Season 5 Chat

[xander874]

I liked this episode okay, except for Dre's annoyingness (which is par for the course it seems). I do wish they had at least mentioned the siblings since the actual death and funeral for Bow's dad was 5 minutes of one episode. I did like Bow's breakdown - TER does a good job with the serious stuff.

[qtpye]

On 11/22/2018 at 1:35 PM, NUguy514 said:

People who are biracial don't "forget" one of their ancestral halves, but the world pigeonholes them into one half based on their physical appearance.  Bow looks more black than white, so she is perceived as black by the world at large.  It's not about her forgetting her dad's side.  It's more that society doesn't let her forget for a moment that she's black.

 This. It is probably why you always hear people who are mixed being referred to as light skinned black people as opposed to dark skinned white people, unless they look like totally white and can “pass”.

[OnceSane]

Quote

Bow makes a new friend at work and Dre thinks she has broken bird syndrome. Meanwhile, Junior transforms his shared room with Jack into a frat house, and Ruby and Diane gang up against them.

Airs December 4, 2018.

[OnceSane]

On 11/22/2018 at 10:35 AM, NUguy514 said:

People who are biracial don't "forget" one of their ancestral halves, but the world pigeonholes them into one half based on their physical appearance.  Bow looks more black than white, so she is perceived as black by the world at large.  It's not about her forgetting her dad's side.  It's more that society doesn't let her forget for a moment that she's black.

Unless society is busy telling her she's not black enough…that's the other side of being biracial.

[NUguy514]

8 minutes ago, OnceSane said:

Unless society is busy telling her she's not black enough…that's the other side of being biracial.

That's very true.  That's basically what Ruby does every day.

[Rockstar99435]

Let me get this straight, they have a giant family meeting/intervention when they find out that Jack and Diane don't know who Prince is, but no one reacts at all to the fact that Jack doesn't know what 4 plus 4 is? He's in the 6th grade! This is a huge deal. With all respect to Prince, this is a much bigger deal then Jack not knowing who Prince is. Does Jack have a learning disability? Are they working with the school to help Jack in any way? I know that this is a sitcom and I shouldn't take it so seriously, but it bugs the crap out of me. 

[Dee]

Everybody in the family constantly makes fun of Jack's stupidity but Junior is apparently the real victim.

[LadyintheLoop]

It never occurred to anyone that Junior could take care of his beloved baby brother? Seems kinda . . . sexist. 

[readster]

37 minutes ago, LadyintheLoop said:

It never occurred to anyone that Junior could take care of his beloved baby brother? Seems kinda . . . sexist. 

Nah! I mean a nanny who quit just because she got tired of it. Ruby who I'm surprised her two children ever made it past the age of 4. Look, the acknowledged that Dre works for racist morons and who should have sank their company by now. Junior's gap year is just painful. 

[Dee]

Junior is an insufferable ass.

[readster]

3 minutes ago, Dee said:

Junior is an insufferable ass.

The Twins story lines are getting dumber and dumber. 

[ItCouldBeWorse]

Just now, readster said:

The Twins story lines are getting dumber and dumber. 

Why does Diane have a big tv in her bedroom (parental control or not)?  It's far more likely that Junior would have one in his room, which he shares with Jack.

[readster]

23 minutes ago, ItCouldBeWorse said:

Why does Diane have a big tv in her bedroom (parental control or not)?  It's far more likely that Junior would have one in his room, which he shares with Jack.

Plus that Jack threw the post-it away because: "I can't unsee what I saw." then he is: "Why did I throw it away?" Why didn't he snap it on his phone or something? 

[ichbin]

29 minutes ago, readster said:

The Twins story lines are  episodes are getting dumber and dumber. 

FTFY

It's sad.  The cast is actually good.  Some better than good.  They don't deserve the scripts they are getting.  

Keeping in mind that this is a sitcom, going full soapbox is fine as long as it is entertaining while being informative. This is not.  

[readster]

14 minutes ago, ichbin said:

FTFY

It's sad.  The cast is actually good.  Some better than good.  They don't deserve the scripts they are getting.  

