In 1966, after years of protests, black audiences finally forced "Amos and Andy" off the air.
Thirty years later, Amos, Andy and their various cultural cousins are back - albeit with new names and a new home, the fledge-net UPN. But this time, the shows are being pitched directly at the black "urban" audience.Aren't the '90s great?
Can this really be what that audience wants? Look closely at the network's four brand new sitcoms, "Malcolm & Eddie," "Goode Behavior," "Sparks!" and "Homeboys in Outer Space," and you'll see the same stereotypes that have haunted the black community for generations: "Amos's" gullible Andy and conniving Kingfish; "Porgy and Bess's" lecherous Sportin' Life; the cinema's cowardly Stepin Fetchet.
The only significant difference is that the originals were better written and better acted.
Almost without exception, men in this UPN quartet are portrayed as sex-crazed idiots or stuffed shirts; women as shrews or sex-pots. Any behavior that borders on the intellectual is mocked; any sign of "uppity" aspiration is crushed. On "Malcolm," a man is ridiculed for reading poetry - and he's a fat man, which is supposed to make it twice as funny. On "Goode," a college professor finds his tea party turned into a barbecue (ribs, of course). And so on.
As every viewer knows, exaggerations and stereotypes appear in all sitcoms; the dual problem here is the target and the cumulative effect.
While these shows may not be the worst offenders (that would be HBO's "Def Comedy Jam"), they fit into a disturbing TV pattern: degrading images of black men and women coupled with a message that seems to encourage aberrant and anti-social behavior.
It has to have an impact. When Bill Cosby rails against the negative influence of morons and minstrels in black comedies, he's speaking out of self-interest: he wants people to watch HIS version of black comedy.
He also happens to be right.
All we can hope is that the network, which clearly wanted to capitalize quickly on the success of "Moesha," just didn't have enough time to find shows that could match "Moesha's" quality. Still, how much time would it have taken to do better than this?
So how awful are these shows? Well, in what had to be UPN's worst nightmare, critics at a UPN press function actually got into a heated discussion over which show was the absolute worst. See if you can pick the winner:
Show: "Malcolm & Eddie."
Time Slot: Monday at 7:30.
Setup: A straitlaced ladies man (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) lives with a conniving buffoon (Eddie Griffin).
Sample Joke: "Then you gotta get Chris Darden as your attorney, and he ain't never there, because he's with Marcia doing the hanky-tanky."
Most humiliating moment: Griffin's Sammy Davis Jr. impression. ("I got my eye on that one.")
Most embarrassing character: Eddie.
Show: "Goode Behavior."
Time Slot: Monday at 8.
Setup: A straitlaced college professor (Dorien Wilson) lives with his conniving ex-con father (Sherman Hemsley).
Sample Joke: "Willy's in the house; hide the silverware!"
Most humiliating moment: Willy breaks into a buck-and-wing to hide the fact that his house-arrest bracelet is beeping.
Most embarrassing character: Willy.
Show: "Sparks!"
Time Slot: Monday at 9:30.
Setup: A straight-laced lawyer (Terrence Howard) works with his flashy, conniving brother (Miguel Nunez Jr.).
Sample Joke: "Let me tell you something about sexual harassment, my brother. If you're Clarence Thomas, it's `Call the cops, I'm being sexually harassed.' If it's Denzel Washington, it's `Call the hotel, and get me a room.' " (And, believe it or not, this in a show that co-stars Mike Tyson's ex-wife, Robin Givens.)
Most humiliating moment: An in-your-face secretary with PMS rips off her wig to scratch at her curlers.
Most embarrassing character: The young gofer who yells "You the man, you the man" while bowing and scraping.
Show: "Homeboys in Outer Space."
Time Slot: Tuesday at 8:30.
Setup: Homeboys in outer space.
Sample Joke: "You will be picking dilithium crystals out of your gludius maximus, which ain't nearly as maximus as you think it is. Uh-huh."
Most humiliating moment: Morris (Darryl Bell) doing a "feets don't fail me now" routine when confronted by a monster from outer space.
Most embarrassing character: Loquatia the Computer, yet another mugging, in-your-face female.
AND THE WINNER IS: "Sparks!" The really sad thing is, "Homeboys in Outer Space" is the BEST of the lot. That should tell you something.
In Utah, the United Paramount Network can be seen on KJZZ-Ch. 14.