race-troller takes the cake.

[Almanian!]

Every four years two years, now:

The Olmpix

I hate me some state-sponsored statism!

*barf*

[Almanian!]

Jesus MOTHERFUCKING CHRIST

"Olympix"

fucking lack of typing skillz!

I blame BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOSH

[Dominoe]

I can't argue much against the original Star Trek, but I certainly can argue against including either Next Generation or Deep Space Nine -

DS9 - There are a variety of episodes that detest the very negative coupling of government and capitalism as seen with the Ferengi that every libertarian would immediately be disgusted by as well - such as privateering/piracy sanctioned by the state, bribery, corruption, lack of enforceable neutral contract arbitration (except when the Federation is involved) and outright slavery and abuse (Dabo Girls). Hell, the damn Captain's (Sisko) dad was a small business owner (restaurant). Not to mention control of the wormhole was to promote trade.

TNG - Again, a variety of episodes where the crew is shown buying and selling goods for personal usage. Plenty of private property, including land (Picard's Family's Vineyard) and businesses. Plus, the Federation itself gets involved in securing major trade lanes (ep. The Price).

While Roddenberry himself liked to say there was no "money" in the future he imagined, the writers clearly didn't bother to keep that trash going in stories. The Federation very clearly didn't place any social value in the accumulation of wealth just for wealth, but it's obvious from watching the series that that is a view mostly held by career military persons in Starfleet, and that alot of the other Federation citizens (eg, Vash) were clearly out there hustlin' for a buck.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

You missed references to the private economy in TOS, e.g. Trouble with Tribbles and even Mirror, Mirror. TNG had much grander government planning projects. After all, it doesn't get much grander than creating a new continent.

[Harvey_birdman]

Well, I mean in fairness, once replicators are in every house why would you need money any more? You just have everything you could want right there. I'm not saying replicators are a game changer but replicators are a game changer.

[drugwarisevil]

For best we could put The Independents. For worst we could put the parts where Kennedy steps all over what Kmele is saying.

[Dominoe]

My addition to the list is 'The Blacklist':

1) Seems extremely rare that anybody on the show is bothered by getting a warrant for any searches, seizures, property entering, etc *except* ironically, when disputing authority over a case with another agency.

2) Plenty of lengthy jailing without habeus corpus, trial, judge or jury in non-officially recognized 'black sites', including those run by the FBI.

3) Plenty of extra-judicial killing on flimsy evidence.

4) Active FBI/NSA/CIA cooperation with a well-known mass murderer and thief in order to catch, in many instances, criminals with purely domestic and non-national security related crimes. And the guy just walks the streets for most of the series.

5) Government agents actively and repeatedly torturing detainees (including non-combatant US citizens) to extract information. My favorite is leaning into or squeezing a gunshot wound.

The list goes on. Probably nothing that you don't normally see on your average cop show these days anyway.

[John Sizemore]

"Person of Interest" and "24" come to mind.

[F. Stupidity, Jr.]

The only defense I've got for Person of Interest is Sarah Shahi. Therefore, I win the argument. All arguments, actually.

[WyoJenn]

I actually like Person of Interest for the strong warnings it gives about the dangers of government invasions of privacy. Perhaps it ran you off early on, if so you might find the end of last season and this season so far surprising.

[Cytotoxic]

I'd hate to see 24 go on the list. I mean come on, it was so fun to watch! For 4 or 5 seasons. Occasionally.

[Grand Moff Serious Man]

24 wasn't sanctimonious about the importance of the torture tactics Bauer used, it just perpetuated the myth that they are effective.

Other than that yeah, it's an exciting show that serves an entertainment purpose.

[Stretchy]

NFL (and really all sports on TV) Crony capitalism, eminent domain abuse
The Closer. Covering up for police abuse of suspects, police lying. Perpetuating the myth that there is a tireless and professional IA department in any police force.
24... too many to count.

[JohnKovoti]

I'd have to say "The Shield" is a big one, as it tries to imply that police brutality/corruption are okay as long as the ends justify it. Pretty much any cop show where a officer slams a persons head on the table, and then suffers no repercussions, so every cop show.

[jcalton]

I was also coming here to say almost every cop show.

Even in The Wire they do a shitload of warrantless wiretaps, but to be fair those guys get fired. Not their bosses, but hey.

