For the right, too ‘Goode’ to be true?

It’s become something of an article of faith in the conservative world that the media are liberal and interested in promoting only liberal ideas and causes. So what do you do if you’re a loyal conservative when a big titan of liberalism like ABC (owned by the gay-friendly Disney media conglomerate and home to the obviously left-leaning George Stephanopoulos) is about to launch a wickedly funny new Mike Judge-created show, “The Goode Family,” that mocks a family of do-gooders, including a wife who wears a “Meat Is Murder” T-shirt, a daughter who’s named Bliss and a dog who is a vegan?

Judge’s show, which premiered Wednesday takes clear aim at the excesses of save-the-planet types. As he recently said of the characters he created: “Oh, yeah, I know these people. They’re everywhere, hanging out at Whole Foods . . . forever feeling guilty about being a human being.”

Do you embrace the show, since, Lord knows, after David Zucker’s hapless “An American Carol,” you should be wrapping your arms around anything from a conservative bent that is actually, well, funny? Or do you prepare yourself for failure, hinting darkly that any show being produced by a bastion of liberal media wouldn’t receive a fair airing? In other words, assume the worst -- surely, ABC must be doing whatever it can behind the scenes to ensure that its own new show is doomed to failure. I’d say that the conservative reaction to “The Goode Family’s” prospects offers an intriguing insight into the conspiratorial, vaguely pessimistic mind-set that has overwhelmed the right as it attempts to cope with the popularity of Obama-style optimism currently captivating most of the country.

Earlier this week, the New York Post’s Kyle Smith pronounced on his blog: “I doubt ABC has the guts to keep this show on the air very long. I’m guessing they won’t promote it, no one will watch it and then they’ll say, ‘Whoops! No one is in the mood to mock liberals these days. Our bad.’ I give it a month.”

At the Bruin Standard, Kelly Bowers wasn’tholding his breath either, saying with concern: “Will the show pull punches to appease the status quo of studio executives? An obvious worry. ‘The Man’ often puts a stop to themes he doesn’t like in TV shows. . . . If Fox can tell the nearly revered Joss Whedon to turn his dark captain Malcolm Reynolds into more of a clown for ‘Firefly,’ NBC can probably tell Judge to stop making hippies cry (assuming that is even possible).”

For years, it was liberals who were expert in the art of self-loathing, but the disease seems to have taken firm root in the conservative movement. Faced with the prospect of a well-made TV show that skewers the delicate sensibilities of ditzy do-gooders, the right-leaning cultural critics should be full of exultation. Instead, they’re already sulking in their tents.

Is it possible that all this pessimism helped to create a self-fulfilling prophecy? Ratings for Wednesday night’s premiere were anemic; the show garnered a lowly 3.9 million viewers, losing more than 5-million watchers from “Goode’s” lead-in program, “Wipeout.”

You’d think conservatives would be eager for a good laugh, but the whole movement seems to have permanently misplaced its sense of humor.

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patrick.goldstein@latimes.com