S12.E01: The Gang Turns Black

[Lantern7]

Just found out about this on AV Club. This is not a drill. Here's the description from the FXX site:

Quote

After an electric heating blanket shorts out while the gang watches the Wiz they look in the mirror and realize they've turned black. They have to figure out how to get back to being themselves by going through all the classic body switch movie shenanigans they encounter.

So much for watching the finale of The Real World. This will be soooooooooo much better, mostly because The Gang are fictional characters, and they are not real. Potential down side: only eight episodes are listed for this season on Wikipedia. Can anybody confirm?

[abstractstuff]

There's 8 episodes named on IMDB but 10 listed. From the titles of the episodes, sounds like it's going to be a good season. There's 3 I am really looking forward to. 

[Lantern7]

Damn. Daaaaaaaammmmmmmnnnnnn. What other show can do shit like this? Also, in this world, Scott Bakula was a one-hit wonder, he's not doing NCIS: New Orleans, and he's now in the body of Old Black Man. Sorry . . . Old Man. I don't have strikethrough on my iPad.

How funny is it that the Gang seemed more normal as other people, aside from Charlie being a kid, Dennis being big, and the constant singing? Even if this wasn't OBM's dream, it wouldn't have dawned on them.

[Marley]

I love this show so much and I will never get tired of it.

Of course Charlie was a kid. Makes sense lol.

The ending was whoa! This show does not bs.

Usually singing episodes of shows piss me off and I skip them but I liked this episode. I'll be happy to be back to normal next week but it worked.

[jcin617]

I've forgotten, why is OBM staying at Dee's?

[DrSpaceman73]

I've just never been a big fan of musical episodes in sitcoms. 

 This one didn't change my mind. 

It was OK, just not my favorite genre

[marketdoctor]

I loved it, but I'm a huge Quantum Leap fan and a sucker for musical episodes.  It was nicely meta but still had a story.  I also liked how, when they got arrested, Mac and Dennis were afraid their dopplegangers had prions, because they did.

[vousviou]

19 hours ago, jcin617 said:

I've forgotten, why is OBM staying at Dee's?

In last season's episode Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs, Frank won a bet with Mac, Dennis and Dee.  Mac and Dennis couldn't last a month in the suburbs, so the three of them had to sleep in a bed with an old man. 

[jcin617]

5 minutes ago, vousviou said:

In last season's episode Mac and Dennis Move to the Suburbs, Frank won a bet with Mac, Dennis and Dee.  Mac and Dennis couldn't last a month in the suburbs, so the three of them had to sleep in a bed with an old man. 

That's right, thanks for reminding me!  I couldn't remember the reason.

[CookieChica]

I rewatched Charlie's song in the interrogation room four times. 

[vousviou]

20 hours ago, Marley said:

I love this show so much and I will never get tired of it.

Of course Charlie was a kid. Makes sense lol.

The ending was whoa! This show does not bs.

Usually singing episodes of shows piss me off and I skip them but I liked this episode. I'll be happy to be back to normal next week but it worked.

I think they've had three musicals over the past twelve seasons, with two of them revolving around the Nightman song, and that's plenty.  But I agree this was a solid episode.  I was expecting it to fail, but they stayed focused on the extreme shallowness, poor judgement and generally rotten qualities of the gang, and that kept the show centered, in a weird way.  The Bakula twist was a lot of fun, and Charlie's song about how terrible his life has been was a classic Charlie horror story.

[ganesh]

This is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen. THEN they brought out Backula. Who sang. 

[derriere]

I agree. I'm not usually a fan of musical episodes or politics creeping into my entertainment but I felt there was actual genius in the way they executed that.

Edited January 6, 2017 by derriere

[ganesh]

I should have seen the shooting coming, but I'm kind of glad I didn't because I was really surprised. 

[Amarsir]

16 hours ago, ganesh said:

This is one of the best episodes of television I have ever seen. THEN they brought out Backula. Who sang. 

I agree. This was immediately a contender for my favorite episode of Sunny, and arguably in the top for anything. 

I think if they'd done the body switching without singing then there would have been too many awkward moments. (Awkward in terms of flow, not just uncomfortable comedy which the show has always done well.) But putting stuff into songs let them make repetition and exposition into highlights. Of course for those who don't like musical bits that probably didn't help the drag, but for me I loved both aspects.

[ganesh]

I liked how when the headed to the Wiz they were all waving their arms as the walked down the alley, but then when they faded back in at the store they were still waving their arms.

[Galileo908]

I really enjoyed this one. And yeah, what an ending, I totally gasped when Charlie was shot (even though I knew it was coming), and loved when he was still singing while writing in pain in a pool of blood. I missed this show.

[DrSpaceman73]

On ‎1‎/‎5‎/‎2017 at 9:00 PM, vousviou said:

I think they've had three musicals over the past twelve seasons, with two of them revolving around the Nightman song, and that's plenty.  But I agree this was a solid episode.  I was expecting it to fail, but they stayed focused on the extreme shallowness, poor judgement and generally rotten qualities of the gang, and that kept the show centered, in a weird way.  The Bakula twist was a lot of fun, and Charlie's song about how terrible his life has been was a classic Charlie horror story.

Those weren't really "musical episodes" like this one.  They were putting on a show and sang for the show they were doing.  I liked those, the songs were hilarious.  Same with "Sweet Dee is dating a retarded person" and "The gang tries to win an award".  Those all had music in them, but I don't consider those musical episodes and I liked the songs. 

I am just not a fan of episodes like this where they sing dialogue and throughout the whole episode.  Most of my favorite sitcoms have done them, never like them much, just a personal preference and I am in the minority I know.  Scrubs, How I Met Your Mother, even the acclaimed song and dance they did in Mad Men when Bert Cooper died. 

At least thematically it fit.  They were singing because it was a dream and they were watching The Wiz.  It works as an alternate reality dimension.  Just not my favorite. 

[cynicat]

I finally had a chance to watch this episode and my expectations were low based on some comments in other threads.  Maybe that's why I was so pleasantly surprised!  I hate, hate, hate musical episodes, but this is the exception that proves the rule.  Dennis singing about the 'rules' was awesome, especially when he was so startled that it came out in song.  I agree with most of you that Charlie's interrogation was the pinnacle.  How the hell do they keep making this show fresh after all these years?

[DrSpaceman73]

Rewatched this episode and have to say.......it didn't grow on me in a year.  In fact, I think I liked it even less.  One of my least favorite episodes. 

Bound to be polarizing though for the type of episode it is.  Some probably love it, others........not so much.