[Cdr Lytton]

The Shield? Really? I think it shows what happens when you start cutting corners. Nearly every supposed good guy has some hidden baggage or makes poor moral choices and the results mostly catch up with them. Now maybe it doesn't give real justice but Mackey's punishment at the end is as much hell for him outside of General Population.

[Harvey_birdman]

The Shield? The show where every cop either dies for their sins or is otherwise sent to atone for same?

[Sevo]

OH, OH! 60 Minutes!
Lying dolts asking 'why isn't there a law?!'

[Almanian!]

"Gentle Ben"

"Independents"

"Fox and Friends"

"A Family Affair"

"Courtship of Eddie's Father"

Sorry - that's more like "Almanian's Nightmare Lineup"...

[PCSchleifer]

Law and Order
Law and Order: SVU
Blue Bloods
West Wing
Law and Order: Civil Asset Forfeiture Unit

[SusanM]

Law and Order: Civil Asset Forfeiture Unit

is that this?

http://deadline.com/2014/10/la.....eo-846379/

[Rasilio]

Major Crimes

Yeah lets take a show about a hard nosed female police captain (played by a hardcore progressive actress) who routinely violates the civil rights of perps to trick them into confession (and even overtly gets one killed by intentionally releasing information blaming him for a hit on a rival gang and then setting him free) and then when the story has run it's course replace the main character with another hard nosed female police captain (played by a hardcore progressive actress) who routinely violates the civil rights of perps to secure plea bargains while extolling the virtues of plea bargains and how much money they save the city to the team of detectives used to securing confessions which she inherited from her predecessor

[drugwarisevil]

And add liberal doses of crappy writing and acting and Major Crimes is majorly bad.

[Trouser-Pod]

Mary Mac is a hardcore Prog? I mean, I can believe it, but I've never heard her shill for anything?

[TCassa]

7th Heaven has got to make this list

From that shows stance on public smoking, to marijuana usage, that show was thoroughly unlibertarian

[Harvey_birdman]

I haven't watched 7th heaven in a while, but I vaguely remember those being the positions of the family for their personal lives. Did they advocate for illlegalization of smoking and weed? I thought it was just a family position. I might be wrong.

[WyoJenn]

Chicago PD. They don't just trample rights, they celebrate it.

[ant1sthenes]

1. 24

2. Basically any police procedural

3. Anything by Sorkin

4. Everything on MSNBC

That said, I don't know why people are so down on Captain Planet. It helped make it crystal clear that environmentalism is for either the sort of simpletons that found their villains believable, or else for the sort of people that thought "Heart" was a cool power instead of something a tween girl uses to dot her i's.

I'm pretty sure that show is responsible for making more libertarians than environmentalists.

[Redmanfms]

I'm pretty sure that show is responsible for making more libertarians than environmentalists.

The "environmental conscience" demonstrated by the generation that watched that show seems to indicate otherwise.

[ant1sthenes]

Nah, that was public schools.

[adavaas]

Captain Planet is most peoples' first exposure to outright propoganda of 80s and 90s kid.

Seriously, it's not even that it makes political assumptions or has themes subtly implemented in the writing. It's outright intentional, deliberate propoganda.

[Derpetologist]

1. The Newsroom
2. Law & Order
3. COPS
4. The Rachel Maddow Show
5. Real Time with Bill Maher

[Derpetologist]

Honorable Mention- whatever Thom Hatmann's show is called

[ProLifeLibertarian]

I'm pretty certain shows which air on Russian television are ineligible.

[Stephdumas]

The recent seasons of Family Guy when the episodes focus on Brian.

[Mickey Rat]

Should not self-aware humans hate Family Guy, not just libertarians?

[PACW]

I was watching 'Criminal Minds" or maybe 'Numb3rs' with my kids in the room. There was a scene where the FBI folks were questioning someone (sans legal counsel) and had just about determined that the guy was innocent when one of the agents who was roaming around the house casually looking into doors found handcuffs and collars and other leather-wear. Boom, they handcuffed the guy and started searching the house with a vengeance. My 13 year old yelled at the TV, "S&M is Not a Crime! It's not even probable cause!"

I was a bit dismayed that he knew what S&M is but pleased with his understanding of the law.

[Ted S.]

"I learned it by watching you, Dad!"

