Season 1 Talk

[40Love]

Bow: Let's not whup him. It'd be nice for him to have a dog.

Dre: I don't know. I hate when homeless people have dogs. I never know who I'm giving my half eaten sandwich to.

Bow: That's true. Plus, I don't know if Jack is responsible to have a dog.

Pops: What are y'all talking about??

Lol! Loved that exchange. Hilarious!

[bentley]

I just watched some episodes of Survivor's Guilt on Starz, another show with a predominantly black cast. They also had an episode dealing with whlppings, and they also had the show's main character getting beaten as a child with a hot wheel's track. How random.

 

After a so-so episode last week, they were back in form tonight. Too many great lines to quote. Hilarious and genuinely suspenseful. I truly didn't know if he was going to do it or not, and if so, how they would do it and keep him sympathetic. Great episode and resolved satisfactorily.

[memememe76]

That was a *great* episode. The thing that I was most impressed with was that I could totally understand why the parents were so upset with Jack's behaviour. That second time he was hiding, I shared Bow's outrage too. And, yet, Jack was damn hilarious trying to be all cute to his mom. The writers did a good job of making Jack still likeable while doing questionable behaviour. 

Edited October 23, 2014 by memememe76

[Queena]

Spacey, that horse, and dog bit me 1st! I merely defended myself by biting back! I'll tell you this much, that was the one and only time I've ever been bitten by a horse! I still love horses! Dogs, not so much.

[Empress1]

Pops asking if he should wear white since it was a virgin whupping had me rolling.

[Eolivet]

I had absolutely no sympathy for Jack. I don't care how cute he was -- that kid was a brat who needed to be taught a lesson somehow. I did laugh at Pops thinking that Dre saying Jack disappointed him was worse than spanking him. That's some interesting logic there.

 

The whole "spanking in the abstract vs. spanking your own child" scene was spot-on. Once again, this show absolutely nails the social commentary.

[Writing Wrongs]

I liked that Dre didn't want to wear his wife beater to beat his kid. LOL

 

Pops sounds like my grandmother. After I did something bad, she would wait till I was unsuspecting and then pop me with the belt. I only had to be whooped twice until I learned to behave.

[stanleyk]

This show has picked up so much steam since the weak pilot - I'm glad I stuck with it. It's somehow managing to address some really interesting, controversial topics while still being laugh-out-loud funny. This was, to me, one of the funniest episodes, even though I was dreading where they were going with it (but was pleased with how they resolved it, even if "I'm disappointed in you" is a little of an easy out). I agree the conversation with his co-workers was brilliant (both hilarious and directly on the mark), and Bow in the store was effing hilarious.

 

I think my favorite exchange was during the hot wheels track conversation, though (which: the use of a hot wheels track was genius itself) and had nothing to do with anything:

 

Dre: Pops, how many White Russians have you had?

Pops: Irrelevant. [beat] But a lot.

 

I do fear for myself, however. My two year old looks very much like Jack and is already figuring out how to manipulate me with his own Chupacabra eyes.

Edited October 23, 2014 by stanleyk

[bentley]

 

I liked that Dre didn't want to wear his wife beater to beat his kid. LOL

 

I liked that he felt he had to change clothes/get in character to administer the spanking in the first place. 

[mikem]

There aren't a whole lot of shows that would have touched this topic, let alone do so in such a funny way.  I kind of wish, though, they didn't have the kids sell out each other, which may be realistic but seemed very sitcommy to me.

 

One thing I really like about the show in general is that Dre and Bow have a fundamentally strong marriage, one in which disagreement and teasing and scoring off each other can occur, but there's never any doubt that they like and respect each other, and that they like and respect their kids.  So many sitcom marriages seem to be all about being on top in a constant power struggle with your spouse.  (Sometimes, it seems that's what every Modern Family plotline is about.) 

 

Now we know that Junior is 13 years old and in 9th grade. He must have skipped a grade at some point.

Edited October 23, 2014 by mikem

[Racj82]

You can be thirteen and in the 9th grade if you have a birthday late in the year. If your birthday is anywhere from the second week of September to December 31st, your the same age you were most of the last grade until that birthday comes. I was thrirteen going on fourteen entering 9th grade like everyone else that had a birthday after the school year started.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Racj82

[Amethyst]

Great episode.  Like everyone said, they tackled this topic very well.  However, I thought it was lame that Bow wanted Dre to handle the spanking, considering that Jack was hiding from her at the mall.  It's clear that she didn't want to be the bad guy.  Lord knows my mother never shied away from doing it!

