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Message
White Men & Television Shows + What Happened?
Posted on 12/27/25 at 5:59 pm
Posted on 12/27/25 at 5:59 pm
I've recently introduced myself to old television western series.
Here are some of the ones I've been watching, binge watching really.
Gunsmoke
Wagon Train
Laramie
Wanted Dead or Alive
Lawman
Colt 45
Rawhide
Have Gun / Will Travel
Cheyenne
Maverick
The Rifleman
High Chaparral
The Virginian
The Big Valley
Trackdown
The Rebel
In these shows, the white men in them aren't cucked, crooked, weak, shameless, criminal, evil, dangerous, subservient, stupid beyond belief, ugly, nasty, odd, awkward, clumsy, inept, embarrassing, immoral, vicious, submissive, or just complete dullards as they are portrayed in the great majority of modern television shows currently.
Does anyone have any ideas about whey such a seismic shift in the depictions of white men has occurred over the period of time since these shows were airing and now?
I wasn't alive when these Westerns were airing and haven't ever seen white men shown in a good light in the television shows I grew up watching.
It's like entering a different world. I tell my wife constantly, hey, come look at this scene or that scene where a white man isn't portrayed as being literally retarded or, to the contrary, as having high moral values and common sense.
Here are some of the ones I've been watching, binge watching really.
Gunsmoke
Wagon Train
Laramie
Wanted Dead or Alive
Lawman
Colt 45
Rawhide
Have Gun / Will Travel
Cheyenne
Maverick
The Rifleman
High Chaparral
The Virginian
The Big Valley
Trackdown
The Rebel
In these shows, the white men in them aren't cucked, crooked, weak, shameless, criminal, evil, dangerous, subservient, stupid beyond belief, ugly, nasty, odd, awkward, clumsy, inept, embarrassing, immoral, vicious, submissive, or just complete dullards as they are portrayed in the great majority of modern television shows currently.
Does anyone have any ideas about whey such a seismic shift in the depictions of white men has occurred over the period of time since these shows were airing and now?
I wasn't alive when these Westerns were airing and haven't ever seen white men shown in a good light in the television shows I grew up watching.
It's like entering a different world. I tell my wife constantly, hey, come look at this scene or that scene where a white man isn't portrayed as being literally retarded or, to the contrary, as having high moral values and common sense.
This post was edited on 12/27/25 at 6:29 pm
11
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:07 pm to ShotGunGordan
You mean when movies and television actually started to incorporate different people and started to put them in prominent roles that used to be reserved for white dudes? Yes how awful Hollywood main roles aren't 100% white dudes anymore damn those other races and women
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:09 pm to dawgfan24348
"I don't like girls."
"I'm gonna be a dad?"
-Television, 2025
"I'm gonna be a dad?"
-Television, 2025
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:09 pm to dawgfan24348
quote:
You mean when movies and television actually started to incorporate different people and started to put them in prominent roles that used to be reserved for white dudes? Yes how awful Hollywood main roles aren't 100% white dudes anymore damn those other races and women
You are of the opinion that when other races were introduced to television scheduling it had to be at the expense of white men and women.
So, basically, revenge is your answer.
Thanks for responding.
This post was edited on 12/27/25 at 6:11 pm
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:11 pm to ShotGunGordan
quote:
revenge is your answer.
Minorities and women getting prominent roles doesn't take away from white dudes, Jesus Christ
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:15 pm to ShotGunGordan
Uncle Phil was the last "real" TV dad we had. Every single popular TV show since shows the dad as an inept but lovable buffoon at best (Homer, Phil Dunphy) or a philandering megalomaniac (Don Draper, Walter White, Tony Soprano) at worst.
Seriously. Name one popular main stream family based TV show since Fresh Prince went off the air where you would legit take that dad over Uncle Phil.
(Tim Taylor is up there for sure but he was a contemporary of Uncle Phil and they used him screwing up routinely for comedic effect so no dice there)
PS. Fresh Prince went off the air in 1996. That was so long ago Trump bought their house in the last ep and no one batted an eye. )
Seriously. Name one popular main stream family based TV show since Fresh Prince went off the air where you would legit take that dad over Uncle Phil.
