I'm getting near middle aged and have started watching more of the 90s scifi (with some good modern shows as well) when I just want to escape for a bit. I just started rewatching Farscape again. What a bizarre/wild ride.
> Everything just seems like preaching and it can be difficult to watch even if you agree with the message.
Maybe this is more accurate to how I feel. DS9 and B5 had a lot of plot lines that would probably be called political, but were abstracted away and never felt like I was being force fed political ideology, it was more of an exploration of those ideas.
I thoroughly enjoyed DS9 as well, but outside of some things like Quark and Garrak, I feel it to sometimes be a pale imitation of B5.
Farscape is just freaking weird, but just so much fun. The characters have no restraints on emotion. There is no chain of command.
Stargate SG-1 and all the spin offs are also extremely good and the only science fiction show my wife could really get into. If you haven't watched it yet...well then you have like 18 seasons and a few movies to get through if you count all the TV shows.
Now all of those formats (ESPECIALLY books) have always had ones that were QUITE political, but there was also a lot of content that was just for relaxing and escaping from the reality of the world which has always sucked. Recently, it seems like they've started really ramping up the political content in many movies, shows, and games and some people certainly enjoy that, but then again...a lot of people don't like being preached to in every aspect of their lives.
Looney tunes, Animaniacs, some SNL skits, Blue's Clues- these all had that lack of present day political stuff, but even something as light as The Drew Carey Show had themes about stuff like political correctness in the office place, and cross-dressing/genderqueer folks.