 

But it all felt very real, the siblings sticking up for each other (only to bail at the last minute, LOL) doing all you can to get out of it...felt like I was reliving my childhood.

[ddawn23]

You can be thirteen and in the 9th grade if you have a birthday late in the year. If your birthday is anywhere from the second week of September to December 31st, your the same age you were most of the last grade until that birthday comes. I was thrirteen going on fourteen entering 9th grade like everyone else that had a birthday after the school year started.

That's actually pretty unusual, Racj.  If you and most of your classmates turned 14 during 9th grade that means you and most of your classmates graduated at 17.  The cut-off date in the US is usually on or around September first, so unless it's only the first couple of weeks of the school year and Junior has a late August birthday, he should already be 14 to be a freshman.

[C0mputerGeek]

That's actually pretty unusual, Racj.  If you and most of your classmates turned 14 during 9th grade that means you and most of your classmates graduated at 17.  The cut-off date in the US is usually on or around September first, so unless it's only the first couple of weeks of the school year and Junior has a late August birthday, he should already be 14 to be a freshman.

I was 13 when I started the ninth grade in the Fall of 1985 and 17 when I graduated from high school.

Edited October 23, 2014 by C0mputerGeek

[scrambled eggs]

Homeless Jack with the dog (because he wasn't whooped) and Homeless Jack without the dog (because he was) had me rolling.

 

 

Followed by Dre and Rainbow discussing whether Jack is too young to own a dog. I loved how they apparently discussed their visions of Jack's future, and it wasn't just Dre imagining these things himself. 

[ddawn23]

I was 13 when I started the ninth grade in the Fall of 1985 and 17 when I graduated from high school.

Yeah, sorry-- I didn't mean it's unusual to graduate at 17.  I just meant that it's usual for most students at any given school to graduate at 17.  The spread is typically more like 75% 18 and 25% 17.

[SpringTulips]

I Put a Spell on You.. What a surprise to hear it on this show!.I always loved the Nina Simone version but I am appreciating Screaming Jay Hawkins more and more .

Edited October 23, 2014 by SpringTulips

[ElectricBoogaloo]

I was 13 when I started the ninth grade in the Fall of 1985 and 17 when I graduated from high school.

Me too! I started ninth grade a different year but I was 13 at the beginning of the year and 17 when I graduated.

 

I loved that all Dre's coworkers said they had been whipped, spanked, and physically punished and that they were better for it but then were horrified that Dre would think about doing it to Jack because that was realistic.

 

Another thing I liked about that scene was the one guy who wasn't spanked asking Tanya how things were done in China only to have her say that she grew up in Torrance and was Korean. It was a small moment, but so often on television Asians are all lumped together and/or interchangable so it was nice to see the show address two separate issues: people often assume Asians are recent immigrants and people make assumptions about what country Asians are from.

[SimoneS]

There were so many great moments in this episode. Another one was Dre's coworkers saying that had voted when he was taking a nap and Dre responding that he was not proud of those naps. So funny. The writing and comic talent of the cast is so great. I really came to appreciate Tracy Ellis Ross in this episode. She and Anthony Anderson have great chemistry and she was hilarious in the store freaking out Jack and yelling at the security guard.

Edited October 23, 2014 by SimoneS

[Mozelle]

You can be thirteen and in the 9th grade if you have a birthday late in the year. If your birthday is anywhere from the second week of September to December 31st, your the same age you were most of the last grade until that birthday comes. I was thrirteen going on fourteen entering 9th grade like everyone else that had a birthday after the school year started.

 

I think in Junior's case, though, he just turned 13. That was what the whole pilot was about. He wanted a bar mitzvah and instead Dre threw him a bro-mitzvah. They mentioned in that episode that a Junior was 12 going on 13.

 

That's actually pretty unusual, Racj.  If you and most of your classmates turned 14 during 9th grade that means you and most of your classmates graduated at 17.  The cut-off date in the US is usually on or around September first, so unless it's only the first couple of weeks of the school year and Junior has a late August birthday, he should already be 14 to be a freshman.

I think the cut-offs for kindergarten changed sometime around 2003 or 2004, I want to say. A child had to have already turned five by the start of the school year. The cut-offs weren't as stringent when I was a kid. I started kindergarten as a four year old and turned five in October. Similarly, I started my senior year of high school at 16, turned 17 in October, and graduated at 17.

