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Last season we had the rabidly anti-Bush HOMECOMING from Joe Dante...and the episode was just terrible, whether you like Bush or not.  This season, from the titles, looks as if it will get political again. I see an episode called Pro-life, which is about an anti-abortion father with his 3 gun toting sons out to "liberate" his daughter who is in an accident and takes refuge in an abortion clinic.  Could be wrong, but from the summary at Showtime's site, it sounds like it will veer into politics. 

The Screwfly Solution is based on a short story that I'm not actually sure is political or not, but is directed by Dante, so that gives me pause.  I'm about to read the short story itself, which I found here:

http://www.scifi.com/scifiction/classics/classics_archive/sheldon/sheldon1.html 

I also see a movie called RIGHT TO DIE, which is about a conflicted husband whose wife is in a coma but technically alive- sounds like a take on Terri Shiavo to me with the premise changed a bit...the showtime website says about the film: "This topical horror story takes a supernatural stand on the right-to-life debate."

Then, there's the Washingtonians, which portrays George Washington as a sadistic cannibal and a band of washingtonians out to protect his secret at any cost. 

I'm in the middle of FAMILY right now, and for some reason the deranged loony is introduced with a trip through his house and a prominent picture of Dick Cheney on his shelf.  Maybe this is significant later in the film, but why do I have the feeling it's merely a cheap shot?  This is during a long shot through the entire house...right after the picture of Cheney, the camera pans right and you see a smaller framed photo of President Bush and his wife Laura. 

Finally,  I see the film PELTS directed by Argento, about a fur trader who kills animals in the pursuit of making the perfect coat to win over a woman and the supernatural pelts that turn violent and attack him for doing what he does. 

These are based on short stories mainly, but it seems that there's too much political stuff going on with the series that,  I think, should stick to horror and stay away from politics. 

I can comment on a few of these. Beware of Spoilers

Homecoming - Yeah horrible. Just plain bigoted, hypocritical, and ignorant. Rule #1 of good political satire: DO NOT TAKE SIDES! In all good political satire works, there are no party lines or anything of the sort, they just feature messages that the average sort of person can agree on (see Dave, Head of State, etc.). This one here is just so polarizing and offensive, essentially telling certain viewers that they are terrible people. Was it really neccesary to label the administration as Republican? Rule #2: be relevant. This episode might have had a good point...if it were made 40 years ago and the draft is still in effect. As it stands, now the answer to the dumb woman's question about why her son died is obvious: he enlisted and that's what happens. So into rule #3: use some common sense. If a solider enlists of their own free will, wouldn't they have been proud to serve and would continue the fight if resurrected, the whole Nathan Hale thing? If I were a solider allowed to come back as an undead, I would want to find the enemy soldier who killed me and return the favor. I could go on all day about how wrong this episode is.

The Washingtonians - Some people saw the ending dollar shot as a cheap blow, but I don't see it. All it means is (A) Washington is now disgraced and Mike succeeded in telling the world and (B) some things never change, Presidents still try to leave for themselves the best legacies they can. In other words, whoever was president at the time of the episode's making would appear on the dollar.

Family - I kinda thought the same at first but since they didn't really follow up on it, we're just overanalyzing. All it really does, since it appears with the neat furniture and other decor, is establish the house as seemingly belonging to a respectable, law-abiding person. Like that someone of that sort would be into politics. There's also the idea of values, which government figures usually represent and Harold seems to believe in strong family ones (well, his own version of them anyway).

Will see Screwfly and Pelts soon. Stay tuned!