[Texgreen] A TV show with class content?

[Roger Baker]

Anything that can happen will happen: Someday maybe even a TV show =20
that tells the truth about downward mobility, class struggle, and =20
class polarization in the USA. Its made by UPN, connected with =20
Paramount, which is owned by CBS. What the hells going on here =20
anyhow? -- Roger

... Veronica is hired to catch a classmate=92s stepmother cheating on =20=

her rich husband and instead uncovers an Enron-style fraud. Before =20
blowing open the scheme, she approaches the teacher who runs the =20
school=92s investment club, who has unwittingly invested much of his =20
own retirement money in the fraudulent company. Veronica urges him to =20=

dump the stock before she exposes the truth. =93You don=92t dump it, =20
Veronica,=94 he says glumly. =93You sell it. I=92d just be sticking some =
=20
other sucker with the consequences. I don=92t think I can live with =20
that.=94 The ordinary investors get left holding the bag, while the =20
company=92s CEO escapes on a helicopter to some tropical island...


              ************************************


<http://www.inthesetimes.com/site/main/article/2671/>

Veronica Mars, Class Warrior

Why this teen series is smarter than you think.

By CHRISTOPHER HAYES

Progressives have an annoying habit when it comes to pop culture. =20
Anytime they fall for a particular TV show, movie or Top 40 hit, they =20=

proceed to spend inordinate amounts of time and mental energy =20
convincing themselves that while most of what the corporate media =20
produces is reactionary crap, this particular product is actually =20
subversive, laced with a cutting critique of capitalism, patriarchy =20
or the Bush administration.

I mention this only because I=92m about to do the exact same thing. But =20=

of course, in this case, it=92s really, really true: My current =20
television obsession, UPN=92s =93Veronica Mars=94 (Tuesdays at 8 p.m. =
CST), =20
is the single most compelling exploration of class anxiety and class =20
friction on the little or big screen today. Its setting, the =20
fictional southern California town of Neptune, is a prophetic vision =20
of the Two Americas we are in the process of becoming=97a =93town =
without =20
a middle class,=94 as Veronica calls it in the pilot episode=92s opening =
=20
moments, where =93your parents are either millionaires or your parents =20=

work for millionaires.=94=