Television Review: South Central

I was just getting my Saturday morning groove going—you know, doing the blog thing, watching old black sitcoms on TV-One—when the 1994 sitcom South Central came on. Do you remember this one? I remember hearing of it, but I don’t ever remember watching it. Follow this link to take a peek at the pilot if you want to refresh your memory.

Well anyway, it seems the series got plenty critical acclaim, but it lasted only one season,

And I can see why. It’s a good series. But it was marketed as a sitcom. However, its subject matter—death, gangs, drugs, poverty—is much too serious for that format. Granted, there are a few laughs, but overall, its depressing as hell. I felt guilty for chuckling. Perhaps, it might have done better if it had been marketed as a drama.

It looks like only eight episodes were made; however, you might want to check it out just to catch appearances by Jennifer Lopez and Larenz Tate early in their careers.

Note: It must be Vivica Fox day on TV-One. She has starred in the last two movies. I take it that she’s a negro favorite.

Questioning the Dyn-o-mite Dynamics of Good Times

I’m into about hour sixteen of a twenty-four hour Good Times marathon on TV-One. It’s been fun. I’ve had some laughs. I’ve reminisced. It took me back. But suddenly I’m beginning to question the whole premise on which the show is built.

You see, Good Times is based on a black family living in the projects; the hilarity grows from their efforts to overcome the chaos that surrounds them and the forces which keep them there. And it is hilarious. Until you think of the implications.

Over the five or six seasons or so this show was on the air, the family remained firmly ensconced in the projects. Every plan they conceive of to escape their conditions falls through. The father, James Evans, Sr., is killed when he goes south to pursue a better job. JJ has tremendous talent and potential as an artist, but he can’t seem to catch a break. Thelma’s husband the NFL prospect breaks his leg and doesn’t get the million dollar contract he was expecting, and the younger son Michael is not able to go off to college as he has planned his whole life because he has to stay and help out the family.

If you think about it, this is perhaps the most hapless family I’ve ever saw, and suddenly the show becomes just damn depressing. The shit suddenly ain’t so funny anymore.

But if you think about it, the show could play out no other way. If the family is finally able to progress and get out the projects, the narrative of poverty is broken, and the show no longer functions as a sitcom; perhaps, negroes succeeding just doesn’t seem so funny. Or at least it was not so funny at the time (Remember the shows staff of mostly white writers).

But wait. Another episode is coming to an end. It seems that at the end of this episode, JJ finally signs a lucrative contract with an animation studio and is finally able to move out. Thelma’s husband finally gets an NFL contract, and he and Thelma move out taking the mother with them. And Michael is finally able to go to college. It seems like their luck has changed!

It turns out that this is the last episode recorded; it is the farewell show. Now TV-One is starting over again with the initial episode. The cycle begins anew.

Ha! Seems my theory is correct.

TV-One: The Anti-BET

As I’ve written before, I am not a fan of television. Television sucks.

However, today I was pleasantly surprised. For the last few weeks, my wife and children have pretty much kept the television tuned to TV-One. I didn’t pay much attention, though. I caught an episode of Good Times here, an episode of Sanford and Son there. But today I got up and watched a little early morning television as I had my morning coffee. I tuned in just in time for an episode of The PJ’s, and I ended up staying for the rest of the day. Check out this classic PJ's clip embedded below.



Right before TV-One debuted, I heard the company’s president being interviewed on NPR. I was skeptical; I honestly expected another BET clone. And another BET is the last thing this world needs. But checking out the schedule, it appears that TV-One is completely antithetical to BET.

The line-up features a number of old African American themed sitcoms such as Good Times, Sanford and Son, and The Jeffersons, plus a number of African American themed movies. I caught a movie today, Out of the Darkness, starring Diana Ross that I hadn’t heard of. It was pretty good.

Besides reality shows, there does not seem to be much original programming, but TV-One is a pleasant alternative to other offerings on television.