'Courage, New Hampshire': Tea Party TV Show By Colony Bay To Premiere

The Tea Party movement has their own news network, and now, they're turning to admitted fiction.

Having long accused Hollywood of raging liberalism, a group of conservatives have banded together to start Colony Bay Productions, according to The Hollywood Reporter, a startup production company that will create right wing-tinged content. Founded by Jonathan Wilson, an experienced Hollywood development executive, and James Patrick Riley, an experienced Patrick Henry impersonator, the company will debut its first show, "Courage, New Hampshire," on Saturday night.

With their interpretation of the founding fathers' intentions, and idealized belief in the purity of early American life, "Courage, New Hampshire" is an obvious start for the Tea Party company; set in the 1700s, it's a soap opera-style show that will go straight to DVD after its red carpet debut. They didn't pitch it to mainstream networks that are actually on TV.

As Riley, who wrote, produced and appeared in the show, told THR, while they'll work to include Tea Partiers in the cast and crew, they, "hire anyone who can get the job done. We have cast members who are raging leftists."

Their characters, presumably, are not; Riley told THR that "Hollywood tends to make over the past in its own image - 18th century women become raging feminists; statesmen become agnostics or rakes."

The premiere will be attended by Victoria Jackson, the former "Saturday Night Live" star-turned-Tea Party activist, who in the past year has come out with blistering homophobic critiques of the gay-friendly musical dramedy, "Glee."

"Did you see 'Glee' this week? Sickening!" she wrote in her column for WorldNetDaily in March. "And, besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians - again! I wonder what their agenda is? Hey, producers of "Glee" - what's your agenda? One-way tolerance?"

She later defended her comments, bashing secular humanism for its alleged domination of TV airwaves.

"Well, it doesn't matter what I think," Jackson said on Showbiz Tonight. "What matters is what the Bible says. And I'm really concerned about our country because immorality is, well, let's see: secular humanism rules the airwaves, and it's stealing the innocence away from this whole generation of children. My daughter is a teenager and I cant find any show that she can watch."

"Glee" later mocked Sarah Palin and the Tea Party with a Kathy Griffin-played Tea Party candidate storyline.

Recently, "24" creator Joel Surnow's miniseries on the Kennedy family, "The Kennedys" was pushed off The History Channel; filled with salacious gossip, it was later picked up by ReelzChannel after being passed on by Showtime and Starz.

There are a number of Hollywood conservatives, including Mel Gibson, Kelsey Grammer and Chuck Norris (who has campaigned with Mike Huckabee), though none of them have contributed to the startup company, at least to public knowledge.

No word yet on when their Ronald Reagan biopic might come out.

For more, click over to The Hollywood Reporter.

WATCH:

Comments

[arakuss]

09:33 AM on 07/04/2011

Has anyone here ever heard of the saying "Don't judge a book by its cover?" I don't care if its made by a conservatives or liberals I just want it to be good. I am a history major and my focus is early American history. So anytime anything made during this period of US history I hope it is good. So why don't people judge it for that. I have been to Riley's farm because they host several historical re-enactments. I didn't know if Riley was a conservative or liberal. It doesn't matter. Why don't people watch it and find out if its accurate and entertaining. After all it won't last if it is as boring. See if they do portray what life was like back then. Riley's farm holds camps to teach people what life was life back then. Of course with any historical drama even if its good there is an added fictional element, but that up to the viewer to go study up on history. One thing I have learned in studying history everyone has a bias. Every thing written has a bias. The trick is to understand it, acknowledge it, and put it into context. Like an movie go see it before you critique it. They may be tea party or conservative but they might just actually make something educational and worth watching for once. I support any one that helps encourage a renewed interest in our history.

[actorgm]

10:30 AM on 07/05/2011

As part of the cast, I thank you for your fairness doctrine! :) As the director said in the Hollywood Reporter article....no politics were discussed on set. I know this to be true because I didn't even know they were members of the Tea Party till I read that article!

[arakuss]

09:12 AM on 07/07/2011

No need to thank me. Just gets me people will criticize and tear something appart just because someone might have a different political point of view. Plenty of history books I have read from various historians of various political leanings and they remain objective. Plus Courage is set in the time period I specialize in. So I am looking forward to watching it and see how well you guys treated the time period. I don't care if it was made by right, left, center, up or down. Get things wrong historically and you might be hearing back from me. lol Best of luck with the series.

[Marsha Matthews]

09:50 AM on 06/30/2011

There’s a very simple reason why “conservative” movies like this sludge don’t make money … people with more than a brain cell or two to rub together recognize really bad acting and highly laughable revisionism.

Frodo Baggins for President!

[mrrraleigh]

09:27 AM on 06/26/2011

People tend to mock things that they fear. I see competition on television is no exception.

[Progressive IL]

02:27 AM on 06/27/2011

People more often tend to mock things that they find ridiculous and stupid. I see that to be the case here.

[Tom Iarossi]

12:52 AM on 07/06/2011

"Fear" seems to be a common theme in con postings. Please don't confuse our derision with fear; we derive endless entertainment from most GOTP candidates. So far none has instilled fear, though, just less entertainment.

