Preview: 'Party of Yes'

“Welcome to the next installment of the party of yes." - Mike Pence, Chair of the House Republican Conference Never mind the fact that you might have missed the previous installment of 'Party of Yes'. It wasn't all that enthralling, really, by and large the commercials were more entertaining than the show itself. As a matter of fact, even if you've missed the entire season of 'Party of Yes' thus far, you can probably enjoy it just as much or perhaps even more than a longtime viewer. As the old NBC slogan used to say during rerun season, 'If you haven't seen it, it's new to you'. There's really no arguing with that logic. It's not complicated like 'Lost', other than the many humorous connotations that comparison might give rise to. Miss an episode of 'Lost' and you're left scratching your head and wondering what the hell you missed. Not so with 'Party of Yes', which plays by the simple rules that host Rep. Pence lays out at the beginning of the show. In short, there's this group of charismatic survivors, (which is only superficially similar to 'Lost' insofar as they are only described as being charismatic), who discover that the only way to survive on their metaphorical island is for them to adapt an attitude of preemptive positivity towards 'the Others'. And so this stalwart crew decide that they will henceforth say yes: yes 'to better solutions', and yes to 'alternatives that will resonate with millions of Americans'. This may sound more than a little bit shocking to those who did watch the previous installment, and heretical to those who have bothered to follow the entire season. As a matter of fact, it may sound as though the show has done quite a bit more than simply change it's name from 'The Obstructionists!' to 'Party of Yes'; it seems to have changed it's entire premise from the gritty story of a group of charismatic survivors who discover that the only way for them to survive on their metaphorical island is to fight tooth and nail against every corrupting proposal for survival that the Others dare make. And to an extent, that sense of a radical shift is true, because the new episode reveals a dramatic twist, a revelation that Pence reveals in the opening scene. "Contrary to the [Others'] straw man diversions, Republicans do have our own ideas." Whoa! Do I have your attention yet? Prior to airtime, co-star Eric Cantor went a little deeper into the sort of intrigue that awaits the viewer, an evolving scenario wherein Obama (leader of the Others) finds out that the survivors not only have their own ideas, but may have a plan as well. "First of all, the president knows different when he says that we don’t have a plan," Cantor explains, careful not to reveal too much. "And I think he would tell you, if he was being accurate... ahhh, let's just say I think he would tell you many things, many shocking and disturbing things, and let me just say yes, there will be a smoke monster."