[Alaskan Curmudgeon]

How about Survivor, where the majority gets kill anyone they want (metaphorically, at least)

[adavaas]

I'm sad to say (in that it has one of the best libertarian characters out there) but Parks & Rec has become this. The last two seasons or so became increasingly biased and one-sided and has sort of spoiled the mood for me. Episodes like "Soda Tax" unashamedly take one side. The whole plot arc where Leslie (SPOILERS) gets fired from the city council for all the nanny-state shit she pulls over an entire season (/SPOILERS) really came off like a bitter "why can't we get our way?" from left-leaning writers. Ron's "government is a thankless job" speech from the London episode, where he consoles Leslie that government bureaucrats need to do what's right even if the people hate them for it, is just painfully out-of-character and shows how much the writers have abandoned any pretense of neutrality.

It's sad, because I loved that show in the second through fourth seasons or so.

[NotAnotherSkippy]

No mention of Real Time with Bill Maher?

[Bobarian (dinosaur hunter)]

THER IS NO SUCH SHOW!

NANANANANANA...CAN'T HEAR YOU1

[Harvey_birdman]

Last Week Tonight might even be worse.

[An Innocent Man]

NCIS: Los Angeles

Cause it saddens me that LL Cool J is such a sell-out.

[Harvey_birdman]

Ice-T is an even worse sell out. He went from Cop-Killer to Cop.

[DPM]

Dinotopia (2002 miniseries) - kind of fun, but the author clearly believes that fascism is utopia, as long as vegetarian hipsters are in charge.

[Dweebston]

Good christing God I was a child obsessed with Dinotopia. I never caught the series, and chances are I never will.

[Drake]

I was thinking of Terra Nova.

The colonial administration was fairly heavy-handed, but they were escaping a far worse form of Fascism in the future Earth.

[angus]

Due to unprecedented response the 2 minutes of hate will be extended indefinitely.

[Steve Rider]

MacGyver was pretty bad and somewhat at the forefront of advancing the liberal tsunami of television starting in the 80's. Always some evil corporation polluting something, murder for hire, selling drugs etc. Each and every time the show made a point to highlight how this abhorrent entity in society was driven by the despicable desire of profit.

One episode that set a new standard of bad-liberal advice, showed Jason Priestley (of the show 90210) being chased by armed villains at which point, despite dire warnings from MacGyver, Jason elects to do the unthinkable -- he picks up a gun to defend himself! Predictably, and I hope I'm not ruining this for any true idiots, Priestley then trips on a banana peel (or something) and shoots himself. Fortunately MacGyver constructs some recycled dart mixed with organic sleeping pills and disables (not kills) all the bad guys before the central authority can arrive.

I may have mixed up a couple small details, but the show was bad if not worse than my recap.

[Steve Rider]

Also, despite HBO winning big with "The Wire" they've put out some pretty bad stuff too. "Enlightened"?? Seriously, what was that.

[Harvey_birdman]

First two seasons of MacGyver were good. It was only when they cut the budget and started focusing on home-grown issues that the show turned to shit.

[Juan Ayala]

Yes, Star Trek universe was a socialist utopia but considering Deep Space Nine redeem it.

Here are top shows Libertarians should HATE
Law & Order
Real Time with Bill Maher
Orange is the New Black
Family Guy
30 Rock

[Winston]

Cop Rock and no Hill Street Blues or NYPD Blues?

[Remnant Psyche]

Nothing David Milch has ever written, to my knowledge, has advocated authoritarianism. Law enforcement characters often behaved badly in NYPD Blue, but I don't think the show was endorsing their behavior.

[Winston]

You Know Who Else said that people should hate entertainment for having the wrong views?

[Almanian!]

Carrie Nation?

[RDP]

Star Trek is by far the most anti-libertarian show I have seen.... They present a future of no money (i.e. complete state control of resources).. Where the state knows your deepest fears (under the guise of "helping" you face them).... Where everyone over 60 has the title "Doctor" or "Admiral"... and where the flagship has nothing better to do than sit around studying gaseous anomalies all year. Would I love a world where energy and matter were so cheap and easily interchangeable that everyone had all the material resources they needed and wanted? Sure. Do I expect it to happen? No.

[jcalton]

It's not about expecting it to happen, it's "Would you live in it if it did?"
If the answer is yes or maybe then it's not a show we need to waste time hating on.

However, if Nick wants click-bait, then naming Star Trek #1 will get him a lot of traffic.

[Irish]

Most anti-libertarian show: Heil Honey, I'm Home!