Keeping in mind that this is a sitcom, going full soapbox is fine as long as it is entertaining while being informative. This is not.  

Right, it's like when Bow tells Dre that Erica quits and he still will not address her by name only: "Black Nanny 2". That isn't clever or funny, it puts Dre right up there when he is to Junior: "I don't care about you." or when Ruby constantly talks about Bow's bad parenting or her mixed family. It doesn't come off as funny, clever or informative. It makes them all act like as Dre put it: "Boston in the 1970s." Plus, you can tell the writers are trying to figure out more story lines with Baby D and have fallen in the trap of: "What do we do with a baby?"

[Traveller519]

In the midst of one of the sillier storylines we actually got one of Dre's best scenes, especially with Junior.

The scene immediately following Stephens notifying him of the "Ice Out" where Dre talked about the  nature of sacrifice and accomodation was a very honest one and Anthony Anderson conveyed the burden that being a proud black parent carries. I quite liked that. More of Dre interacting with his adult children like adults (and his own mother, for that matter) please.

[Dee]

So the show is just not gonna deal with Rainbow going back to work?

[NUguy514]

2 hours ago, Dee said:

Junior Dre is an insufferable ass.

Fixed.

This season has been so bad.

[marymon]

Doesn't Dre tell his dumb coworkers every week what they are saying is racist and/or stupid?

And yeah why not Junior watch the kid like usual until they find a new nanny?

Edited November 28, 2018 by marymon

[Dee]

1 hour ago, NUguy514 said:

Fixed.

JUNIOR IS AN INSUFFERABLE ASS.

[AnimeMania]

I get it now, Black Nanny 2 must watch Devante at her house, which is why you never see either one on the show. 

[readster]

1 hour ago, AnimeMania said:

I get it now, Black Nanny 2 must watch Devante at her house, which is why you never see either one on the show. 

That would have made sense if they didn't hammer us last season that she was always at the house with him and Dre can't do anything but call her: "Black Nanny 2". 

Quote

So the show is just not gonna deal with Rainbow going back to work?

Apparently they are just going to sweep it under the rug. I had heard that originally the entire "stay at home" was just to be the kick off for Dre and Bow's marriage problems at the end of last season. Plus, the current writers apparently don't like writing the hospital staff as much. Yet, they make all of Dre's co-workers come off as morons? I guess they can only write one hostel work environment at a time. 

[GHScorpiosRule]

7 hours ago, Dee said:

So the show is just not gonna deal with Rainbow going back to work?

She went back to work at the end of last season, during her separation with Dre.

And watching all those WHITE men, trying to act and sound like BLACK men, was just downright offensive and painful. I don't know how or why the writers thought this was, in any shape or form, funny. What would have been funny was to have Pops drop for a visit, and see what they did, and rip them a few new assholes.

[jmonique]

If my doctor had fled just before surgery, I'd own the hospital by the time I got through with it. What in the heck? Bow's really supposed to be a professional?

[Empress1]

7 hours ago, Dee said:

So the show is just not gonna deal with Rainbow going back to work?

Deal with it how? She went back last season during the separation - he was mad that she didn't tell him about it (which I agreed with him about) and she's been shown to be working since.

9 minutes ago, jmonique said:

If my doctor had fled just before surgery, I'd own the hospital by the time I got through with it. What in the heck? Bow's really supposed to be a professional?

The anesthesiologist, at that! How does that work - is the patient supposed to wait to be knocked out until she gets back? Also, Bow leapt to a conclusion that Devante was in peril pretty quickly - I'd just have assumed he was playing with the phone. 

Junior's gap year is driving me nuts. He really is just sitting on his ass doing nothing; trying to find oneself means actually doing something to figure out what you want to do. And like Bow said, college is for figuring it out. If he's not going to have a storyline of any meaning, send his ass back or to do an internship off screen.

I told y'all I'd quit over being called Black Nanny! Good for Erica. Good nannies are hard to find - I'm sure she can find a family to work for that calls her by name.

[Dee]

52 minutes ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

She went back to work at the end of last season, during her separation with Dre.

I'm aware. I meant, the show seems as if they're just gonna ignore the reasons why Rainbow quit in the first place.