This episode was really funny. I loved how confident Junior was that he'd aged out of whoopings only to have Pops "pop" up to tell him that this "whooping window" didn't exist as long as there was an ass to spank.

The White Russian bit made laugh out loud. In large part because after Pops had extolled the virtues of the hot wheel track, I was like, "Is he drinking a White Russian?" (because I forever associate that with The Big Lebowski).

Lastly, I just realized they have yet to have a Zoe-centric episode. Does Zoe really exist or is she a hologram?

[ElectricBoogaloo]

The cut off dates vary, but it's usually some time around the beginning of the school year. My friend's kid was born on October 5th and his school district's cut off date is October 1st so he had to wait an extra year to start school and will be one of the oldest kids in his class when he graduates.

 

Since the show is set in LA where it's sunny for most of the year, it's hard to tell if the show is happening in roughly real time (meaning Junior's birthday is in September/October) but since he wanted a bar mitzvah due to several of his friends having their own (and he mentioned again this week that he's 13), it seems like the writing staff just dropped the ball on realizing how old a high school freshman is supposed to be. In this day and age with the much stricter birthday cut offs, it seems weird that Junior and several of his friends would all be turning 13, especially at a fancy school like the one Junior and Zoe attend.

 

I loved that Rainbow and Dre differentiated between future homeless Junior having a dog or not based on whether they whooped on him.

[kia112]

I laughed so much at this episode. One of my favorite parts was seeing Dre go through his belts. When he picked up the one with the huge buckle to stare at it thoughtfully, I said, "Oh my gosh. No!" But them to see him throw it in the trash, I realized he was trying to figure out why he even owned it in the first place. Brilliant. I loved Dre and Bow at the end, coming up with quips, but Bow not being able to sustain the back and forth indefinitely. So true to life! You get a good couple of ones in and then you blank.

[Ms5h]

When we lived in CA the school cutoff was Sept 1. We moved to CT the year before my son started school and the cutoff was 12/31 of that year. My daughter had a bunch of late-year-birthday kids (who were 4) in her Kindergarten class. Often parents delay starting school for their sept, nov, dec bday kids, especially if they're boys, to give them time to mature.

I assumed Jr turned 13 at some earlier date (since they didn't show a family party for him) but just learned about bar mitzvahs or just decided then he wanted one. His school maybe a grades 6-12 school, (especially if it's private, divided into a lower and upper school), so he may have become aware of bar/bat mitzvahs from a child in the lower school.

Edited October 23, 2014 by Ms5h

[SimoneS]

On a serious note, I admire the writers/producers for how they handled this controversial topic, especially since at the time they wrote and filmed the episode, the Adrian Peterson child abuse incident had not occurred. Instead of taking the bullshit way out and claiming that beating children is a "part of black culture," the writers/producers had Dre struggle with beating his child and then decide not to continue that horrible practice and talk to his son. The moment when he realized that just talking to his son and telling him that he was disappointed was enough to curtail the behavior was wonderfully done. 

[Sheenieb]

 

On a serious note, I admire the writers/producers for how they handled this controversial topic, especially since at the time they wrote and filmed the episode, the Adrian Peterson child abuse incident had not occurred. Instead of taking the bullshit way out and claiming that beating children is a "part of black culture," the writers/producers had Dre struggle with beating his child and then decide not to continue that horrible practice and talk to his son. The moment when he realized that just talking to his son and telling him that he was disappointed was enough to curtail the behavior was wonderfully done.

Yes, "I'm disappointed in you" is such a boon in the parental arsenal.  I also liked that he realized how messed up it is to say to your child "I'm doing this because I love you." If it's unacceptable for an abusive spouse to say that, I don't know why it's acceptable to say it to a child.

[Seelouis]

I love this show more and more each week.  I have totally been that parent frantically searching for my child in a store -- I was literally giving my daughter's description to the manager in Target when I heard her moving under the clothes rack.  So that scene rang so true to me, but so hilarious.  

 

And, no matter how many times I saw it in the previews, Pops' delivery of the line "I'm in college now, look how smart my mouth is" killed me.  

 

The bit with the Korean co-worker, as mentioned up thread, was also a thing of beauty. Capped off by the guy still saying "no offense" after saying something else about China, after just being told she was Korean.  

