Those
weary of annoying liberal chatter and America bashing in the comedy
realm have a new alternative. That would be “The Flipside”, a weekly
half-hour broadcast dicing through politics and culture, but produced
by a group of stalwart creatives who have some serious conservative
underpinnings, with a few dashes of libertarianism.
Only
six (now seven) episodes into its fall run, and the new show has been picked up by
three major cable broadcasters and 200 independent stations.
“The
reaction has been very positive. A lot of people have been waiting for
a show that doesn’t slam America at every turn, or push a socialist
agenda,” executive producer Kfir Alfia said
in an interview. “Even if we were completely neutral, the audience
would see it as a breath of fresh air. They’ve been waiting for a show
like this.”
He
speaks from personal experience.
“I
was looking around at the cultural landscape, so dominated by
left-leaning ideology in movies, TV, news. That was a compelling reason
to start thinking ‘what can I do?’ ” Mr. Alfia observed.
Indeed,
the success of Roger Ailes, the man who developed the concept for Fox
News, is not lost on the team, which methodically explored independent
ways to market and distribute their broadcast with some healthy success.
“I
believe it was Charles Krauthammer who said the genius of Roger Ailes
is that he discovered the other half of the American people and made
them his audience. That’s what we hope to do,” said producer Matt
Sheffield, a longtime conservative blogger and a editor for the Media
Research Center.
The
on-camera muscle for the promising venture is
Michael
Loftus,
a writer and veteran stand-up comedian who has been on, yes, the Comedy
Channel, TruTV and the History Channel, among other broadcast venues.
He also serves as producer and writer for “Anger Management” - a daring
and noisy video project from actor Charlie Sheen.