[theveggiedude]

09:21 PM on 06/25/2011

The Boston Tea party was about bootleggers getting upset that the British were selling tea cheaper than they could compete with. If anything, the bootleggers wished the British would tax it more. So they had the infamous tea party to dump the British tea with the 'taxation without representation' as a scapegoat. Since then, Americans have been voting against their better interest.

[JM80NY]

08:52 PM on 06/25/2011

Also....

Hating Gay People is more of a Christian Right thing, not a Tea Party thing. Libertarians are supposed to be against government obstruction of freedoms and liberties. How does opposing somebodies right to get married coincide with you're umbrella principals in regards to personal liberty?

[Tom Iarossi]

12:59 AM on 07/06/2011

I'm seeing more traditional religious right issues finding their way into the TPM. Creationism, prayer, abortion, gay marriage - I've always thought the movement was just a new name for the right wing of the right wing, and this development tells me I was probably right.

[JM80NY]

08:48 PM on 06/25/2011

I work in the entertainment industry. I'm not in development, but I know a thing or two about it.

If the studios thought that they could make a profit off of a movie or TV show about a Tea Party alternate take on US history. They would do it. Why? Because they are in the business of making money. They would happily produce propaganda for The Tea Party or anybody else, if it had a chance of selling.

Fact is. Period movies are expensive to produce and have a bad track record in the box office. If there are enough people out there who want to watch it, they would do that, but the tea party is a small audience. There voice is artificially amplified by big business dollars, being filtered into the movement.

The media is a business and therefore it produces products based on demand. Basically, know body wants to watch you're stupid revolutionary war reenactment video, because it's lame and nobody likes it.

And Victoria Jackson was in movie called "Casual Sex". I guess she wasn't concerned with the immorality in Hollywood when she was getting a paycheck.

[LiberalBuzz]

08:33 PM on 06/25/2011

One can only imagine and a lot of you have, the versions of history they will do. Somehow I can see them using Chuck Norris as Paul Revere and riding up to those darned British soldiers and telling them they can have his gun when they pry it from his cold dead fingers and then blows them all away with his "freedom gun".. Or Victoria Jackson whining incessantly to the British soldiers until they put their guns to their own heads and shoot while crying, "make it stop, make it stop". Or I like this idea. Since the story takes place in the shire in a remote party of New Hampshire, how about we ask if that means we'll see the Baggins and where they live in the Shire. I mean if they are just going to make history up, why not bring in some Hobbits too? I mean we have some funny people here, let's hear storylines.

[Jackie Rose]

10:48 AM on 06/25/2011

Victoria Jackson left SNL because she wanted to be a full-time homemaker. OK, fine. But now she is trying to push herself back into the spotlight. Fortunately, it's too late.

[Vic22]

01:46 AM on 06/25/2011

Just like Jon Stewart said, this is the soup they swim in... The belief that everything that doesnt agree with their narrow version of the world is a politicized attack on them by the liberal media. No, some this just aren't conservative. The truth tend to has a liberal bias.

[Illegal Beagle]

12:52 AM on 06/25/2011

According to Victoria Jackson, "And, besides shoving the gay thing down our throats, they made a mockery of Christians - again!"

Thanks for the unintended snicker, Victoria. I remember you from SNL. You are by far the MOST UN-FUNNY person ever to have been on that show. If you had the slightest bit of a sense of humor, you would know how funny what you said really is. Clueless. I remember how you struggled to say your lines even with a teleprompter in front of your face. I always thought your ditsy blonde routine was part of your act, but now I know differently.

let`s see....dumb, intolerant, biased and saved...... I know....you should get in the 2012 race to the bottom along with the other intellectually lazy GOP/TBrs.

[Illegal Beagle]

12:39 AM on 06/25/2011

Let me guess: in this "soap opera" John Hancock starts an insurance empire, benjamin Franklin invents the $100.00 bill, and Paul Revere rides to warn the British that they can`t have all of Samuel Adams` beer. Am I close?

[lj9283]

06:40 PM on 06/25/2011

There is a fine review of this undertaking the the New Hampshire Gazette:

http://www.nhgazette.com/2011/06/25/making-it-up/

And I quote:
"After all, when setting out to rewrite history, why let yourself be constrained by inconvenient facts?"

[tc71087]

10:51 PM on 06/24/2011

I thought they didn't need a television show to fall under the "admitted fiction" category.

[The Colonel]

10:05 PM on 06/24/2011

I understand that the third episode is a re-creation the day "Moses, while riding a Tyrannosaurus, firing two AK-47s and ringing a bell, defeated the Communist Nazis at the Alamo".

[Larry Motuz]

06:32 PM on 06/25/2011

LOL & fanned.

[Tom Iarossi]

12:55 AM on 07/06/2011

Excellent, me too. Hehehe

[The Colonel]

09:27 PM on 06/24/2011

The teabaggers' take on slavery ought to be really interesting.

[Illegal Beagle]

12:54 AM on 06/25/2011

Interesting point. According to Bachmann, they worked "tirelessly" to end slavery. I guess by tirelessly she means that the slaves did all the work to end slavery. What a dolt!

[Vic22]

01:48 AM on 06/25/2011

Voluntary Work-study program for foreign exchange students from africa

[Hopelessly Liberal]

04:59 PM on 06/24/2011

They now have a fictional "news" show and a fictional history show. What's next: fictional science? Oh wait, they have that too: creationism.