(Tim Taylor is up there for sure but he was a contemporary of Uncle Phil and they used him screwing up routinely for comedic effect so no dice there)
PS. Fresh Prince went off the air in 1996. That was so long ago Trump bought their house in the last ep and no one batted an eye. )
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:19 pm to UnitedFruitCompany
quote:
Name one popular main stream family based TV show since Fresh Prince went off the air where you would legit take that dad over Uncle Phil.
Hank Hill is a pretty solid option, Bob from Bob's burgers as well. Early Homer was a solid dad even early season Peter had his moments
This post was edited on 12/27/25 at 6:20 pm
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:25 pm to dawgfan24348
quote:
Minorities and women getting prominent roles doesn't take away from white dudes, Jesus Christ
You aren't making very much logical sense. Your first response was that different types of people have now replaced strong white men in television roles, what's the big deal?
Your second response was that minorities and women getting good roles doesn't take away from white men.
Yet, that is the whole point of the thread. White men are now regulated to being almost literally clowns and caricatures of human beings in television shows.
You seem like an emotional person and this topic may not be for you because you don't seem like you are being very honest.
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:40 pm to ShotGunGordan
I think this goes back waaay farther. In 90s TV, almost every dad was portrayed as inept and a buffoon. By the 2000s, it was a punchline. Somehow, the same man that could hold a 100k+ annual salary, became a moron the second he stepped into his own home.
This post was edited on 12/27/25 at 6:41 pm
Posted on 12/27/25 at 6:58 pm to ShotGunGordan
I hope you'll come participate in The TV Western Thread.
Feel free to review any episodes you've seen or comment on any shows or the genre in general.
Old TV westerns are virtually all I watch. I like the settings, the locales, the action, the good triumphs over evil morality, the pride in America, and yes, the lack of Woke.
And I'll admit it: I like the absence of ghetto thug culture that is forced in your face constantly by Hollywood today.
Blacks appear in these shows. Occasionally at first (Sammy Davis Jr was on The Rifleman) then more in the mid '60s on. There are eps about immigrants, Mexicans, and even Jews. I've seen eps of at least 5 different series about the difficulties facing woman doctors of the period. And of course, there are innumerable eps about the injustices faced by Indians.
But these stories generally are not bleeding heart pandering. They are essentially conservative stories about the protection of individual rights.
Another thing to remember: Indians aren't always Indians in westerns. Sometimes they're black. Think of all the stories about prejudice faced by Indians, or the episodes about lynching. Indians are stand ins for blacks, as the forces of law and order struggle for justice.
Feel free to review any episodes you've seen or comment on any shows or the genre in general.
Old TV westerns are virtually all I watch. I like the settings, the locales, the action, the good triumphs over evil morality, the pride in America, and yes, the lack of Woke.
And I'll admit it: I like the absence of ghetto thug culture that is forced in your face constantly by Hollywood today.
Blacks appear in these shows. Occasionally at first (Sammy Davis Jr was on The Rifleman) then more in the mid '60s on. There are eps about immigrants, Mexicans, and even Jews. I've seen eps of at least 5 different series about the difficulties facing woman doctors of the period. And of course, there are innumerable eps about the injustices faced by Indians.
But these stories generally are not bleeding heart pandering. They are essentially conservative stories about the protection of individual rights.
Another thing to remember: Indians aren't always Indians in westerns. Sometimes they're black. Think of all the stories about prejudice faced by Indians, or the episodes about lynching. Indians are stand ins for blacks, as the forces of law and order struggle for justice.
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:17 pm to UnitedFruitCompany
quote:
Seriously. Name one popular main stream family based TV show since Fresh Prince went off the air where you would legit take that dad over Uncle Phil.
Eric Taylor (Friday Night Lights)
Bob Belcher (Bob’s Burgers)
Ned Stark (Game of Thrones)
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:18 pm to alajones
quote:TV has always been for women
I think this goes back waaay farther. In 90s TV, almost every dad was portrayed as inept and a buffoon. By the 2000s, it was a punchline.
I actually remember the 1st time I heard this, c. 1980 when I was like 10. I saw a TV guide item about a producer trying to set up a biopic about Roberto Clemente. But he was having trouble selling the idea to the networks b/c -- I'll never forget this quote -- "prime time is female". So he was rewriting the script to focus more on RC's wife.
Even westerns like Wagon Train & Bonanza were intentionally designed to have soap operaish stories to appeal to women, along w/action stories for men.
