Merusk
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Posts: 27449
Badge Whore
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New Lawrence Fishburn-produced sit-com w/ Anthony Anderson as the lead and Fishburn as his dad. Premiered this past Tuesday.
Premise is Anderson is an upper middle-class black guy who just got promoted to senior partner at his advertising firm. The first ever black to hold such a position in the history of the firm. The catch, they made him in charge of "the new URBAN division."
I expected to be really uncomfortable, but they seem to have gotten the "oreo" crisis out of the way in the first episode. The promotion created a crisis of conscience in Anderson's character. He's freaking out about his son who wants to have a Bar Mitzvah and join the field hockey league and his wife's freaking out because he's going to blow his promotion over his crisis about the kids 'losing their blackness.' (Ignoring that by his own definition he's already lost his.)
Looks like it could be a really solid show. I'm going to give it a few weeks at least and see if it finds its own voice and legs. The first episode was very much a pilot with the above playing out. There can be so much more to it and I've got hopes there will be.
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The past cannot be changed. The future is yet within your power.
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Maven
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Posts: 914
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I wonder what 'losing your whiteness' would mean. Getting a tan? Going to fight for ISIS? Thought experiment: Is it possible that a rigid adherence to the idea of black solidarity for solidarity's sake might be exacerbating racial discrimination issues? What does it mean to 'be black' beyond skin color? Is that the show's theme?  |
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RhyssaFireheart
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3525
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I wonder what 'losing your whiteness' would mean. Getting a tan? Going to fight for ISIS?
Thought experiment: Is it possible that a rigid adherence to the idea of black solidarity for solidarity's sake might be exacerbating racial discrimination issues? What does it mean to 'be black' beyond skin color?
That's part of the whole issue though. He was upset when two of his kids were talking about a classmate and he said "you mean the only other black kid in your class? Why didn't you just say that?" and the kids just kind of shrugged. The pilot was better than I thought it would be, although I can't see myself watching all the time. |
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Hutch
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1893
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Plant yourself like a tree
Haven't you noticed? We've been sharing our culture with you all morning.
The sun will shine on us again, brother
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Samwise
Moderator
Posts: 19220
sentient yeast infection
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"I have not actually recommended many games, and I'll go on the record here saying my track record is probably best in the industry." - schild
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Raguel
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1413
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I wonder what 'losing your whiteness' would mean. Getting a tan? Going to fight for ISIS? Thought experiment: Is it possible that a rigid adherence to the idea of black solidarity for solidarity's sake might be exacerbating racial discrimination issues? What does it mean to 'be black' beyond skin color? Is that the show's theme?  |
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Ingmar
Terracotta Army
Posts: 19280
Auto Assault Affectionado
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I wonder what 'losing your whiteness' would mean. Getting a tan? Going to fight for ISIS? Thought experiment: Is it possible that a rigid adherence to the idea of black solidarity for solidarity's sake might be exacerbating racial discrimination issues? What does it mean to 'be black' beyond skin color? Is that the show's theme? You're veering towards the whole 'why don't these people just assimilate?' argument, which at a minimum probably doesn't belong in the TV forum. |
The Transcendent One: AH... THE ROGUE CONSTRUCT.
Nordom: Sense of closure: imminent.
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Hutch
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1893
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Both of you, imagine shutting up!
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Plant yourself like a tree
Haven't you noticed? We've been sharing our culture with you all morning.
The sun will shine on us again, brother
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jgsugden
Terracotta Army
Posts: 3888
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I watched 10 minutes and was disappointed. The attempts to paint this as another Modern Family fall far short.
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2020 will be the year I gave up all hope.
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Evildrider
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Posts: 5521
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They need to bring back Fresh Prince of Bel Air.  |
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angry.bob
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Posts: 5442
We're no strangers to love. You know the rules and so do I.
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 Hey guys, what's going on in here?
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Wovon man nicht sprechen kann, darüber muß man schweigen.
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palmer_eldritch
Terracotta Army
Posts: 1999
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I remember a sit-com years ago where the premise was that the African-American dad had a sort of MLK approach to things (simplifying greatly) and his son had more of a Malcolm X/Chuck D attitude and they used to argue. I was amazed someone turned that into a sit-com but it was interesting viewing.
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TheWalrus
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4319
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Recent episode was pretty amazing. They did a thing on cops killin black guys, and it was just really well done. Didn't have the cheese factor that most of the drug episodes do.
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vanilla folders - MediumHigh
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Surlyboi
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Posts: 10963
eat a bag of dicks
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I was incredibly well done. The best part however, has been the reaction of white people on my Facebook feed that didn't get it though.
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Tuned in, immediately get to watch cringey Ubisoft talking head offering her deepest sympathies to the families impacted by the Orlando shooting while flanked by a man in a giraffe suit and some sort of "horrifically garish neon costumes through the ages" exhibit or something. We need to stop this fucking planet right now and sort some shit out. -Kail
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TheWalrus
Terracotta Army
Posts: 4319
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Oh absolutely. Most of my friends are Marines that are or are getting into the force. I'm going to have to have my tongue stitched back together from all the biting.
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vanilla folders - MediumHigh
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