S01.E01: because of slavery

[Meredith Quill]

Quote

Shooting a documentary for her NYU application, Drea introduces her unfiltered family as Kenya considers toning down his “flexing” around white people.

 

[TVForever]

Okay, so...

This is NOT the show I thought it was going to be. It's weird. 

I need to watch a few more episodes before I make a final decision.

[Neurochick]

14 minutes ago, TVForever said:

Okay, so...

This is NOT the show I thought it was going to be. It's weird. 

I need to watch a few more episodes before I make a final decision.

I'm with you there.  This show is strange, but it's a zillion times better than that drek "Family Reunion" show.  Family Reunion is basically a Netflix version of a UPN show.

[janie jones]

I almost didn't finish the episode because the shaky camera was making me seasick.

[Adgirl]

Holy cow this is FANTASTIC! It is certainly black af. I loved it. Is this the first time Rashida Jones is playing a black woman?

[Neurochick]

7 hours ago, Adgirl said:

Is this the first time Rashida Jones is playing a black woman?

????

What I think about this show is the honesty.  Truth:  If a black person does something, anything, even breathe it's seen differently.  Like, "what are they doing?"  I remember when Barak and Michelle Obama had a fist bump and the conservative news media went nutso, "what does that MEAN?" 

Sad but true.

Edited April 18, 2020 by Neurochick

[DearEvette]

I just finished the first ep.  I...just.... I dunno. 

The trailer actually made this look like it would be funny. But I found the  first episode to be exhausting and aggressively unfunny. 

The first 16 (of a 33 minute ep) minutes was a super conscious examination of 'being black as seen by Kenya Barris' which consisted of talking about being black and displaying mind numbing conspicuous consumption (complete with name dropping designer labels) of the newly rich. 

Also Rashida Jones' character was just so abrasive that she made me sympathetic toward that liberal too politically correct white couple that I normally would be rolling my eyes at.  That whole dinner scene was just ridiculous.

Is this supposed to be ridiculous?  Maybe I am not going into it with the right mindset.

All the kids seemed like they were plucked right off of Instagram influencers casting. The kids just don't seem natural at all.  This is exacerbated by the writing that also doesn't feel like these are natural conversations.

This episode makes me wonder that if this is his artistic freedom response to being held in check by ABC over Blackish then maybe I don't give ABC enough credit.

I'll check out a few more episodes, but if they all feel this soulless, I'll tap out.

[BoogieBurns]

17 hours ago, Adgirl said:

Holy cow this is FANTASTIC! It is certainly black af. I loved it. Is this the first time Rashida Jones is playing a black woman?

She's playing a mixed woman. She's based off Kenya Barris' real wife who is biracial. 

Rashida's title character in Angie Tribeca was mixed (Ernie Hudson and Peggy Lipton played her parents). Biracial in blackish as Santamonica, daughter of Beau Bridges and Anna Deveare Smith. And "multi racial" in Parks and Rec and I Love You Man. Her character being Italian on The Office is the only time I've seen her not play a black woman. Even then, it was commented on how exotic she looked and how it appears her dad may have been a GI.

[Adgirl]

2 hours ago, BoogieBurns said:

And "multi racial" in Parks and Rec and I Love You Man.

I don't recall her ethnicity being made clear in either of those roles. 🤷‍♂️It doesn't matter. The debates online about her casting are ridiculous. 

She's so fantastic in this. She hits the right comedic note in every line delivery. I enjoyed this show 10x more than any episode of Black-ish

Edited April 19, 2020 by Adgirl

[Not4Me]

On 4/19/2020 at 1:08 AM, Adgirl said:

I don't recall her ethnicity being made clear in either of those roles. 🤷‍♂️It doesn't matter. The debates online about her casting are ridiculous. 

Skip to 00:23 in one of Leslie’s many awkward girl-crush compliments of Ann Perkins. She makes a call out to her mixed race heritage. And not once, but multiple times.

 

Edited April 26, 2020 by Not4Me

[janie jones]

I wouldn't say that referring to Ann's "ambiguous ethnic blend" is making her ethnicity clear.  Maybe Ann is supposed to be "caublinasian" like Tiger Woods.

[Adgirl]

16 hours ago, Not4Me said:

Skip to 00:23 in one of Leslie’s many awkward girl-crush compliments of Ann Perkins. She makes a call out to her mixed race heritage. And not once, but multiple times.

 There's something about the emphasis on ambiguity that feels like erasure. MMV tho. 

Quote

I wouldn't say that referring to Ann's "ambiguous ethnic blend" is making her ethnicity clear.  

THIS

[Not4Me]

5 hours ago, Adgirl said:

 There's something about the emphasis on ambiguity that feels like erasure. MMV tho. 

THIS

My point is that Rashida’s former roles in the past have been portraying some type of comedic character, who just also happens to be a woman of colour. Racial ambiguity notwithstanding, she hasn’t shown herself to ignore or shy away from acknowledging her heritage as a person of colour in the roles she’s chosen.

Someone upthread mentioned how exhaustive and aggressively unfunny the first episode was. Sadly I agree. I get this is satire but everyone was just obnoxious (like Curb Your Enthusiasm obnoxious) with very few redeeming qualities. I will check out the next episode before I decide whether or not to delete this.

Edited April 27, 2020 by Not4Me