Season 2 Discussion

[LADreamr]

The NAACP still uses "colored," because it has been a source of support and defense not only for African-Americans, but also Asians, Native Americans, and other maligned groups. (ETA: Teebax beat me to it)

Loved the episode. I kind of thought Bo went with the cute defense in the meeting because the discussions in the episode about who can and can't use the word came down, at least to some degree, to outward appearance.

Edited September 24, 2015 by LADreamr

[peeayebee]

A little Ruby goes a looooooong way. No more Ruby-focused episodes, please.

I love Ruby. I don't think I've ever had too much of her. Jenifer Lewis makes everything funny. I don't know how she does it.

[After7Only]

So happy to see this show back.  Hoping Pops will be around more this season than last.  The humor focused on the 3 generations is some of the best stuff.  Really appreciated that in the end, they did not vilify or glorify the use of the word

[peeayebee]

Hoping Pops will be around more this season than last. 

I think so, since Hannibal was cancelled. :( and yet :)

[meep.meep]

As someone who was nearly reported to Child Protective Services when my 4 year old would ride around preschool on a tricycle bellowing the lyrics to Greatful Dead's Casey Jones (Riding that train, high on cocaine), you'd think I would have liked this a lot more.  It seemed to go from funny to not and back again.

 

And because of the drought that we are going through, the stuff with Junior and the showers was just wrong.  I feel really guilty because I don't shower with a bucket to collect the extra water.  No one is taking 45 minute showers in California these days.

 

But Charlie is always funny!

[Dee]

I hope Tracee Ellis Ross is nominated for an emmy next year. She is as crucial to the success of the show as Anthony Anderson.

[reggiejax]

"Big Pun, Fat Joe ok.  Marc Anthony or Ricky Martin, no bueno."

 

 

Perhaps Big Pun would get an exemption to say it, but someone should let the writers know that Big Pun hasn't said anything since 2000.

[Megan]

I just don't think Jack is all that cute and his dancing is kind of lame. The shows insistence that he is the cutest thing ever is my least favorite part of the show.

Edited September 25, 2015 by Megan

[Quickbeam]

Enjoyed it, thought it was funny. Did bug me that this was almost an identical plot of a Bernie Mac show years ago. The little girl heard Bernie say it in casual conversation and it was (thought bubble) a " new word". Chaos ensued.

[EarlGreyTea]

Great episode. As a minority, the episode spoke to me. Had a similar issue a few years ago when a friend thought it was peachy to use a slur on me in jest.  The show really remains topical and I appreciated how nuanced it was - both sides were presented and provoked discussion, like the spanking episode.

 

The show really struck gold with the child actors. All of them have great comedic timing.

 

I would like to nominate the following exchange as my favorite:

 

Zoey: I don't see what the big deal is. My friends say it.

Pops, Dre, and Ruby: (in unison) WHAT FRIENDS?

Edited September 25, 2015 by EarlGreyTea

[NYCFree]

Loved the episode. Really outstanding writing that mixes humor and issues.

The line about smelling like "wide open ass" had my whole family howling as my husband had just informed our own geeky teenager about a similar issue.

[peeayebee]

I just don't think Jack is all that cute and his dancing is kind of lame. The shows insistence that he is the cutest thing ever is my least favorite part of the show.

I think he's absolutely adorable. I also find him a good little actor with great comic timing. Diane, OTOH, bugs me. She has great lines, but I find her too unbelievable.

[Irlandesa]

I've had Gold Digger in my head all day.  And I found myself telling a co-worker some of the funniest jokes from the episode last night.  I can't remember the last time I've done that for a show. There were so many great lines but maybe one of my favorites was Dre and Junior in the show where Junior offers something profound and Dre can't figure out how he was able to come to the profound conclusion and think that showering together was okay.

[GHScorpiosRule]

Dre is studying him then says, "I'm gonna have to meet your parents."

 

Requoting this after watching it again last night on Demand, and it was actually "I'm gonna have to meet your Mommy and Daddy" which just sounded so much more Dre, hee. Or it could have been "Mama."

[attica]

Did bug me that this was almost an identical plot of a Bernie Mac show years ago.

 

Here's an article describing showrunner Barris's development of the ep. Basically, the scene with Zoey happened at his own house.