[Kid_A]

Cops

[Dread Pirate Roberts]

I'd say Cops, but I don't even want to hate-watch it. I just hope it gets cancelled.

[Winston]

While not a TV show isn't the Mystery of the Leaping Fish the most libertarian film of all time? It features a private detective named Coke Ennyday who does lots of coke. His clock has four times: Eats, Drinks, Sleep and Dope. While it's missing the other two what can be more libertarian than that?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fprVONwmYnc

[JeremyR]

MASH is an interesting one in retrospect. It's clearly anti-war, anti-military, pro-communist propaganda. But then you look at the difference in the two Koreas today - one incredibly rich, thanks to capitalism (or at least a semblance of it) and the other incredibly poor, thanks to communism.

It's really hard to say the Korean war wasn't worth it (until you are the sort that things WW2 was a mistake)

[Drake]

MASH was anti-Vietnam propaganda set in Korea. When I actually studied the history of the Korean War, I realized that MASH had almost nothing to do with that war.

[jcalton]

Yes, this is known. You couldn't criticize the Vietnam war on prime time network TV so you had to use Korea.

[JWatts]

"MASH was anti-Vietnam propaganda set in Korea."

Precisely.

[RAHeinlein]

Agreed, but can we separate the Wayne Rodgers versus Mike Farrell episodes?

[Harvey_birdman]

WW1 was definitely a mistake.

[James Anderson Merritt]

The West Wing, minus Sam Seaborn and Ainsley Hayes, is detestable from a libertarian point of view. As long as those two characters were sparring, however, I maintained hope for the show.

24, as entertaining as it always was to me, always portrayed people who might otherwise be described as "libertarians" as being weak on crime or terrorism -- perhaps merely using libertarian rhetoric cover to hide terrorist crimes of their own.

The harpies on the View are always shrieking about how government has to DO SOMETHING about some issue, usually in an area where I feel that government has little or no authority to intervene. The addition of Rosie Perez to the cast, and the return of Rosie O'Donnell, have only seemed to amplify that tendency.

I am reserving judgment on Madame Secretary. The people behind it are many of the same ones who brought us Joan of Arcadia, a series I am not ashamed to say that my wife and I truly loved (and mourned, when it was cancelled). Also, Tea Leoni's lead character seems to be trying sincerely, and awfully hard, to conduct the business of her office in a way that respects the Constitution and the people it is supposed to serve. Still, she works in the Beltway, where "anything goes," and the temptations to give in to the corruption are strong. This show could surprise us and be more libertarian-friendly than many we have seen in years. Or, it could go the way of West Wing. For now, I'm not ready to hate Madame Secretary.

[jcalton]

You guys are insane if you wouldn't live in the Star Trek universe. It's so very close to post-scarcity so no one wants for anything, and everyone appears to be able to do whatever they want (unless they joined the military--duh) and pursue whatever goals they have.

We like to say socialism wouldn't work because of central planning and resource distribution and the fact that everyone would want stuff for free.
What if we had nearly infinite resources, could replicate/create anything we wanted, basically didn't need money, and only pursued work that interested us (including artistic pursuits)?

In that case you'd just be an idiot to say no.

[Winston]

everyone appears to be able to do whatever they want....and pursue whatever goals they have.

Except everyone in the Federation is supposed to agree on everything. Contradiction much?

[Mickey Rat]

"What if we had nearly infinite resources, could replicate/create anything we wanted,..."

What if magic existed too?

When your societal make-up hangs on some unlikely technology it is easy to make stuff up about how well it works.

[jcalton]

It's fiction. I guess you hate Heinlein, too.
Or, you know, fun.

[JWatts]

I'm on the fence with respect to Star Trek, but it's hard to defend the recurring theme that every capitalist up until DS9 was depicted as greedy and evil, with the possible exception of Harry Mudd. He was depicted as greedy and stupid.

[John Titor (Formerly Jensen)]

Just don't get any cybernetics or genetically augment yourself or the Federation boot will stamp on your face for life. Yeah, I'd be an idiot to reject that kind of anti-advancement future.

[MrChristian1982]

In no particular order:

1. 30 Rock - Super freaking progressive, unfortunately super funny. I have a complicated relationship with this show.

