SHOULD THE TWITTER MOB BE ABLE TO DECIDE WHAT TV SHOWS GET MADE? Tom spent the better part of a day arguing with the Twitter Lynch Mob, many of whom wanted the head of TV producer Chuck Lorre. Seems the Twits are trying to get Lorre's new show, The United States of Al canceled before it airs a single episode. Are they right?
The official trailer for Chuck Lorre's new CBS-TV sitcom The United States of Al
Click here for the original Twitter thread if you want to read it or join in the fun.
Should this and other TV shows be prevented from airing simply on the basis of a promotional preview? Write Tom now: tom@blowmeuptom.com.
HOUR 1
Comments
"I'm intelligent, and I have a temper" - Steve Hughes
"Eat your shit" (watch television) lol One of my favorite comedians Steve Hughes does a bit about how shit TV is, and it is genius. He kind of reminds me of George Carlin, if he'd had been a metal head Lemmy fan hehehe. IDK but I'd bet Steve was influenced by Carlin. And Bill Hicks too. Hey Dad, I don't recall you ever mentioning Bill Hicks, but man if you ever met him, or Carlin, I'd love to hear that story.
What a shitshow
My original twitter comment was something along the lines of "I never thought it would be possible to produce a show worse than Superior Doughnuts, but here it is."
True that for virtually every show since TV began sometime near the middle of the last century has had stereotypes, racial and otherwise. Even Star Trek had Scottie (from Scotland...get it?) and Married With Children had the ditzy blonde, a do-nothing housewife, the feminist activist, money grubbing bankers, and yes FAT WOMEN! Hogan's Heroes, F-Troop? Hell in those shows they couldn't even find Indians to portray Indians or Germans to be Germans. I would challenge anyone to find a show that didn't not only have stereotypes, but that the stereotypes were the basis for most of the show. Case in point, Big Bang Theory (another Chuck Lorrie piece of shit); a show whose entire existence rested on nerd / poindexter stereotypes.
The difference is those earlier shows--except BBT--had a lot more class. The writing was tight, the jokes for the most part didn't punch down and the characters were believable, and in many cases likable, even if the situations weren't. But the offerings today are absolute shit and I'm disgusted with the other members of my generation for watching this garbage in enough numbers to make producing it profitable.
I can count the number of network shows I watch on one hand and have a couple fingers left over.
Glad Twitter didn't exist when Little Black Sambo was 'canceled'
Little Black Sambo was a book we all read in school back when I attended. It was about a young 'colored boy' (the contemporaneous term) who was chased by a tiger around and around until he turned to butter.
It was so popular with white folk that an entire restaurant chain was named after it. "Sambo's" were similar to and eventually bought out by Denny's (I think).
I even remember seeing the racist artwork on the walls in each of the restaurants when we went for breakfast. They were done in panels like the Stations of the Cross. I can't imagine the people who would be commenting on or defending this if it existed today.
Time marches on and it's time to shed the racist old ways and move forward.