I just found out that The Wire is indeed out on DVD. So I ordered “Season One.” Hopefully I’ll get it before Thanksgiving. I’m really looking forward to the New Year. Both Oz and The Wire have seasons coming out in January.
My plan is to watch the first season a few times and then send it to my mom. I’ve already gotten her hooked on Oz, and I’m pretty sure she’ll dig The Wire as well. She’s got great taste in TV, and she was the one who got me into Homicide. It’s pretty nice to have a mother with impeccable taste in entertainment.
Seinfeld is about to come out, and I’m really torn about buying it. I really do want the series, but I had to put my stereo into the shop, which has left me a bit more strapped for cash than usual. So, I’ve got some serious soul searching to do.
It really boils down into an either/or situation. I can either buy Seinfeld or get my stereo fixed. Now I’ve gone this long without Seinfeld but do I want to go on any longer? Conversely, the stereo being fixed is only the one in my room, I have a perfectly fine stereo that’s still in working condition in the living room. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
What I Tuned In Last Week
Smallville – Man, what a boring episode! (Is it ironic to use an exclamation point for a sentence describing how boring something is?) I never thought Lex would be so boring. The best thing about this episode was when the credits rolled, signifying its end.
Saturday Night Live – I really don’t remember too much about this episode. Oh yeah, Modest Mouse was a cool musical guest. Liam did a decent job hosting. Weekend Update’s re-enactment of Tara Reid was on point. That was the highlight of the episode for me.
The Simpsons – Funny episode. (Mike gives a brutally honest review). I laughed and was entertained. What more could you ask for?
Arrested Development – As a writer I usually like to believe that I could do better than what passes for television. Well Arrested Development is so well written, that it intimidates me. Every week I marvel at how well thought out this show is. Everything fits! This show is amazing.
Scrubs – Ditto. Scrubs is like if you crossed Parker Lewis Can’t Lose and Er, only ten times better.
Dream Job – Yes Cheri I have been watching Dream Job. I was saddened to see Grant blow it so horribly. I really wanted him to win. It was nice to see “the wildcard” guy make it all the way. He really did do a great job. (by the way Cheri, I think you were a little hard on Stephen A. Smith, he’s got some ESPN cred on him.)
Lost – I really liked how the “covered” for the fact that, presumably, the actor playing Sayeed didn’t actually speak Arabic. I noticed it, but I could see how folks might not be aware. It was a clever move. But his backstory bored me. I was more curious about the person interrogating him. And why are we just meeting new “survivors?” I haven’t seen the guy with the rash before.
The Wire – This show is good. The scene where Stringer finally tells Avon about how he “killed” Avon’s cousin last season could be one of those killer moments that folks talk about. And whenever “The Boss” sax man, Clarence makes a TV appearance it’s great TV. But one thing was better.
Greatest Show Ever”¦this week : Pornucopia –
While I appreciated Bill Maher’s show, what this show lacks in political discourse it makes up for in naked women. But the subject of the premiere episode has the most annoying giggle, it almost made watching naked women unwatchable”¦ until I remembered the “mute” button. Thank goodness for technology. Best thirty minutes on TV this week!
Our Feature Presentation
By now everyone should already know that there’s been a huge stink about the opening to this week’s Mondy Night Football. If you haven’t I’ll let InsidePulse’s Tom Toner give you the rundown.
For those who didn’t see it, or hear about it, there was a quick 45-or-so second commercial aired right before the Monday Night match up between the Philadelphia Eagles and the Dallas Cowboys. In it, Desperate Housewives starlet was shown wearing nothing but a towel as she talked to Eagles’ star receiver, Terrell Owens, in the locker room. After some talking, she convinced Owens to miss the game as she dropped her towel and jumped into his arms. That was pretty much it. No nudity was shown from Sheridan at all during the commercial. In fact, the only skin that you got to see was her back, from the waist up.
Now I have indeed seen it, ad nauseam, on various programs. This has caused an uproar. The NFL is complaining. Team owners are complaining. Viewers are complaining. Everyone seems to think that this is a moral one. It’s being lumped into a category with Janet Jackson’s Super Bowl Incident. (on the off chance that you want to read what I thought about that it’s over here.) But I think that this is a horse of a completely different color.
The United States has an issue with Race. It’s an issue that’s never been dealt with, and is largely swept under the rug in hopes that it will one day disappear. The problem is that every so often it raises it’s head. This is one of those occurrences.
Like it or not, the United States fears Blacks. (Now to attempt to prove my point, I’m going delve into Movies for a minute, but really “Movies”, “TV” they’re both “moving pictures.”) Bowling for Columbine illustrates this point perfectly and literally. That fear is the reason Birth of a Nation was made. That fear is the reason Do The Right Thing so controversial.