2. The Newsroom (American) - Loved the opening speech. It's all downhill from there.

3. Girls - Mumblecore leftist douchebaggery.

4. The West Wing - OMG, Democrats just run things so well, you guys!

5. Can I just count all of cable news as one show?

[randomspoon]

Shows that I think should be on the list:

-Girls
-Law & Order: SVU
-The Newsroom
-Political Animals

And I totally disagree with Star Trek. Prime Directive IS the non-aggression principle.

[jcalton]

Agree about Star Trek (and I'm a Star Wars guy).
The only thing is, you kind of can't count the original series, because it didn't really exist in that show.

Either that or the federation is a great place to live and Kirk is the villain of the show.

[jcalton]

Sorry, I mean the Prime Directive didn't exist during ToS.
That was unclear.

[Mickey Rat]

The Prime Directive was realistic on TOS, later it devolved into dogma. It has it origin in-universe to allowing a species to die out because Evolution wills it so.

http://sfdebris.com/videos/sta.....ective.php

[jcalton]

24 can eat a bag of dicks.

Does anyone watch Homeland?
I just sort of assume...

[JazerNorth]

others have said it ... I'll say it again...
COPS
I don't want them to stop. Keep running the show. I use it to educate my child on what the "supposed suspect" did wrong.

[Vernon Depner]

Thomas and his Friends. Unabashed monarchism.

[ant1sthenes]

Yeah, it's off-putting when they suggest that the sole goal in life of anthropomorphic capital is to be "really useful", but when they make the same suggestion for their audience, it's basically fascist.

[BuSab Agent]

Thomas is really quite watchable once you understand that Thomas and Percy are actually gay lovers.

[JPyrate]

OT This is how I feel about the idea of government right now. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjsSr3z5nVk

[JPyrate]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjsSr3z5nVk

[Ayn Random Variation]

The Smurfs. Pure commie.

[Annapest]

"5 Best libertarian shows ever" makes sense, but "5 TV shows every libertarian should hate" is as pointless as it is impossible. Multiply that "5" by a few thousand and you'd have a list that was exhaustive enough to be authoritative, but... just five? Really? You'd be better off just leaving it to the five best, or maybe "Find 5 TV shows worth a libertarian's time," followed with a "lots of luck, buddy."

As others have surmised this may just be clickbait, but you could fill that list with just half of the news programs that run on a given program menu within a single one-hour time slot, picked virtually at random.

[Agile Cyborg]

I hate almost everything on TV. Most of it is bland, dreary, tiresome, passionless, repetitive, and sexless.

But I especially hate any show with jail experiences (fuck you, NatGeo), cops, presidents, housewives, ghost-chasing, fake hillbillies, spaceships, the News, Food Network-styled chefs, tuna fish, logging, all major league sports, psychologists, traditional romance, and New Yorkers.

[kevin,theamishelectrician]

West Wing - (and to a lesser degree Newsroom)
Aaron Sorkin's kinder gentler left is just coercion with more compassion in appearance and more self-acknowledged self-righteousness. I squirm at some of the political worldviews presented, but I do enjoy watching both shows.

[blackjack]

I'm not going to give my list until the third time this blog post appears here. It worked last time.

[XM]

The Simpsons are the only longest running progressive TV show on air. And they actually take veiled swipes at libertarians.

The show now exists to make love calls to the Obama admin and left wing causes. They had Olberman, Maddow, and other left wing superstars as guests. Lisa hates unlimited campaign spending, drug companies, nuclear power, etc etc.

[PapayaSF]

But Lisa is regularly mocked for those positions, too. E.g.: They Saved Lisa's Brain is pretty much a demolition of the Top Men theory of government.

[HazelMeade]

Right, I always felt that Mr. Burns wasn't so much a parody of evil capitalists, as a parody of what leftists think evil capitalists are like.

Besides the fact that mr. Burns occasionaly shows his nice side.

[Jim Walsh]

Yeah...Lisa always had her leftward-leainings, but when did she turn into such an officious little shit...

[Carol Mussmann]

Now we want to do a companion piece featuring the five TV shows libertarians are most likely to hate-watch. Chaussures nike roshe run (noir) http://www.leboncoin.fr/chaussures/706951603.htm

And we want?we need?your input! What's it gonna be, loyal readers? The original Star Trek, with its calvacade of intergalactic interventions? Anything by Aaron Sorkin? Dragnet, Adam-12, The Untouchables, I Dream of Jeannie (who needs a publicly funded space program)? Cop Rock (no-knock raids you can dance to?)?

