MRC Presents ... The Girls!
Topic: Media Research Center

Ever wonder what The View would be like if everyone thought like Elizabeth Hasselbeck (and had far less on-screen charisma)? Wonder no more! The Media Research Center has answered your question with ... The Girls!

MRC video producer Bob Parks explains the premise in a NewsBusters posting of the first episode last week:

MRC's newest production 'The Girls' counters the impression created by other lady-led talk shows like 'The View' that the left-wing mindset is the only one worth discussing. Maria, Melanie, and Penny will take on current issues from a conservative perspective, and their insights may not always be what viewers expect.

Despite agreeing to appear on camera in videos made for public consumption, "The Girls" are curiously shy about letting you know who they really are, providing only their first names. In fact, they are all MRC employees: CNS reporter Penny Starr, CNS evening managing editor Melanie Hunter, and MRC development employee Maria Ciarrocchi.

And while "their insights may not always be what viewers expect," most of the time they are exactly what you expect. The first episode discusses, in Parks' words, "Sarah Palin's impact on politics, and the liberal media's visceral loathing for her." There's a lot of predictable fawning over Palin; Starr complained about how people in "the left blogosphere" are "so horrible to a woman, treat her with such disrespect." Starr might want to have a conversation with her boss, Brent Bozell, who has disrespected both Christiane Amanpour and Nancy Pelosi. The only opinion that might be unexpected was an agreement that Palin's quitting as Alaska governor was a bad decision.

The second episode discussed celebrities in rehab. It's not that interesting.

The third episode, posted Nov. 11, follows in this week's gay obsession at the MRC: gays. Specifically, the pressing issue of a lesbian dancing with another woman in the Israeli version of "Dancing with the Stars." In yet another unsurprising conclusion, they don't approve.

Starr said "it seems like they're mixing up two things, gay rights and dance. Because ballroom dancing, if you're a real dance fan, it's for a man and a woman, the whole art form. And it's just interesting to see them turn that into a gay-rights issue."

Ciarrocchi complained that the show is "a family show in America," and such an occurrence here would force "a conversation that needs to happen with the children per se, and a conversation that you as a parent might not be ready to have yet." Hunter concurred.

Starr complained about shows that "are really seeming to go over the top," adding that it goes beyond entertainment to "a messaging tone." Starr went on to declare that if she had young children and there were same-sex dance partners on "Dancing with the Stars," "they wouldn't be watching it. And to tell you the truth, they wouldn't be watching 'Glee' either." Starr did add that she enjoyed "Glee" for the music.

In other words, exactly what you'd expect from employees of a conservative organization that has been generally hostile to gays.