Rainbow initially quit to spend more time with the kids, and she eventually also began to enjoy having an opportunity to relax for a change. Now she's back at her high stress job, where she's treated as an afterthought, without a reliable nanny for a toddler and a couple of precocious tweens.

Edited November 28, 2018 by Dee

[GHScorpiosRule]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

I'm aware. I meant, the show seems as if they're just gonna ignore the reasons why Rainbow quit in the first place.

Rainbow initially quit to spend more time with the kids, and she eventually also began to enjoy having an opportunity to relax for a change. Now she's back at her high stress job, where she's treated as an afterthought, without a reliable nanny for a toddler and a couple of precocious tweens.

Oh I see what you mean. Sorry I misunderstood your initial post.

[Diapason Untuned]

18 hours ago, Dee said:

Everybody in the family constantly makes fun of Jack's stupidity but Junior is apparently the real victim.

They make fun of Jack, but they actually respect him more than they do Junior (especially Dre)

[Joimiaroxeu]

I agree that Dre is the insufferable ass. Junior is still essentially a child, impressionable and learning the ways of the world (in particular, the corporate world where people of color often have to pick their battles). Dre was right to warn his idiot boss and coworkers about the path they were going down but chosing to die on that hill just to impress Junior was a mistake with potentially career-destroying consequences. He doesn't even like Junior.

[tennisgurl]

Juniors gap year is just embarrassing to witness, as it clearly exists because the show didnt want to write him out of the show, but its also written by people who have no clue what a gap year is actually supposed to be. Most people travel, or do internships, or volunteer, or do other things to help them find what they want to do, not just lazing around the couch. 

Why does Junior even care what Junior thinks? he hates Junior, as he tells everyone they know. And this really just makes me wonder how the hell Stevens even has a company with the shit he does and says without realizing how awful it is? Way more of their clients should be turning off the screens in horror. How much damage control does Dre do at that place?!

I dont blame Erica for quitting, as one of her bosses still cant be bothered to learn her damn name.

[qtpye]

7 hours ago, Dee said:

JUNIOR IS AN INSUFFERABLE ASS.

As a woman of color, why is it that a black man that earns a good living (along with his wife) is considered a sellout if he does not try to burn the place down anytime someone says anything insensitive or racist? Does Junior like all the material privilege he was raised with because this would not happen if Dre was some sort of radical.

2 hours ago, GHScorpiosRule said:

She went back to work at the end of last season, during her separation with Dre.

And watching all those WHITE men, trying to act and sound like BLACK men, was just downright offensive and painful. I don't know how or why the writers thought this was, in any shape or form, funny. What would have been funny was to have Pops drop for a visit, and see what they did, and rip them a few new assholes.

Good Lord, this show is trying me. However, I am also dealing with a real show that replaced a fantastic black woman with a neck popping stereotype, so God knows it does happen in real life.

[Madding crowd]

Why couldn’t Dre get Junior some kind of internship? Who brings their college age kid along to just sit there? And Stevens is such a moron that I can’t believe he has any accounts. Does Dre run the whole company? Everyone else is a moron including my beloved Charlie. 

I liked the parts with Ruby and Bow. A grandma might not raise your kids the same, but she will love them more than any nanny.

[Sile]

2 hours ago, Empress1 said:

Deal with it how? She went back last season during the separation - he was mad that she didn't tell him about it (which I agreed with him about) and she's been shown to be working since.

The anesthesiologist, at that! How does that work - is the patient supposed to wait to be knocked out until she gets back? Also, Bow leapt to a conclusion that Devante was in peril pretty quickly - I'd just have assumed he was playing with the phone. 

 

And then didn't go back to work when she found out that he was fine, I guess in fear that Ruby might feed him another meatball.

Do anesthesiologists, or doctors in general, go into surgery wearing huge hoop earrings, false nails and rings with a bunch of large stones?  I've never noticed before, maybe it was just because of the close up of her hands showing the long, manicured nails and wedding set along with her earrings bouncing around when she started running down the hall.

