Two TV Nations

National Review Online's Cathy Sieppe has noted that

One of the election lessons for Democrats is that while the Left doesn't understand the Right, the Right can't help but understand the Left, because the Left is in charge of pop culture. Urban blue staters can go their entire lives happily innocent of the world of church socials and duck hunting and Boy Scout meetings, but small-town red staters are exposed to big-city blue-state values every time they turn on the TV.

Sieppe has given four examples of relatively conservative (or at least, definitely not liberal) television shows: Blue Collar TV, American Dreams, King of the Hill, and The Simpsons. The only one of the four that I have not seen is American Dreams, though I watch none of them regularly. As with most shows, the episodes are sometimes uneven, but the very fact that none seem to tow the Conventional Wisdom/Politically Correct line add to their appeal. I suspect as Hollywood realizes that there is money to be made by producing fare that would be appealing to the "Red-Staters" (Passion of the Christ comes immediately to mind) we will see more entertainment about and for "regular" America. I just wonder if the main characters created for such entertainment will be portrayed as genuine people (Red-State Everyman, if you will) or if the entertainment industry will simply rehash the same old "redneck" stereotypes.