But the radical change happened in the '80s, w/cable TV. Now men could watch Cubs/Braves games, ESPN or action movies -- all drawing them away from the networks.
So prime time became more female, w/Designing Women, Sisters... ad nauseum
So many men went to cable that at one point in the '90s the History Channel was the 3rd most popular channel among men, after the 2 ESPNs
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:18 pm to ShotGunGordan
Wow it’s almost like these shows, which are 70 even nearly 80 years ago, didn’t do a good job of predicting how the country would change over decades and decades. I wonder if, had tv shows existed in say 1300, that the portrayals of women would be different than now?
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:20 pm to ShotGunGordan
TV shows like those old westerns are not even made anymore.
Sitcoms have even fallen away...
TV shows are much higher production values and generally serialized now. Characters have to be much more complex than just good and bad guy
Sitcoms have even fallen away...
TV shows are much higher production values and generally serialized now. Characters have to be much more complex than just good and bad guy
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:21 pm to Kafka
quote:
I hope you'll come participate in The TV Western Thread.
Feel free to review any episodes you've seen or comment on any shows or the genre in general.
Thanks, Kafka, I'll do that.
quote:
Another thing to remember: Indians aren't always Indians in westerns. Sometimes they're black.
Right, but most of the time they were white.
Just about all the leading roles for Indians, the ones who had speaking roles, were white men in Indian face. Seriously though, I understand what you mean about the Indians being used as interchanges to tell the black story.
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:24 pm to ShotGunGordan
quote:
Does anyone have any ideas about whey such a seismic shift in the depictions of white men has occurred over the period of time since these shows were airing and now?
They quit hiring straight white guys.
The Lost Generation by Jacob Savage
quote:
In 2011, the year I moved to Los Angeles, white men were 48 percent of lower-level TV writers; by 2024, they accounted for just 11.9 percent. The Atlantic’s editorial staff went from 53 percent male and 89 percent white in 2013 to 36 percent male and 66 percent white in 2024. White men fell from 39 percent of tenure-track positions in the humanities at Harvard in 2014 to 18 percent in 2023.
In retrospect, 2014 was the hinge, the year DEI became institutionalized across American life.
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:27 pm to WheyCheddar
quote:
Wow it’s almost like these shows, which are 70 even nearly 80 years ago, didn’t do a good job of predicting how the country would change over decades and decades. I wonder if, had tv shows existed in say 1300, that the portrayals of women would be different than now?
So you believe that the country has just changed and the people in it have assumed different roles.
You think that, in real life, white men are dullards, scheming, trash, stupid, inferior to every other nationality, subservient to other races of men, subservient to all women, perverted, clueless, ignorant, clowns and basically the bane of all other humans to currently exist.
It's not just television, it's how society in the real world actually is now and television is just reflecting that reality?
This post was edited on 12/27/25 at 7:28 pm
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:30 pm to ShotGunGordan
That is quite the (non) intellectual leap you made there.
Do you always try to win arguments by telling the other person what he/she thinks?
You might want to stick to the kiddie pool.
Do you always try to win arguments by telling the other person what he/she thinks?
You might want to stick to the kiddie pool.
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:36 pm to WheyCheddar
quote:
That is quite the (non) intellectual leap you made there.
Do you always try to win arguments by telling the other person what he/she thinks?
You might want to stick to the kiddie pool.
I'll just reply with your statement that I was responding to and ask you to tell me what else I was to conclude from your response.
quote:
WheyCheddar wrote:
Wow it’s almost like these shows, which are 70 even nearly 80 years ago, didn’t do a good job of predicting how the country would change over decades and decades.
Didn't you mean that our society/country has changed so the television shows have simply changed with the times to properly reflect things how they truly are now?
Posted on 12/27/25 at 7:43 pm to ShotGunGordan
quote:
White men are now regulated to being almost literally clowns and caricatures of human beings in television shows.
They're not
Jack Reacher
Stranger Things
Game of Thrones
Breaking Bad
Better Call Saul
Mad Men
The Wire
Hawkeye
Loki
The Last of Us
The Walking Dead
Gen V
The Boys
Invincible
Daredevil
The Punisher
King of the Hill
Bob's Burgers
Fargo
All these shows have strong white male characters who don't fit your asinine narrative
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