They've started making Bow ridiculous again.  This, along with changing Junior from an over-earnest dork into a self-superior judgmental jerk, has made me realize that I dislike more characters than I like.  Even Charlie isn't that entertaining anymore.  At this stage, I'm pretty much left with Pops and, to a lesser extent, Jack and Diane. 

[Madding crowd]

I thought the same about her jewelry. No way is that hygienic. I also wondered if they found another doctor or just canceled that poor patients surgery. 

[possibilities]

12 hours ago, marymon said:

And yeah why not Junior watch the kid like usual until they find a new nanny?

I was really surprised that they didn't do that, because he's BEEN doing it from day 1. We've seen him with Devonte many times, and we've NEVER seen the nanny.

It really does seem like the show has abandoned all concerns about continuity, since as has been pointed out, there are a lot of massive gaps of that sort.

[readster]

11 minutes ago, possibilities said:

I was really surprised that they didn't do that, because he's BEEN doing it from day 1. We've seen him with Devonte many times, and we've NEVER seen the nanny.

It really does seem like the show has abandoned all concerns about continuity, since as has been pointed out, there are a lot of massive gaps of that sort.

Oh we have seen Erica (Black Nanny 2) a couple of times. However, yes, they never show her and they don't even reference that's where Devonte is when we don't see him. Kenya decided to bring Devonte into the show because he had a child later in life and Bow and Dre's marriage problems last season were based on his own marriage issues during the 1st season of the show. 

 

Quote

I'm aware. I meant, the show seems as if they're just gonna ignore the reasons why Rainbow quit in the first place.

Rainbow initially quit to spend more time with the kids, and she eventually also began to enjoy having an opportunity to relax for a change. Now she's back at her high stress job, where she's treated as an afterthought, without a reliable nanny for a toddler and a couple of precocious tweens.

It's most likely dropped. The point of the story was not to have Bow as a stay at home mother, but to lay the ground work for the marriage issues at the end of last season. Especially, when she went back to work to pay the bills as a result of them being seperated. While there was nothing with the idea of the story, it was used as a catalyst for the story line down the road and will probably never be spoke of or barely referred to ever again. 

 

Quote

Juniors gap year is just embarrassing to witness, as it clearly exists because the show didnt want to write him out of the show, but its also written by people who have no clue what a gap year is actually supposed to be. Most people travel, or do internships, or volunteer, or do other things to help them find what they want to do, not just lazing around the couch. 

Which is very obvious because it was talked early on he might leave the show or be on part time because of the actor dealing with his own school and other projects. It seemed that all fell apart, or he found a way to make it work. As the result the writers are: "Well, a gap year is just someone being lazy, we'll find the comedy in it." Which they haven't and the season is almost half way over now. Even the trigger to have Junior move back magically beating them all out by flight and travel was because Junior was scared of his roommate. Not to "figure things out".

[Dee]

They don't respect Jack. Diane regularly ridicules him and the adults have no belief in his future.

[possibilities]

3 hours ago, readster said:

Oh we have seen Erica (Black Nanny 2) a couple of times.

I meant we never see her with Devonte. If we have, I don't remember it. But I remember seeing Junior with Devonte many times.

When I think about it, there's a lot of disrespect and open disregard going on in the show:

Ruby disrespects Bow.

Dre disrespects Junior.

Both parents disrespect the twins.

[Dee]

Dre disrespects all of his kids. Even his "favorite" Zoey is not exempt from his wrath.

Rainbow is no angel either. She is just as disrespectful toward the kids including her "favorite" Junior.

And Ruby disrespects everyone, except Zoey.

[Diapason Untuned]

5 hours ago, Dee said:

They don't respect Jack. Diane regularly ridicules him and the adults have no belief in his future.

I said they respect him more than they do Junior.

[ElectricBoogaloo]

15 hours ago, Sile said:

Do anesthesiologists, or doctors in general, go into surgery wearing huge hoop earrings, false nails and rings with a bunch of large stones?  I've never noticed before, maybe it was just because of the close up of her hands showing the long, manicured nails and wedding set along with her earrings bouncing around when she started running down the hall.

Most of the nurses I know aren't allowed to wear nail polish and they're not even in surgery.

[Dee]

They don't.