[Eman]

What about the shield? It was actually a pretty good show (I thought) but it really glorified cops behaving badly

[Harvey_birdman]

It showed cops behaving badly but we weren't supposed to identify with them. Plus most of them died. The Shield was not pro-authoritarianism.

[CreativeNameToStandOut]

5) Law & Order SVU
4) M.A.S.H.
3) 24
2) Golden Girls
1) Family Guy

[RAHeinlein]

Can we separate the Wayne Rogers versus Mike Farrell MASH?

[BuSab Agent]

1. Any Law and Order (but SVU most)
2. CSI
3. 24
4. Captain Planet
5. Socialists in Spaaaaaaace! (I mean Star Trek)

[userve32]

That Star Trek episode gave me nightmares as a kid!

http://www.Ano-Web.tk

[Fist of Etiquette]

It will be merciful... and quick!

[Super Kevin Horlock]

"Anything by Aaron Sorkin."

One - because of his limousine liberal silly politics.

Two - because every character apparently speaks and thinks exactly the same way. Illustrates what a world would look like at max level of collective mentality/antithesis of individual thought and freedom of will

Three - because he sucks and everyone (Libertarian or otherwise) should hate him.

[MIMatt]

I didn't read to the bottom of the list but one show that could be on the best or the worst depending on how you look at it .... Miami Vice!

[ProducerBrad]

You'd have to think with the rampant violation of privacy "Person of Interest" would make the list.

[WillMG]

I'd say you could argue it being more on the libertarian side since that violation of privacy is shown as bad or at least morally ambiguous and dangerous even when the good guys use it (heck the thing becomes something of an uncontrollable leviathan)and people in government are almost universally bad- the CIA murders its own agents, the NYPD is in an alliance with the Russian mob, etc.

[toolkien]

It's been hard for me to get a full fix on just what the economics of Star Trek is. By the time they had perfected replicators, scarcity is out of the picture. Economics is about scarcity - no scarcity, no mappable data point to our reality. Granted they still had the Ferengi as evil capitalists even with replicator technology, but it really made no sense.

[Harvey_birdman]

Yeah, I agree. Once you have replicators the game kind of changes. At least as far as personal property goes. And I don't remember any mention of copyrights or trademarks prohibiting the replication of certain items.

[J Ortega y Gasset]

"The West Wing," the television version of the liberal fever dream that was "The American President." This is a guilty pleasure because the series is fairly well acted and, frankly, it's really just to easy to say, "All Things Aaron Sorkin."

"Barney and Friends." Because, Barney.

"24." The menacing mountain lion may count as one of the worst moments in modern TV. The reason libertarians should hate it: It's a post 9/11 spasm of ends-justify-the-means, us-against-them and anyone who disagrees with us is a terrorist thinking.

"Miami Vice." The sun-drenched T&A opening sequence aside, this is the War on Drugs on steroids, 80s fashion, and Don Johnson.

"Leave it to Beaver." This white-as-Wonderbread live action cartoon portrayed America the way it never was.

[Loki]

Probably already mentioned, but Cops.

[Loki]

Oh, and this probably also goes without saying, but pretty much every police procedural ever. Especially those that are centered around vice cops.

[J Ortega y Gasset]

Blew a "too" in my post. One more show I didn't see mentioned... Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Environmentalism becoming the most dominant religion of modern America didn't happen in a vacuum.

[LibIntOrg]

Thanks for the article. To get acquainted with the world movement and what people are actually doing, I would suggest the Libertarian International at http://www.libertarianinternational.org

Given that Star Trek's Roddenberry was a Libertarian and hoped to portray an evolving Libertarianist system, we hope that pro-libertarians do not 'hate-watch' the show on REASON"s behest.

[JWatts]

"Given that Star Trek's Roddenberry was a Libertarian and hoped to portray an evolving Libertarianist system, ..."

I question the validity of that claim. It's not a given at all. Do you have a source for it?

"According to his wife Magel Barrett, his last wife, Gene's political leaning was communist. She said at a local convention that the Chinese model of communism was his ideal.

http://kodm.com/ten-things-you.....ddenberry/

[paris1]

"The Independents" on Fox for being a total "wasted opportunity" as the preeminent voice of libertarianism on national TV. Kennedy should be burned at the stake!