[mansonlamps]

You are going to all have to get off my lawn, but I found the "wide open ass" line unnecessarily crude and vulgar. I could have done without it. Plenty of other good moments though.

[mtlchick]

Empire and Black-ish are time slot rivals, but they agreed on one thing: Don Lemon jabs will never not be funny.

 

I enjoyed it.  Since I never watched Bernie Mac (and both had Larry Wilmore as a producer) I can't speak for similarities.  And while we say a sad and bloody good bye to Hannibal, I do hope that means Laurence Fishburne is here more often.

[Dagny]

No one is taking 45 minute showers in California these days.

 

Teenage boys?

[peeayebee]

Since I never watched Bernie Mac (and both had Larry Wilmore as a producer) I can't speak for similarities.  

Get thee to Netflix and give The Bernie Mac Show a try. I really liked it. 

[Dee]

I hope we see more of Alicia & Paul this season. Their interplay with Ruby & Earl was a highlight of last season.

[mansonlamps]

Get thee to Netflix and give The Bernie Mac Show a try. I really liked it.

Agree, this show was way underrated.

[meep.meep]

Perhaps Big Pun would get an exemption to say it, but someone should let the writers know that Big Pun hasn't said anything since 2000.

 

Why not go for Pitbull?

 

 

Teenage boys?

 

I agree that the funk of unwashed teenage boys is unequalled, but they don't need 45 minutes under water to get rid of it.  Especially if their mothers want to run the sprinklers regularly.

[BoogieBurns]

I agree that the funk of unwashed teenage boys is unequalled, but they don't need 45 minutes under water to get rid of it.  Especially if their mothers want to run the sprinklers regularly.

 

They aren't spending the whole time getting clean. 

[mojito]

I thought some of Pop and Ruby's comments were humorous. Agreed that the wide open ass comment was disgusting and not funny.

 

I didn't care for this episode very much. It did a good job of showing how ambivalent people are about the use of the word, but I found Bow's defense with the school board to be an embarrassment and just un-funny. The whole "why can you say it and I can't" is asinine. If my mom called me "sweet pea" do you think you have the right to call me that, too? How obtuse are you that you don't get that not all nicknames are for public consumption?

 

Miscellaneous:

 

* "Colored" was still acceptable into the 1960s, even in places like NYC. I was there.

* It annoys me that there's a word that can't even be pronounced when it's referred to. It's like it's sacred and that's pathetic, because generation after generation is preserving the word and teaching the young that they should be offended by it. I was called "n*****" 15 years ago. Didn't move me one bit. The man had no authority or power over me and it was meaningless to me. Time to let the word go and stop making it so damned "special".

 

Now get off my lawn.

Edited September 26, 2015 by mojito

[MadyGirl1987]

Great episode! Hilarious and thought provoking. Especially liked Pops and Ruby being all "I don't say it" followed by them saying it. Loved Dre's coworkers, especially Charlies 0-10 reaction of pulling a gun out at the word "colored." Just the extremeness got me.

 

I couldn't help but think back to 10th grade English class, when my (black)English teacher had a hard time getting anyone in my class, made up of a variety of racial backgrounds, to read Huck Finn aloud in class because of the N-word. People just kept stopping at or skipping parts. He eventually had to basically say "it's okay, it's in the book." He wanted us to fully understand it and what the use of the word meant for the book and the time period it came from.

Edited September 25, 2015 by MadyGirl1987

[DearEvette]

Why not go for Pitbull?

 

I dunno, Pitbull seems more J.Lo than Rosie Perez. 

 

Cypress Hill maybe...

[birkenstock]

And because of the drought that we are going through, the stuff with Junior and the showers was just wrong.  I feel really guilty because I don't shower with a bucket to collect the extra water.  No one is taking 45 minute showers in California these days.

I'm in the LA area and loved the eco-hero plot!  Junior putting the "water whore" sign in his neighbor's yard made me laugh because there is so much talk about water wasters right now.  Also, thought it was timely when Bow refused to reduce her watering schedule and get a brown lawn. People are getting mixed messages right now from their cities, you have to both keep your lawns looking nice and dramatically reduce water use. It's life in California now, but was funny to see Junior taking it to the extreme. It reminds me how much my school would drill recycle-reduce-reuse (close the loop) in our heads when I was in grade school.  I agree that Zoe taking a 45-minute shower is unheard of now.