That fear is why Elvis, who was really approximating “Black” music, was so controversial on the small screen. His gyrating and rhythms were thought to produce impure thoughts.
So when I first heard about the outrage and then saw what offended people, to me it was obvious that people were outraged, but weren’t being truthful about the nature of the outrage.
People weren’t outraged at Nicollette Sheridan’s lack of clothing, Seinfeld has featured the same amount of nudity, and it often runs before “primetime.” It wasn’t the blatant sexuality of the segment, beer and “erectile dysfunction” commercials also run during Monday Night Football, and also are sexually oriented.
Tom perfectly described the scene. Now let me describe what people “saw.” Viewers saw an attractive blonde white woman throwing herself at a Black, therefore unintelligent, athlete. They saw a smile flash across Owen’s face when she dropped her towel, and they saw the implication of foreseeable coupling.
Viewers didn’t find the potential stereotypes offensive, they found the implication that a Black man was going to have sex with white woman offensive.
Like Tom, I’d ask any of you readers if Payton Manning was the in place of Owens does anyone actually think that there would be such an uproar? I honestly don’t believe there would be.
Black athletes are thought to be the prototypical “dumb” jocks. If, as some people believe, Blacks only get positions because of Affirmative Action and not because of qualifications, then the Black Athlete must be at the bottom of the barrel. After all, athletes don’t go to class, and don’t earn their degrees, on the off chance that they have them. At least that’s the prevailing thought.
But this country has always had a problem with Black/white couplings, particularly when the male is Black. It’s the reason Emmett Till was murdered nearly 50 years ago, and the reason Yuseff Hawkins was killed just over 15 years ago.
Again if we look at movies The Pelican Brief and Kiss The Girls both feature Black male working with white females. And arguably if a white lead male had been cast, a romance would have blossomed.
Now think about television shows. How many programs have featured interracial relationships? Let’s see Boy Meets World and Friends spring to mind. And do you notice anything about those relationships? A white man and a Black woman. Society is more comfortable with the white person being the dominant one (and since we live in a patriarchal society, males are usually dominant.)
True, Sex in the City did feature an interracial relationship during it’s last season, between Miranda and Robert Leeds, but she did end back up with her baby’s daddy (it’s so fun to use that phrase when describing white people!)
Now think of how many shows featured a Black male with a white female? Now think of how many of those shows weren’t soap operas, which by nature intend to shock? Think about it; the first interracial kiss, on Star Trek, was between a Black woman and a white man. The first interracial relationship, on The Jeffersons, was between a white man and a Black woman. Relationships between a white man and a Black woman are what the media are comfortable with portraying. Whereas the opposite makes people squirm, and if you’re in the South, threaten to boycott. Hence the outrage.
While the society may tolerate interracial relationships it’s far from accepting of them. (And to clarify, while I’m hardly a proponent of miscegenation, my views are not based on stereotypes or ignorance but rather sociological and political concerns.)
Thus we have a culture that’s afraid of Black males, but particularly Black male sexuality especially anywhere near a white woman. And that is the nature of the outrage about the opening to Monday Night Football. It masks bigotry and prejudice up as “moral outrage.” Once again America ducks the race issue.
Nothing clever, just links,
Didey tells me about three shows that I don’t watch. I really wish I had caught that Er.
Cheri details Dream Job, from an interesting perspective. She raises some interesting points.
Steve give you the lowdown on Desperate Housewives.
Carlos hypes Fred Armisen, and for good reason.
J.A.M. Band
I guess that’s our new name. I’m cool with it. We’ll see what Aaron has to say. Anyway if Aaron, Joe and I were TV shows, we’d be Maude, The Jeffersons, and Archie Bunker’s Place. Why? I’m glad you asked. Y’see Aaron and I started out over at 411, which for the purpose of this example we’ll call All In the Family. Aaron and I have since spun off into other things, just like Maude and The Jeffersons, while Joe is still essentially the same, only different, just like Archie Bunker’s Place. Got it?
Aaron’s new one isn’t up yet, but he’s still full of “The Goodness.”
Joe Reid settles nicely into Monday. I swear, if you read his column you don’t need to go to movies. And since I want to get all of “read” homophones into the column, I’m curious about his thoughts on the casting of Reed Richards in the upcoming “Fantastic Four” flick. Done and done.
Greatest Video Ever”¦this week
Ol’ Dirty Bastard – Shimmy Shimmy Ya/Baby C’mon
I’ve always loved this video, but this past week has made me relish it. It’s one of those classic Hip Hop videos, before Hip Hop was too hard to have fun. Seeing ODB act a fool in various guises puts a smile on my face. It’s a dope song, with a dope video. I guess this video is how I’ll remember ODB, as a guy who entertained me with his humor. R.I.P. O.D.B.