[Sekel]

I'd put Cops on the top 5 Hate list. Whether it be entertaining or transparent or whatever your case; it solely depicts the Police force as a dedicated entity to arrest anyone available to make themselves look better. Truly, the Police in the show never do anything wrong and I'm sure that they've locked up some bad people as a result of the show, but it's brainwashing. You sit there for hours on end watching peoples lives get ruined and walk out with the feeling that society is stupid and cops are smart. Now I'm not saying all cops are bad, but if you have never ending roll of film depicting the police as saviors to the majority of society day in and day out, they'll eventually think that.

[ks4liberty]

The Newsroom. I actually canceled my HBO subscription after watching it. Damn, I miss GoT 🙁

[Atillahn]

Best Libertarian: Sherlock or House. Worst: Bones

[HazelMeade]

I have a hard time listing any because I don't actually *watch* preachy liberal bullshit.

Also these shows tend not to survive for long. Nobody likes being preached at.

I'm shocked that someone hasn't started a propaganda documentary show where they highlight some bullshit about the evil food industry, oil companies, wall street, or the Koch brothers every week. Come here for all your comfirmation bias fellation. Michale Moore could team up with Amy Goodman from Democracy Now and do it.

(Please stop me before I give them ideas... )

[adavaas]

So basically Penn & Teller's Bullshit!, except bullshit?

[Harvey_birdman]

That was a great show.

[David Emami]

Regarding Star Trek's supposed anti-libertarian status...

First, as usual Reason is conflating "libertarian" and "anti-interventionist", which are two different things.

Second, assuming you're talking about original Trek due to the Kirk pic: what interventions, anyway? Offhand I recall only two episodes ("Errand of Mercy" and "A Private Little War") that Kirk & Pals carrying out unprovoked interference in some neutral planet's affairs. Usually the folks on the planet have attacked the ship or crew ("A Taste of Armageddon", "The Apple"), or the crew are trying to undo previous interference that's accidental ("A Piece of the Action") or carried out by a Federation member who has gone rogue ("The Omega Glory", "Patterns of Force").

Certainly TOS is not pro-libertarian, but it's hardly pro-authoritarian, either. TNG had a much stronger authoritarian bent, but that was due to it being pro-socialist.

[blitzstrasse]

This observation probably won't make me any friends, but I would like to point out that Nick Gillespie's constant attempts to make libertarianism relevant to pop-culture frequently appear to be obsequious and transparent, I personally find his earnestness and desperation to be refreshing and occasionally even adorable in that "puppy trying to climb out of a box and falling over its own paws" sort of way.

At least he's doing something, even if it's wrong (and annoying) to many. Also, Heroic Mulatto has succeeded in fucking me up for life, so props to HM!

[HalJordan]

Tough because I probably don't watch shows that disagree with my philosophy that much. I do watch and enjoy the Newsroom, which is definitely anti-libertarian but still I love to hate some of the characters. I think fiction in general isn't often anti-libertarian though. Having the protagonist be anti-liberty in fiction doesn't appeal to people. I don't understand why it's not that way in real life.

[jcalton]

It's not anti-libertarian, it's anti-Tea Party. So am I.

It's mostly Goldwater conservative.

[HalJordan]

What about "reality TV"? I don't watch it much but I am aware of Real Housewives unfortunately. That is a show about oblivious entitled leeches right? As a libertarian, it pisses me off when I see girls watching it more than any other show, so I have to think it's anti libertarian if it angers me as a libertarian so much.

[jcalton]

This just came out and reminded me. We should probably all [officially] hate Maher because some people still think he's a libertarian.

BILL MAHER ISN'T A 'POLITICALLY INCORRECT' LIBERAL, HE'S JUST A BIGOT

[David Emami]

Maher isn't a libertarian, but for entirely-different reasons (mostly, economics and regulation) than the one you cite. This is one of those times he's actually right.

http://www.realclearpolitics.c.....24224.html

[Richard Rider]

It's pretty easy to pick the most libertarian shows -- there are so few of them!

But picking the worst? The mind boggles trying to narrow the list.

One problem is that some of the most ENTERTAINING shows had anti-libertarian themes. "24", for instance. The villain behind it all inevitably was some shadowy group of big business maggots (yes, maggots). The terrorists were portraying as idealistic (or mercenary) pawns of the puppetmasters.

Private contractors are ALWAYS villains. Big business CEO's are almost always villains.