[Mozelle]

@SimoneS, you bring up a good point when it comes to the "black parents beat their kids" narrative. Though a lot of black comedians have talked about it (and then you have Charles Barkley's statement during the Adrian Peterson issue), a fairly recent study shows that nearly 3/4 of parents across ethnic lines believe in using corporal punishment (I'll find the link and update accordingly). The numbers are higher when talking about black parents (something like 89% of the respondents) but Latino parents came in around 82% followed by 76% and 73% (for white and Asian parents, though I can't remember which percentage goes with which ethnicity/race) of parents saying corporal punishment is an acceptable form of discipline.

 

It's why I partly loved that scene in the conference room. It wasn't like Dre, the black dude, was out on a limb as the only person disciplined via corporal punishment.

 

http://inamerica.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/10/researchers-african-americans-most-likely-to-use-physical-punishment/

 

Here are the exact numbers from the study. My numbers above were slightly off.

 

In a study Gershoff co-authored that examined 20,000 kindergartners and their parents, she found that 89% of black parents, 79% of white parents, 80% of Hispanic parents and 73% of Asian parents said they have spanked their children.

 

Edited October 23, 2014 by Mozelle

[monakane]

Many years ago, my toddler pulled a move similar to Jack.  He hid in the house and I couldn't find him for 20 minutes.  Needless to say I was frantic.  When I did find him, I put him over my knee to spank him.  My large (120 lbs), mixed breed, gentle giant dog appeared out of nowhere and gently grabbed my arm in her mouth.  She gave me a look that said, "Don't even think about it."  I knew the dog was right and didn't do it.  That was the one and only time I ever considered spanking.  My son is now 25 and I still feel guilty when I think about it.

[kia112]

I kinda wish that Jack did get a spanking.  I'm not okay with beating a kid and I don't think spankings should be the first resort or overused or continue to be used when they're not effective, but other than that...yeah...

 

Though I am glad that Dre and Bow have had discussions about it in the past so it didn't come off like "Black parents spank because it's ingrained in their DNA" or something equally ignorant.

[airbefore]

There's a huge difference between a spanking and a beating. I know the show was playing it up for comedy but that is a distinction that should be recognized. But otherwise, I thought the show handled what is clearly a sensitive and divisive topic very well. 

 

I'm finding that the relationship between Dre and Bow has become one of my favorite aspects of the show. It's so rare to find a married couple on a sitcom (or on any television show, really) who clearly love and respect one another the way those two do. They bicker and they joke and they disagree but underneath it all is a deep and obvious affection. They like each other which, again, is so damn rare in sitcoms. The two actors just seem to have a very natural chemistry with one another that allows me to believe that these two characters are people who have been together for the better part of two decades. They know each other and they're comfortable and they're still weird and in love. I've never really been a fan of Anthony Anderson but this show might just sell me on him. Tracee Ellis Ross can do no wrong in my book and this just solidifies that. 

[teebax]

I got beatings, and I got lectures. I preferred the beatings. Like Pops said, the lectures crush your spirit.

 

This show handled this issue very well. I was nervous to watch it, but it shows I need to have a little more faith in the production team. It's so nice to have a sitcom I look forward to watching every week. I watch others, but this one has become the only sitcom I watch as soon as it airs... well, 15 minutes later so I can skip commercials.

[sonyab]

On a serious note, I admire the writers/producers for how they handled this controversial topic, especially since at the time they wrote and filmed the episode, the Adrian Peterson child abuse incident had not occurred.

Wow. How do you know they wrote and filmed this episode, when the Adrian Peterson child abuse incident had not occurred?

[emma675]

This show just gets better and better every week. I love that they took on a controversial, hot button subject like spanking and managed to turn out a laugh-out-loud funny, yet thought provoking episode. Those writers are talented people. And the cast is perfect. I didn't realize Lawrence Fishbourne was so gifted at comedy.

 

For the record, I was spanked once or twice as a kid, but it was more the fear of the spanking that worked in our household. My parents kept a wooden ruler on top of the fridge and just the threat of getting the ruler down was enough to make us straighten up.

[politichick]

You can be thirteen and in the 9th grade if you have a birthday late in the year. If your birthday is anywhere from the second week of September to December 31st, your the same age you were most of the last grade until that birthday comes. I was thrirteen going on fourteen entering 9th grade like everyone else that had a birthday after the school year started.