 

I liked how the show looked at the n-word's use by generation. I'm biracial (white mom, black dad) and never heard my dad's side use the word. Maybe I'm literally and figuratively mixed company. Just never comes out of their mouths.  

[TiffanyNichelle]

So are both Pops and Ruby living in the house full time? Is Ruby now a series regular because I really can only stand Ruby in small small small doses. Like not at all.

[sinkwriter]

Everyone's already mentioned a lot of the stuff that made me laugh in this episode (and made me think), but I'd like to add another:

 

I cracked up when Dre said that Training Day was probably Denzel's best work, and the camera cuts to Pops who mutters begrudgingly something like, "He was alright, I guess." Having that line come from Laurence Fishburne and just the way he said it made me laugh SO hard. He's awesome.

[DancingD]

Oops. I think they're going to struggle with Jr's storylines this year. He's gone from looking the part of a socially awkward, derpy kid, to looking like the younger brother that Zoey's friends are going to have a crush on.

 

Enjoyed the episode. Might try to get my husband to watch, he only saw the pilot.

[sinkwriter]

 

Oops. I think they're going to struggle with Jr's storylines this year. He's gone from looking the part of a socially awkward, derpy kid, to looking like the younger brother that Zoey's friends are going to have a crush on.

 

Not if he only showers for 12 seconds.  *GRIN*

[RedHawk]

I agree that Zoe taking a 45-minute shower is unheard of now.

 

 

But she isn't! I loved that she was using the sound machine to pretend she was still in the shower just to have extra time in the bathroom AND drive Junior crazy.

[GHScorpiosRule]

I cracked up when Dre said that Training Day was probably Denzel's best work, and the camera cuts to Pops who mutters begrudgingly something like, "He was alright, I guess." Having that line come from Laurence Fishburne and just the way he said it made me laugh SO hard. He's awesome.

 

Actually, he said "He was ai'ight, I guess." And you're right, it was HILARIOUS!

[sinkwriter]

 

Actually, he said "He was ai'ight, I guess." And you're right, it was HILARIOUS!

 

LOL. I could hear him say it in my head like that, but I wasn't confident in the best way to spell it. So I went with the formal way and figured you'd all know what I was talking about. Heeee.

 

Either way, HILARIOUS. YES!

[Donny Ketchum]

I can't remember the actor's name, but Jack is just too adorable.

His name is Miles Brown.

[Happytobehere]

Perhaps Big Pun would get an exemption to say it, but someone should let the writers know that Big Pun hasn't said anything since 2000.

I thought about Pun's passing as well, but I think they referenced Pun because they shouted out The Terror Squad and Pun and Joe are two of the most widely known members, so I let it slide.

[Watermelon]

Why not go for Pitbull?

 

 

 

I agree that the funk of unwashed teenage boys is unequalled, but they don't need 45 minutes under water to get rid of it.  Especially if their mothers want to run the sprinklers regularly.

Putbull is Cuban and has said that he WONT say it, so he wouldn't be a good example.

[needschocolate]

Great Episode.  It did leave me with one question --

 

Is it okay for Asians to say THE word? 

[Raja]

Great Episode.  It did leave me with one question --

 

Is it okay for Asians to say THE word? 

Just speculating. Not unless they can pass for Black like Dwayne Johnson. 

[Dee]

Dwayne Johnson IS Black.

[SmithW6079]

I was disappointed to see that they're using the same basic formula from last year: Dre's blackness/manhood/sexuality is threatened, so he reacts by overreacting and generally being a bloviating fool.

 

The best part of the episode was at the end -- when Dre and Jack are having a talk about "the word." Maybe that should have been upfront and they could have built the episode from there.

 

I found the stuff in the office offensive -- the suggestion that the white folks were scared of the black folks, although at least the assistant had the courage to say it was a horrible, offensive word that nobody should use.

 

What was the point about the GW Bush clip? He wasn't mispronouncing a word, he was mangling a phrase. I thought they were going to go for a clip of him pronouncing "nuclear," which he doesn't pronounce properly. It just felt like a dig against conservatives for no other reason than to dig against conservatives.

 

I was also disappointed in Bow for being a hypocrite, unless they were going for a dig against liberal parents who advocate for "let's never offend anyone ever and give everyone a trophy!" rules -- unless their child is the one who breaks them, then they're against those same rules. Somehow, I don't think so.

