My father wouldn't let me watch Good Times on television. His contempt for the show was unmitigated. He was always the type to call it the 'idiot box' and so therefore I was left on many a day in highschool with no context to jawjack with the brothers. To this day I'd have to scratch my head to name the characters. Well, I'd get 80 percent. James, Michael, Florida, Jimmy and whatshername. Which obviously proves I didn't watch the show, being a teenaged boy at the time whatshername was supposedly the hottest babe around.
Now Facebook has shown me exactly how ignorant I've been. Here is their black sitcom quiz. Evidently there have been more than a few black sitcoms. I mean for me, Frank's Place, Roc and The Cosby Show were it. If I missed an episode 'A Different World' it was OK. People used to joke that I was like Dwayne Wayne in college myself. I always like Kadeem. But if you ever wanted to verify my identity the more questions I answer correctly about '227' the more you know it's not me.
There have been a series of oafs and pseudo black men foisted upon the viewing audience of America, actors who didn't quite know how to be what we wanted them to be when all of that was important to us. They came close to appearing like our fathers, brothers, uncles, sons and running buddies, but there was always something missing. I recall Clifton Davis from 'Thats My Mama' being a second role for Ted Lange of Love Boat fame. There was almost never another chance for those black actors to be anybody other than that one lonely character, which is why my favorites were Roscoe Lee Brown, Jim Kelly and Ivan Dixon. They, at least, were men I would recognize as men.
Now that I think about it, it would be difficult for me to find many black actors today on the tube that I would think are entirely appropriate. Except now it doesn't, or shouldn't matter as much. I can't imagine that there has ever been or will be another show like A Different World - any show with black collegians that isn't about breakdancing or romantic relationships. I'll ask my daughters today what they think.
Recent Comments