But didn't he turn 13 after the school year started and that's what the whole bar mitzvah episode was about?

[roseslg]

I was always of the thought that the spankings made me a better person.  Lord knows it taught me to stay out of trouble and not do anything crazy.  It seems that many parents of the new generation are more of the "no spanking, let's talk to them" variety.  Example: Dre's co-workers.   I sorta wished Jack did get a spanking...

 

God, I remember when we used to get beaten in school.  In morning sssembly. In front of the entire school.   Talk about walking on the straight and narrow!  Good times that.  You also didn't want to be the kid in class when an eraser was thrown at you. 

 

I find Diane a bit too precocious. 

[peeayebee]

Loved this ep. So well done and so funny.

 

The actors playing the kids are great. I think Andre is still my favorite. I like them all, but I think the actor playing Andre is the best actor.

 

So many of my favorite lines and moments have been mentioned. There was one laugh after another. Practically nonstop.

 

I loved when Dre was talking with his coworkers about spanking, and the one guy right behind Dre says, "Not Jack. He's our favorite." Just the way he said it was hilarious.

 

And when the kids are meeting together, and Diane says, "Our only hope is for a gubernatorial pardon," the way Andre says, "Oh why is she like this?" just cracked me up.

 

As far as the topic goes, the show handled it perfectly. 

[Athena]

I'm excited when I know a new episode has aired. It's been so long since I've had a good comedy show in my lineup. I hope it continues in quality.

 

Most of the stuff I liked about the episode has been mentioned, but I have to mention how good Bow/Tracee looked in that turquoise/mint top. I love the Bow/Dre relationship. They are such a great couple. I was rolling with the homeless Jack sequences and discussion too. That was one clean hobo dog though. Ha.

 

Something I really like is that the show's commentary and take on these social and family issues has allowed a lot of us to reflect on and share our own experiences. I think that's a testament to a great comedy show. 

 

Another thing I liked about that scene was the one guy who wasn't spanked asking Tanya how things were done in China only to have her say that she grew up in Torrance and was Korean. It was a small moment, but so often on television Asians are all lumped together and/or interchangable so it was nice to see the show address two separate issues: people often assume Asians are recent immigrants and people make assumptions about what country Asians are from.

 

The bit with the Korean co-worker, as mentioned up thread, was also a thing of beauty. Capped off by the guy still saying "no offense" after saying something else about China, after just being told she was Korean.  

 

This type of commentary is done a lot on Youtube and the social media, but less so on a mainstream, network television. I liked and appreciated it.

 

I got beatings, and I got lectures. I preferred the beatings. Like Pops said, the lectures crush your spirit.

 

I got both as well. I hated the beatings and I don't think it made me a better person. I wouldn't do it. The lectures are worse. I remember when my Dad was disappointed in me like Dre was in this episode. I still feel guilty thinking about it now. 

[LydiaMoon1]

Frankly, I deserved every beating I ever got. And no, I wasn't abused and I haven't become an abuser.  I'm a gentle soul and a law-abiding citizen, and my brothers and sisters and I still reminisce about those days and laugh. And add me to the list of folks who preferred beatings to lectures.  The beatings were quick and done.  The lectures went on FOR DAYS! 

 

[BoogieBurns]

I hated the beatings and I don't think it made me a better person.

 

I guess they work on some kids, but I'm with you. They were not a good call on my parents' part. Unless the plan was to make me never hit my kids, because that is really all I learned from those whoopins. 

 

And add me to the list of folks who preferred beatings to lectures.

 

We got both. 

Edited October 23, 2014 by BoogieBurns

[airbefore]

 

I got beatings, and I got lectures. I preferred the beatings. Like Pops said, the lectures crush your spirit.

I had to sit through hour long explanations about why I was about to get a whipping. Those were seriously worse than the actual whipping itself. 

[teezy]

There's a huge difference between a spanking and a beating. I know the show was playing it up for comedy but that is a distinction that should be recognized. But otherwise, I thought the show handled what is clearly a sensitive and divisive topic very well. 

 

I'm finding that the relationship between Dre and Bow has become one of my favorite aspects of the show. It's so rare to find a married couple on a sitcom (or on any television show, really) who clearly love and respect one another the way those two do. They bicker and they joke and they disagree but underneath it all is a deep and obvious affection. They like each other which, again, is so damn rare in sitcoms. The two actors just seem to have a very natural chemistry with one another that allows me to believe that these two characters are people who have been together for the better part of two decades. They know each other and they're comfortable and they're still weird and in love. I've never really been a fan of Anthony Anderson but this show might just sell me on him. Tracee Ellis Ross can do no wrong in my book and this just solidifies that. 