[Diapason Untuned]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

They don't.

That has always been my impression.

The family knows Jack isn't intellectually inclined, but they respect him in spite of that.

But because Junior has some hobbies that they deem odd, they look down on him as a weirdo.

[Dee]

The family knows Jack struggles in school and regularly jokes about how he won't amount to anything and how it's useless to do anything to help him.

His parents spent an entire episode whining about how Jack potentially working a menial job as an adult would reflect on them.

And Junior is FAR from innocent. He has proven MANY times over the course of the show to be just as self righteous and mean spirited as the rest of his family.

Nobody is free from ridicule in the Johnson family, except Earl. Everyone else gets made fun of or treated badly.

[Diapason Untuned]

1 hour ago, Dee said:

The family knows Jack struggles in school and regularly jokes about how he won't amount to anything and how it's useless to do anything to help him.

His parents spent an entire episode whining about how Jack potentially working a menial job as an adult would reflect on them.

And aside from that, the family respects Jack. They respect what he does and likes (with some exceptions like this ep) and treat him like a normal person.

Junior, on the other hand, has been granted an eternal weirdo stamp because of his hobby. Even during normal everyday stuff, they still treat him like a weirdo because of his hobbies and refuse to take him seriously.

[Quickbeam]

I hate the whole gap year thing, both for Junior and the concept in general. I was embarrassed for the actors who portray Dre's co-workers, that was painful to watch and I'm sure perform. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Quickbeam

[Deanie87]

What the hell has happened to this show?  It used to be funny and also able to make you think about issues without feeling "preached at."  The history of black America was woven in naturally and I believed that real people talked the way that the Johnsons talked to one another. Same for the work people, but I will deal with them later. I felt it when Dre or Ruby or Pops would enlighten the kids (and the audience) about the culture or the struggles, and the way that they were able to transform very specific experiences into something universal.  Now, it seems like the writers are following some kind Black History Month checklist with historical figures name dropped out of nowhere and episodes seem to exist solely to Impart a Lesson, and it comes across like a bad After School Special with points being driven home like a sledgehammer.  And the characters aren't real characters anymore.  Now they are either just vessels to impart the lesson of the week or the sum total of the characteristics and tics that used to make them funny and relatable, now jacked to 11 (looking at you Diane, Boss guy and Charlie).

The work scenes are now unwatchable and offensive, and that is a real shame because they used to be my favorite part of the show.  Not offensive because of the behavior of the boss and co-workers, because they are so beyond caricature at this point as to become meaningless.  Its offensive because their behavior is so over the top that I imagine even the most hardened bigot being like "well, I mean, I can't be racist because even I know not to act like that (at least in public)."  I know that its a comedy and its purpose has never been to change the hearts and minds of racists, but like many beloved television shows over the years, when it was done right, it might cause some viewers to engage in a little self-reflection or to learn some history, if nothing else.  I can't imagine that's the case now.  

Beyond that, I am still Team Junior all the way, and Dre's wardrobe is giving me Cosby sweater flashbacks and that is very unfortunate. 

Edited November 29, 2018 by Deanie87

[qtpye]

22 hours ago, possibilities said:

I was really surprised that they didn't do that, because he's BEEN doing it from day 1. We've seen him with Devonte many times, and we've NEVER seen the nanny.

It really does seem like the show has abandoned all concerns about continuity, since as has been pointed out, there are a lot of massive gaps of that sort.

That happened when they made a big deal about Dre's Godbrother living with them after he got released from prison and we never saw him once.

[Dee]

The family doesn't respect Jack any more than they respect Junior. They treat him the same as they do everyone else.

In fact, Andre spends more time with Junior than any of his other kids, even arguably Zoey.

There have been entire episodes dedicated to Andre bonding with & accepting Junior. He doesn't expend that effort on the others.

Also when was the last time Junior attempted to bond with any of his relatives instead of self righteously lecturing and/or judging them?

[ItCouldBeWorse]

36 minutes ago, Dee said:

Also when was the last time Junior attempted to bond with any of his relatives instead of self righteously lecturing and/or judging them?

We've seen he's great with the baby!