This week is the official launch of the network television
fall season. It’s the time of year when the weather starts to cool off and you*
don’t feel bad about hunkering down in front of the old boob tube with bag of
snack treats and an alcoholic beverage of some variety.
But if you came here looking for a roundup of the best new
shows, you’re out of luck; I’m full up on my shows**.
So where am I going with all these words and typing and
stuff?
I recently watched a show that I will describe like this: “a
show with two strong female comedic leads and an ethnically diverse cast.” This
description applies to both “Two Broke Girls” and “Best Friends Forever”. The
difference is that only one of these shows is watchable and it’s not the one
that’s still on TV.
Two Broke Girls is flat out terrible. It has easy jokes and
too many of them are racist. It’s TV of the lowest common denominator: the
equivalent of a 2-liter of off-brand soda. It does nothing to elevate the
medium or the people watching it.
Best Friends Forever wasn’t a perfect show, but it was well
written and, more importantly, funny. It had a diverse cast, but didn’t make
race a point or a punch line. Unfortunately, it lasted only six episodes before
some Harvard MBA replaced it with reruns of The Voice or something.
So, this fall, if you’re unsure of which shows are worthy of
your time, ask yourself this one simple question:
Are you a slovenly, soda drinking racist or a lovable terrorist-hating
American?
*I mean you literally. I don’t do those things. Maybe,
y’know, get a hobby or something?
**HIMYM, New Girl, Modern Family, Community, Parks & Rec
and Fringe—a little over two hours of TV via Hulu, which is still less than one
full NFL football game