I don't know where to begin. I'm outta here!

[erizzow]

Cops

[Jim Walsh]

Dishonorable mention would have to go to the Disney cartoon series "The Proud Family" for, among other things, lionizing Gloria Allred...

[OA-5599]

Les Schtroumpfs. Moneyless communist economy, Gargamel as the evil capitalist gold bug, etc. La la, la la la la, la la la la la.

[Rev-Match]

I have to go with 'every cop or cop related show, ever'. The people "solving the crime" are always given latitude to do as they please, 'due process' be damned!

[adavaas]

It always boggled my mind how many of my leftist friends hated Bush's "if you're not with us, then you're with the terrorists" logic, but never even thought to question the police using the exact same logic but with criminals.

[Jon Lester]

In principle, no libertarian has any business telling another what they "should" feel about anything.

[adavaas]

But that's wrong. Since when are libertarians not free to tell one another what they think and what their tastes are?

Now, if I were to, say, hold a gun to someone's head and MAKE them not watch certain shows anymore, THAT would be un-libertarian. But mere speech, merely saying "I don't think people should like this show," I don't get how that wouldn't be libertarian.

[ProLifeLibertarian]

Anything featuring Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Bill Maher, or John Oliver.

Honestly, the problem lies with the fact that many libertarians still like these guys. Sure, from time to time, they manage to point out the evils of government (as Oliver has done with drones), but soon afterwards, they go right back to licking Obama's boot-heels. When they go after the Left, it's with a flyswatter. When they go after the Right, it's with a sledgehammer. And whenever anyone calls them out on their bull, they usually resort to the I'm-just-a-stupid-comedian shtick.

[ProLifeLibertarian]

THE NEWSROOM, for making me seethe at the very sight of Jeff Daniels. The main character claims to be a concerned conservative, but almost everything he says sounds incredibly socialistic. And remind me, why is it a rightist who has become disillusioned with the right? Wouldn't it make more sense to make a show about a leftist disillusioned with Obama's policies? Just sayin'.

FAMILY GUY, because Seth MacFarlane just wasn't unlikable enough. The show's characterization of religion as pure evil is incredibly heavy-handed, as is its promotion of liberal "values". Morally reprehensible, disgusting, and just not funny.

Anything on MSNBC. Duh.

PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT, because its host was a complete twat. Nothing but pure statist drivel. And Piers Morgan holds the record for most liberal Catholic alive. Ugh.

MODERN FAMILY, for painting the most annoying portrait of the contemporary American household to date. (And no, this has nothing to do with the show featuring a gay couple. I am not a homophobe.) Seriously, this has to be one of the least disciplined families in TV history, which should come as no surprise, since it's difficult to distinguish between the kids and the adults.

[adavaas]

I wouldn'ty say Modern Family is anti-libertarian. I mean, if you don't like it, that's fine, but what about it is anti-libertarian?

Saying the adults don't act like disciplined adults is a little silly a critique to be made about a family sitcom. That's a staple of the genre. It's like complaining that Seinfeld had random conversations that went nowhere.

[Jonathan G]

I don't know if reality shows count in this equation. But if they do, then I'd say ANYTHING MSNBC. Though particularly The Ed Show with Ed Schultz. He's the biggest Obama ass-kisser I've EVER seen.

[ProLifeLibertarian]

Obama once said on Twitter that he was a fan of HOUSE OF CARDS. And Kate Mara retweeted it and started gushing about it like crazy.

That awkward moment when people who make shows that are meant to criticize politicians end up worshiping politicians.

[Jonathan G]

Hey I like Star Trek! Of course not!

[ProLifeLibertarian]

Okay, I cannot believe that I forgot to mention this in any of my previous lists.

Ready?

GIRLS. Not only is this show beloved by critics, but it is easily one of the worst shows of the present era. A vapid portrayal of twentysomething women gushed over by out-of-touch celebrities and members of the media. A pretentious piece of horse excrement churned out the queen of insufferable, sadistic statists herself: Lena Dunham.

Simply awful. Nothing more than a celebration of idiocy and conformity. I can't be the only one who feels this way.

[matts24]

TV shows libertarians hate must include both 24, Criminal Minds, Homeland, or any other show that glamorize extensive government power into investigation without proper constitutional procedure

[Todd Blair]

yes! Where's firefly! Come on people.. do the research.