 

I honestly think there are racial and class difference when it comes to views on beatings for white people it seems like they let their children get away with anything . I have witnessed white women getting cussed out and disrespected by their children all the time and all the do is put the child on time out lmaoo. Mom tell daughter she grounded and she walks out the house saying bitch please  lol  only black households you will nonsense like that happening in is probably a upper middle class or upper class but   in most old school households even in single parent households i know the parents spank their kids.

 

 

Growing up in a black household  i got slapped up for the slightest sign of disrespect towards my elders and I would not be alive typing to you if i talked  to my mother the way I see these kids talking towards their parents in 2014. It sure is a sign of the times when a spanking is considered child abuse yet we have 14 yrs old raping and killing people. 10 years old having sex and cussing up a storm and teen girls popping out babies left and right  seems like modern day parents don't have control over their kids like people did in the past.

[ari333]

Well, it's official; I really love this show. The only thing that made me cringe was when Dre was super angry (and had every right to be) when Jack said that Dre didnt' hear him giggling in the cabinet because Dre was crying too hard. The cringe-worthy part was when Dre whipped off the belt and lunged to spank Jack while Dre was angry. I'm in the no-spanking camp, but if one chooses to - yikes - dont' do it mad.

 

Did the kid not understand the hiding and the worry? Maybe a feigned scenario with a taste of his own medicine where someone he loves goes missing and is really hiding would have let him understand the gravity. Jack totally didnt' seem to get it that he was scaring everyone who love him and that it was mean and kind of dangerous.

[Mozelle]

Wow. How do you know they wrote and filmed this episode, when the Adrian Peter child abuse incident had not occurred?

 

Kenya Barris did an interview with Vulture just before the premier episode. 

 

You’re talking about a show that is in some ways a reflection of what’s going on in the country or the world, but I'm wondering if its timing is also possible because of what’s going on in the world. In other words, are there two things happening at the same time?

Absolutely. ABC has allowed us to do it in a way that a lot of networks would not have. One of the things about this show is we want to do relevant and current things. Sometimes those things are a little bit risky and ABC has been really, really, really special to us to [allow us to] take those swings. We have a spanking episode that we did before any of the stuff came out—

The Adrian Peterson and the switch story.

Yes. We’d love to air it as our second episode, and in a very responsible way, we understand ABC feels like it’s not the right time right now to air it, but as producers and writers, we’re like, Oh, my God! Ahead of the curve! But that’s part of what I’m learning — it is a corporation and they are sensitive in a very responsible way, whereas I’m sort of like, I just want to get my thing out there! So, that’s something we’re working through because it’s one of our episodes that we’re happiest with.

So, you would want this to be on next week?

In a perfect world, I would love it to be. We talked to all our writers, and it was really the way it came about. I think of the 12 of us, 11 of us had been spanked as kids. None of us spanked [as parents]. And it was really interesting to see that. Why is that? We all kind of thought we grew up okay, why didn’t we do it? And it started a really interesting conversation, which led us to the differences in black households and white households. The differences in coastal households. The socioeconomic differences. The ethnic differences, the cultural differences, the differences in foreigners. It feels as if a lot of [this] country still believes in spanking. South, Middle America. A lot of the world actually still believes in spanking.

And, of course, what’s happened with Adrian Peterson seems to be over the top, overboard. I don’t know the particulars of the case, I'm not part of it, but it seems to be that there were some definite lines crossed. But it’s still conversation-worthy in terms of where we’re at now and where we were 30 years ago. What’s acceptable to some and what’s not acceptable to some and who’s making the rules. It’s a really interesting episode, I’m really proud of it, but I do understand that it’s something that we have to do in a different kind of way.

So, when do you think it will be broadcast?

Hopefully in a time where it doesn’t seem like we got into it afterward, that we weren’t reactionary.

 

[maraleia]

I think its been established that Dre Jr and Diane are smartypants and in Dre Jr's case that means he skipped at least one grade if not two depending on when his birthday takes place.

This episode marks the first time that Zoe didn't have her phone in her hands for the entire episode. LOL.

