Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Cleveland, Brown

John McWhorter: Not a fan of The Cleveland Show. From what I've seen, neither am I, and for many of the same reasons McWhorter cites. For those unfamiliar with McWhorter's work, he is usually described as a black conservative, though I do not think he embraces the label, and he very rarely "plays the race card" (itself an accusation almost always levied by people who have done or said something racist, but that's a post for another day) making his argument that The Cleveland Show is "Family Guy in Blackface" especially biting.

4 comments:

El Aguila said...

Ben, Eli, and enjoy Family Guy, although it's not a regular must see on our massive tv schedule. And I think most of us knew that the Cleveland Show was going to suck, but the black face comment is too much when one considers that MacFarlane spares no one from ridicule. This is more about ambition without the effort. And frankly I don't see how you make a cartoon about a minority segment of our population without depending on over simplification.

And Black America get's another show. Good for them, although I am sorry that it's a bad one. All Mexican Americans get is re runs of America's Mexican on TBS. Sucks for us. Race card or not the audience is far from Black and White.

dcat said...

ElA --
I certainly agree that the black-white dynamic needs some browning. Though your people also get your favorite Fake Mexican, or Faxican, Carlos Mencia! (HA!)
But I think McWhorter's largest point is simply that he could live with the Family Guy-style offend everyone attitude were it not for the fact that The Cleveland Show is so derivative and, worse, not funny.

dcat

El Aguila said...

I hate that guy!

Anonymous said...

Okay, I so knew John McWhorter was going to have something to say about the Cleveland Show, I haven't seen any of the episodes yet, so I'm anxious to see what this show entails.
T. Anderson