Politics in DC these days are so absurd that there can only be one explanation: brain-eating alien bugs. CBS’ new show BrainDead, premiering June 13th, is a political satire that blames unpopular Congressional actions on ant-like aliens infecting the minds of politicians. One of the show’s stars even bashed Ted Cruz as a way of defending the program’s realism.
The comedy-drama-thriller is the second TV foray for Good Wife creators Robert and Michelle King. Initially, the husband-and-wife duo drew inspiration from the 2013 government shutdown. An army of alien ants infecting Congressmens’ brains seemed to be a reasonable explanation for Congress doing something so ridiculous, like trying to save taxpayer dollars. And then the 2016 election ramped up, giving the Kings an endless stream of political fodder to blame on extraterrestrial cranium-loving critters.
When asked if the idea of bugs controlling DC politics was a bit of a stretch, cast member Mary Elizabeth Winstead didn’t think so. She explained “When you see the vines of Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina shaking hands, it looks like there’s a sort of alien communication going on.”
Winstead plays Laurel Healy, the last standout in a political dynasty. She moves to DC to work as an aide for her brother Luke, the Democratic House Majority Whip. When she notices many of her associates behaving oddly (like lobbying to shut down the government and participating in partisan politics), Healy begins her hunt for the source of all DC political troubles.
The pilot episode is titled The Insanity Principle: How Extremism In Politics Is Threatening Democracy In The 21st Century and opens with a montage of Donald Trump speeches. Because extremism only affects one side?
This isn’t the first time that the Kings have used a “non-partisan” TV show to mock America and support a political agenda. In The Good Wife, the U.S. was referred to as the “land of guns and gangs” and one character was ready to “kick some pro-lifer butt in 2016.” Another spent most of season 7 desperately vying to be Hillary’s VP pick.
The most significant problem plaguing DC via the alien ants in BrainDead is political partisanship. Too bad Hollywood doesn’t see that the ants infested Tinsel Town long ago.