[pookat]

I forgot to mention my absolute favorite moment of social commentary last night. Rainbow forgot she still had an unpurchased clutch in her hand as she left the store with Jack, the alarm went off, and a whole team of security guards converged.

Rainbow: It takes you two HOURS to find a little black boy and then you're here in two seconds when I accidentally steal a clutch! You know what, I'm keeping it!

Perfection! They actually let her keep it!

[roseslg]

I got both the lectures and the beatings, but only for a short time.  There was also no mouthing off.   A couple of surprised slaps by my grandmother, taught me to keep my thoughts to myself.  I am liking the show more and more.  I look at my brothers and me and since the youngest is 22 years younger than I am, he's being raised a lot differently.  I told my mom that I wasn't allowed to get away with half the stuff that he does/says.  He's a great kid, but still.  I wasn't allowed to snark while he is allowed to snark away.   Times they are a changing. 

[teebax]

Wow. How do you know they wrote and filmed this episode, when the Adrian Peterson child abuse incident had not occurred?

This episode was supposed to air second, but they held it back after the AP story broke. So it was written before that occurred.

 

I don't know where I read that, but I'm sure you could find it out there on the interwebs somewhere.

 

ETA I see this was already covered above.

Edited October 23, 2014 by teebax

[ohjoy]

Caught the last half of the episode with my sister. The "I'm disappointed in you" tactic would have worked on my her (and it did), but not me; I tended to forget that certain of my actions had certain consequences until after I already repeated the offense. (Again.) So yes, I got spanked (not beat, but spanked -- yes, I do see a significant distinction between the two), I got lectured, I got warned, I got grounded (but only to my room once or twice; I was the youngest, and it was like a party for me since I typically did not get to do things like eat meals in my room by myself -- my parents didn't bother with that again), and eventually, after a while, I got a clue. :-) Dre trying to decide on a belt, Jack layering on clothes, the other siblings freaking out about their chances of also getting it -- I've either seen it or heard first-hand accounts using all those elements. Great episode: hilarious, true to life, and very well done.

[OnceSane]

The layering of clothes got me, we used to stuff our underwear with toilet paper. Unsurprisingly, it didn't help at all. And if we tried layering our clothes, our parents made us ditch the extra layers before the spanking began.

[yourstruly]

For some reason, although it was well done and I like the show, this episode sort of made me uncomfortable. I'm black and I was never spanked-my mother being disappointed in me or my apprehension at what might happen to me if I went crazy held me in line very effectively. Like I would get depressed if my mom expressed disappointment in me or got mad at me. We would jokingly accuse our mother of spanking us and she would be mortified-like we were calling her low class and impulsive. And sometimes I hear other black people talk as if spanking is the norm among us and I feel...detached from that. Like I don't know what they are talking about and I don't know if I want to know. I just think there is a thin line between spanking and violence towards a child in my mind and I wouldn't want to come close to it.

But it helps that I don't have kids.

 

 

Growing up in a black household  i got slapped up for the slightest sign of disrespect towards my elders and I would not be alive typing to you if i talked  to my mother the way I see these kids talking towards their parents in 2014. 

 

I was reading something...I wish I could find it now. It was one of the flurry of articles reacting to the Adrian Peterson case (which I already know was a horrible extreme outlier and not the norm by any definition) and the writer argued that the emphasis on corporal punishment in the black community was a legacy of slavery-that the black parent wanted to discipline their child first and teach their child about boundaries for their own safety in a white supremacist world-where if a black kid acted up like a white kid, the black kid would get killed. The writer also argued that this was a bad thing because it taught black children to sit down and shut up no matter what was being said to them, just because an "elder" or an "authority figure" was speaking.

 

Found it: http://www.salon.com/2014/09/16/the_racial_parenting_divide_what_adrian_peterson_reveals_about_black_and_white_child_rearing/

 

Also, with all due respect, I have to challenge this:

 

It sure is a sign of the times when a spanking is considered child abuse yet we have 14 yrs old raping and killing people. 10 years old having sex and cussing up a storm and teen girls popping out babies left and right  seems like modern day parents don't have control over their kids like people did in the past.

 

I think the idea of kids going wild nowadays is sort of generated by the news to keep people scared and angry. I don't see it-teen pregnancy rates are at record lows now and even through the recession, crime rates continued to go down. Kids today seem all right to me. 

 

And another minority opinion: I think Jack and Diane are too kid-actory and cutesy. The two older kids are great though.