 

What was the point of the Junior storyline? It was just stupid. 

[fishcakes]

at least the assistant had the courage to say it was a horrible, offensive word that nobody should use.

 

One of the points the episode was making, though, is that it's not so cut and dried as that. Some black people feel that no one should say it ever and some think that it's okay, depending on who is saying it and the intention behind it. Any individual black person can decide for him or herself whether they want to use the word, but non-black people don't get to make that decision for them. Dre had a line that was something like, "white people don't want anyone to use the word because they can't use the word," and I don't think that's always true, but ... it's sometimes true.

[twoods]

Dwayne Johnson IS Black.

He's also a Pacific Islander since he's half Samoan (some say Asian but don't think that is correct) so I guess you both are right.

I absolutely love Junior and Bow. I may start using "wide open ass" to describe my husband of he hadn't taken a shower that day. The writers keep coming up with great one liners.

Edited September 28, 2015 by twoods

[Dee]

He's also a Pacific Islander since he's half Samoan (some say Asian but don't think that is correct) so I guess you both are right.

 

The original post made mention of Dwayne passing for Black.

There is no passing in Dwayne's case. He's Black.

[Mozelle]

One of the points the episode was making, though, is that it's not so cut and dried as that. Some black people feel that no one should say it ever and some think that it's okay, depending on who is saying it and the intention behind it. Any individual black person can decide for him or herself whether they want to use the word, but non-black people don't get to make that decision for them. Dre had a line that was something like, "white people don't want anyone to use the word because they can't use the word," and I don't think that's always true, but ... it's sometimes true.

 

Right. The previous post left me wondering if I had somehow missed what the show was going for. I thought it was fairly obvious that the word (The Word) and its usage is not simply black or white (no pun intended). 

 

On the bolded, Piers Morgan certainly makes it seem true. That man is on a crusade and it really does reek of "If white people aren't supposed to use it, then Black people shouldn't either." My personal feelings on the matter are that whatever term an in-group chooses to embrace for themselves is for them (i.e., slang terms that a gay man or woman might use; whatever term a Native person might use; whatever term a Latino person might use). Why should I, if I'm not a member of that group, try to police their usage? Because it would be offensive if I use it? That's not a strong argument, if you ask me. 

[proserpina65]

The original post made mention of Dwayne passing for Black.

There is no passing in Dwayne's case. He's Black.

He's half-black, but yeah, definitely doesn't have to pass as anything.  Although, having seen him on talk shows, he strikes me as unlikely to say THE word, no matter what his ethnic background.

 

I did wonder why Bow didn't go with the "aping a popular song" argument, but that might not have been as funny.

Edited September 29, 2015 by proserpina65

[Inquisitionist]

For that matter, how did Dre and Bow not know that Jack was planning to sing this song at a school event?  But, no worries, the result was funny and thought-provoking.

[SmithW6079]

One of the points the episode was making, though, is that it's not so cut and dried as that. Some black people feel that no one should say it ever and some think that it's okay, depending on who is saying it and the intention behind it. Any individual black person can decide for him or herself whether they want to use the word, but non-black people don't get to make that decision for them. Dre had a line that was something like, "white people don't want anyone to use the word because they can't use the word," and I don't think that's always true, but ... it's sometimes true.

That may be true, but Dre also strikes me as the kind of guy to drop his own ethnic/sexuality slurs and then be shocked that someone got offended.

 

The original post made mention of Dwayne passing for Black.

There is no passing in Dwayne's case. He's Black.

If you go by the "one drop" rule. He's mixed race, correct?

 

I did wonder why Bow didn't go with the "aping a popular song" argument, but that might not have been as funny.

Unless the producers were going for an indictment on liberal hypocrisy, but I still don't see that.

[jhlipton]

I found the stuff in the office offensive -- the suggestion that the white folks were scared of the black folks,

 

Afraid of the black man with a gun?  Why would they be afraid of him???

[birkenstock]

I thought they felt awkward and were afraid to offend because of the topic. At the beginning it was cringing and a few trying not to make eye contact. They didn't know Charlie had a gun until later in the scene.

 

However, I would be afraid of anyone who brought a gun to work (unless trained as part of their job and even then I'm wary). Wonder if they'll bring Charlie carrying a gun with him up during this week's episode.