MANIFESTO: What The Hell Happened To The Black Sitcom?
 | Fri, November 06, 2009 at 8:00 PM |
Not long ago, my mother and I reminisced about one particularly cherry episode of 90s sitcom Martin, in which Martin Lawrence's titular character crashed a talk show as Jodeci performed "Lately."
I don't have many moments of childhood reflection that involve sitting in front of the boob tube, but I recall watching that episode fondly because, to this day, that's the hardest I've ever laughed watching a television show…on some "call-the-paramedics-I-can't-breathe" type sh!t.
I consulted the trusty YouTube gods and found a clip from that episode online, which I've watched roughly 42,876,245,603 times over the past couple weeks. It got me thinking: What the hell happened to the black sitcom?
Granted, I don't watch much cable of any kind these days, but when I do get the inclination to turn on the television while cooking up dinner or washing dishes, I never expect to find a current situation comedy with a predominantly black cast that has any substance or real humor; usually I just default to Family Guy.
Honestly, what is there? First thing comes to mind are the Tyler Perry sitcoms...both of which I've sat through at least once, enduring the torment of a man being force-fed a spoonful of live red ants. And there's also Sherri - starring the really dumb broad from The View who believes Jesus was the first thing on the planet - and the sitcom Brothers with the handicapped guy from House Party who kept bumping Bilal's turntables.
Even if you can rattle off a few more that I missed, I ask you: how many shows today have the level of sociopolitical consciousness that can be found Martin, The Fresh Prince of Bel Air or Living Single? Hell, how many of them are actually as funny?
There were always a plethora of messages within these shows that were targeted at black America as well as non-blacks who could learn something about what grinds our gears. Be it the consequences of calling black women bitches, the perils of driving while young and black, paternal abandonment or racial tension at schools, the shows leveraged their humor to examine meaty topics.
As groundbreaking as The Cosby Show was in the 1980s, I've always embraced the controversial-yet-not-uncommon position that the show was dishonest in that it seldom (if ever) tackled any significant black-in-America issues. While Bill Cosby methodically skirted around charged topics, black sitcoms of the 90s tackled these issues in the chest plate...even in lighter, more family-friendly fare like Family Matters.
I feel as if the shows served as an expression of how we as a people were feeling during that zeitgeist, when major sociopolitical issues like the Back to Africa movement, the Los Angeles riots, the Million Man March, the O.J. Simpson trial and resistance to the crack epidemic - among others- galvanized us. It was about getting our chuckles in, but getting them with a message attached free of additional charge.
I'm not sure what's mobilizing black folks nowadays. What are our relevant issues worth exploring with the help of a laugh track or live audience? Is it because we have a black president that we think all is kosher now? Is it because some clueless douche nozzle coined the groan-inducing phrase "post-racial America" that producers aren't seeking to ameliorate the dearth of black characters on network television?
Maybe I'm reaching, and perhaps there is no direct link between our collective apathy and the shows we watch. But I know I may never laugh at television as hard as I did for that Martin episode ever again. Because frankly, Tyler Perry's minstrel shows aren't even capable of being nearly as funny, and if that's the best we're working with, we're in big trouble.
The Boondocks needs to hurry up back on the air, or the terrorists win.
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