TV shows with bizarre hidden agendas

I'm sure we've all given thought to how certain shows have specific agendas, some political, some social. Like the show Weeds, which I happen to really like, obviously has a pretty strong agenda that tends to be pro marijuana. Not necessarily pro drug, but pro marijuana and anti rules against marijuana usage. One could quibble about that, but for the most part, I think it tends to go in that direction.

But this isn't my essay today. No, I was watching another show recently from the 1980s, Battlestar Galactica 1980, which is the follow up series to the original, in which the space traveling migrants find Earth and begin to work their way towards settling and revealing their presence in the galaxy. Well, they often come against the US Air Force that is constantly investigating them. But what I found really, really interesting is that at the end of EVERY episode, there is a text statement that the US Air Force discontinued its search for extraterrestrials back in the 1960s. There's no reason why they would put that as the show takes place in the 1980s, and for some reason that's just really bizarre to include that. I first started wondering if they're trying to state a snide comment of "they're still doing it, but it's just not official anymore." Or are they stating that "they still need to do it because who knows what they're going to find" as I ran across an episode where the evil Cylons landed on Earth and forced Wolfman Jack to help them transmit their signal to Cylon Headquarters. It's kind of funny because Wolfman Jack was HUGE in the 1980s. I doubt most people have a clue who he is, or was, today.

So, is there some kind of point to be made by making this last little notification at the end of the episode? Are they addressing something that people suspect, or are they priming Americans for something that they believe we should be ready for in future governmental-alien behavior? I was thinking about using this little notification as an artifact and analyze it using different rhetorical criticism strategies. The priming effect seems most evident to me, although I could also see a couple of other alternatives. Any thoughts?

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