But, but the Religious Right might do something!!!!

https://arcdigital.media/the-new-moral-majority-same-as-the-old-moral-majority-13f7402e1287


Rakolta was a sudden force in the crusade to keep what she called “soft-core pornography” off network television. She was interviewed by The New York Times, made the rounds on daytime talk shows, and appeared on Nightline. The campaign against Married with Children was just the beginning—the Michigan homemaker seized her moment to push for the censorship of shows like Howard Stern, Roseanne, and The Phil Donahue Show. But Rakolta’s boycott soon backfired; viewers tuned in to see what the controversy was all about, ratings increased, and Married with Children became a hit. To make matters worse, all of the sponsors who dumped the show were back on board less than a year later. Her failure in boycotting was a success in advertising.

Rakolta’s political ties—her sister was married to Scott Romney and her husband was the chairman of Mitt Romney’s 2008 presidential campaign—situate her squarely within conservative activism. But Rakolta was just one of many conservative voices in a broad movement — enthusiastically led by the religious right — that fought in the name of decency and family values for the censorship of television, literature, film, radio, music, and art starting in the 1980s. Newly formed Christian groups such as Jerry Falwell’s “Moral Majority” and James Dobson’s “Focus on the Family” were defining the political ideology of the New Christian Right based on moral allowances that instigated a culture war that continues to smolder to this day. This movement, which to quote Falwell sought to report and repress “immoral, anti-family, and anti-American content,” was met with a fierce pushback, predominantly from liberal and libertarian corners, citing unconstitutional infringements on freedom of speech.

Nearly 30 years later, it looks as if Rakolta, thanks to some unlikely allies, is getting her wish after all. Ironically, the coup de grâce for the prospect of rebooting (or even just replicating) a show like Married with Children hasn’t come from a continued censorship effort from the right, but from liberal attitudes responsible for the swelling category of “shows that could never be made today.” There have been rumors of a reboot of Married for awhile, but barring a thorough sanitizing, it’s unlikely to happen in our current political environment. Satirical license aside, the show’s portrayal of the misogynistic husband Al Bundy, a wife who self-identifies as a freeloader, frequent fat and slut shaming, domestic abuse jokes (Peg: “Did you miss me, Al?”, Al: “With every bullet so far!”), and the constant stereotyping and derogation would likely be too much for the left’s heightened standards of acceptability.