Hollywood Takes Aim at ICE with HBO Max’s ‘The Pitt’ *UPDATED
Both HBO Max show and 'Matlock' trash immigration enforcement (will more follow?)
Movies often can’t do the heavy lifting liberal Hollywood wants regarding the latest news.
The rare exceptions sometimes win Oscars. Consider “One Battle After Another” as the ultimate Exhibit A.
Why? The film production cycle is too long, too cumbersome to pounce on trending topics. Some movies can take a decade to reach the big screen.
That isn’t the case with TV shows.
Scripted small screen fare takes months, not necessarily years, to produce. That allows scribes to clumsily insert their progressive narratives into stories, hoping to sway a few hearts and minds.
That’s exactly what we’re seeing on two major TV shows. And it might be the tip of the propaganda iceberg.
CBS’s “Matlock,” a gender-swapped take on Andy Griffith’s hit show, just slammed ICE in a new episode. The “Collateral” episode follows an illegal immigrant dad arrested by ICE while his kids watch in horror.
Enter Matlock (Kathy Bates) and her team, trying to keep the man in the country despite the system’s abject cruelty. The man’s wife pleaded for help, saying she thought they had played by the rules by paying taxes and following the law.
One-sided storytelling is rarely effective or compelling. But when Hollywood wants to send a message, such nuances fly out the window.
HBO Max’s “The Pitt,” one of TV’s biggest shows, hasn’t been shy about pushing progressive politics. Now, show producer John Wells shares details of the latest episode.
The plot involves a womsn in ICE custody who injured her shoulder. The ICE agents, as described by the far-Left Deadline, are cold and unfeeling. “The Pitt’s” team is uniformly kind while scolding the agents for their casual cruelty.
Here’s guessing we won’t see a medical emergency episode where an innocent woman is beaten, or worse, by an illegal immigrant protected by Sanctuary City laws.
And, of course, Wells took the laughable “we’re not taking sides” position.
“We’re just trying to be truthful. And if we can be truthful, it’s not left or right, it’s just our telling of what’s factually happening without trying to take a side … And we’re not trying to politicize it. We’re simply trying to put forward what sometimes are uncomfortable truths, but are truths nonetheless.”
Did any ICE representatives weigh in on the script? How much ideological diversity is there in “The Pitt” writers’ room?
More importantly, we can expect much more of this from scripted TV shows in the coming months.
UPDATE: As expected, another major TV title is taking on ICE. And, of course, we assume “Daredevil: Born Again’s” approach will be anything but fair and balanced.
Showrunner Dario Scardapane noted that aspects of the season are meant to evoke the actions of these tyrants. One scene — featuring Mayor Wilson Fisk’s (Vincent D’Onofrio) black-clad thugs abducting a woman off the streets — has parallels to ICE and is an homage to Ryan Coogler’s Fruitvale Station, “which is another historical example of strong-arming disenfranchised communities,” Scardapane says.
This is exactly the reason I stopped watching Chicago Med several years ago. Never missed it. Now it is Gays Anatomy. About to give it the big heave ho. There are only a couple of people on the show that are strait now. Won’t miss it either.
The Pitt and Matlock are both on very thin ice. Their first seasons were both excellent and avoided wading too deeply into the culture wars. You knew where they stood by the sly subtlet digs they’d sneak in. But both now have swagger and believe they can pontificate amd lecture and scold 50% of their audience.
Hmm… how’s “The Equalizer” doing?
The last episode of The Pitt came very close to being a series ender for me. Matlock is getting there fast, too. Both better reel it back in or they’re going to learn quickly that audiences STILL don’t want the lectures and will drop them like a hot potato if they don’t heed the warnings.
These writers really do themselves a disservice more than anything. The writer has to convince the audience that they know of what they write. The audience should be able to turn off their brain assuming the writer has done all the thinking that needs to happen here. But, being against immigration enforcement, especially in this era of semi-regular terrorist attacks, is idiotic. I will never ever trust a writer that puts such a message out there. It’s stupid and irresponsible.
Thankfully I’m not subscribed.
I don’t think that the question is whether they were honest about the ICE agents on the show. I think it was that they aren’t capable being honest about the ICE agents. I watched it, and as soon as they came on the screen, it was clear that this was intended to be a polarizing storyline. The agents did not present any threat to anybody in the hospital. However based on the unceasing drum beat by the press which has demonized ICE, the behavior of the various characters both on and off screen can be considered reasonable. It was only when the ORC agent manhandled the detainee and arrested the nurse that the creators decided that they had been too subtle in portraying Law Enforcement as the bad guys.
The Hollywood Elites are the real monsters, for constantly smearing the ICE agents for trying to do their job.