Grab Bag
I had a jumble of random topics in my head I wanted to complain write about but were too short to justify a full issue. So with further ado, seven things that have been weighing on me recently!
Black TV Dramas Kind of Suck?
Is it just me or are black television dramas lacking a lot?
I happened to watch the trailer for a new BET+ show, Kingdom Business, and I couldn’t help but roll my eyes at what looked like another bad soap opera to get the Empire demographic. It had it all, rich black family headed by a vengeful and devilish matriarch, cheesy soundtrack, flat network drama cinematography, throw some church politics into it and black famous actors and BOOM, you have a show that will be get the aunties talking for the next six years.
I can’t be too mad at BET, expecting quality scripted television from them would be like expecting a duck to moo, that’s not their ministry and there’s no point in getting angry over it, they have a formula and it works for them.
But it did lead me to thinking more on the state of black centered television and how unsatisfied I’ve felt as an avid and pretentious TV watcher.
The 90s and 00s was when black sitcoms were at its peak, with dozens of TV shows on air but as important as that time was, black characters were still only relegated to the sitcom genre. There was no black equivalent to say The X Files or 90210, we were either being funny or we weren’t seen at all.
20 years later, times have changed, but where I feel as black television exploded on the comedy side with inventive and well made works like Insecure and South Side, when it comes to our more dramatic affairs, I was struggling to stay interested in anything that came out.
When 50 Cent is on his fifth show set in PCU (Power Cinematic Universe), Tyler Perry has 56 shows and zero writers rooms and Lee Daniels has three corny Fox shows under his belt, you can’t help but feel a bit tired and wanting something a bit more… elevated? High brow?
Hmm that can come off condescending.
This isn’t to say white created shows are the standard to aspire to! There isn’t much difference between Dynasty and Empire, let’s be real. It just feels like black audiences are getting only one level of drama.
Not every show is as horrifically made as say, Our Kind of People (literally the worst pilot ever).
Sometimes shows are just kind of middling, like The Chi for example. An okay drama about people living on Chicago’s South Side, it was something you watch and don’t hate but forget about an hour after seeing it.
I wish I liked it more,
For the longest time Ava DuVernay's Queen Sugar was holding it down for me for quality black dramatic storytelling. Even if it fell off in quality a bit in the last couple of seasons, it was an underrated gem for the longest time. The Oprah Winfrey Network’s follow-up attempts have been less successful in my eyes. There was Delilah (a legal drama that felt like a terrible How to Get Away With Murder rip off), Love Is_ (a technically well made romance that had one of the most horrifying relationships seen on screen yet), Cherish The Day (a decent enough anthology that didn’t take advantage of it’s premise enough), Ambitions (I barely remember this one, it was some sort of political soap opera?) David Makes Man (a good coming of age story that floundered badly in the second season) and The Kings of Napa (It’s like Succession but with wine and yet again, still bad!).
Looking towards white people as a barometer is a bit overrated but I couldn’t help but wonder why we don’t have black dramas with the inventiveness and high budget of shows like Severance or The Crown.
The blame most likely runs with the studios and executives who greenlight projects in the first place. It seems like true risky, genre bending or high budget affairs aren't taken as serious options for the silver screen.
It made me mourn Pose’s quick run, that show wasn’t perfect but it felt nice to have something starring black people take a hold of critical and cultural zeitgeist for a bit.
On the side of limited series there have been prestige black dramas.
Watchmen, The Underground Railroad, When They See Us, I May Destroy You were all fantastic, it made me wish the good stuff weren’t all one and done seasons.
The horror sci fi fantasy and all around genre mishmash, Lovecraft Country was never a great show. It had messy politics and a confusing narrative but it was fun. It was nice seeing black people fight monsters and magicians weekly and the expensive HBO production values were a nice plus too. I didn’t so much mourn the show after its one season cancellation and more mourned the fact that this genre loving nerd would have to go back to watching white led shows to get her fix.
I don’t hate everything of course! Read back on my previous issue where I gushed over Bel-Air and P-Valley, I just want more.
The Continent Goes Dark
I love watching cooking and food TV.
I used to just keep Food Network on for hours in the background and have since graduated to watching Netflix’s extensive culinary content. As much as I enjoy watching the wonders of food in the world, I can’t help but notice how often the entire continent of Africa and the rest of the diaspora is ignored. Food television seems only interested in the same handful of countries. America, Western Europe, some of the bigger Latin American and Asian countries and that’s it. As a Cameroonian myself, it’s a bit frustrating to watch shows like Chef’s Table take 6 seasons to feature a black chef or the dozens of travel shows that never stop by a single African restaurant, whether on the continent or abroad. The erasure makes so much of what I watch seem incomplete.
I did like High on the Hog, Netflix’s mini series about African food and how it influences the diaspora. I hope to see more of it in the future.
Freeform is Good Now?
I’ve never seen a more successful rebrand than cable network Freeform. The channel has gone through many eras since its inception in 1977, first as platform for mostly Christian programming, then a family oriented channel when bought by Fox. The Walt Disney Company bought and renamed the network ABC Family in 2001 and is where its popular history started. ABC Family started targeting young adults with a whole slate of teen dramas. As a teenager during the early 2010s, I was very familiar with ABC Family content when it was at its peak. From Pretty Little Liars to Make It or Break It to The Lying Game and more, I watched the channel religiously. It was a scarce time for teen content, pre-streaming, I took what I could get. While they did have some hit shows, ABC Family had its issues, for one the shows were not that good. Yes we ate them up as kids, but even back then, it was a running joke at how poorly written and produced many of their shows were (literally anyone who watched all seven seasons of PLL is stronger than a Marine). The network tended to cancel most of their shows after only a few seasons, leaving viewers frustrated at loose ends for anything they may have cared for on that channel.
In 2018 they rebranded again, this time to the confusing yet bland name “Freeform”. Their biggest and buzziest show, Pretty Little Liars had ended the year before after seven ridiculous seasons and it seemed like that would be the end of the channel’s life in the cultural consciousness.
Then well… something shifted.
Instead of targeting teenagers, Freeform started to grow with its audience and make TV shows about young adults and 20 somethings. They first dipped their feet into the Millennial pool with spin offs for Black-ish and The Fosters then followed up quickly with other original comedies and dramas such as Alone Together, Single Drunk Female and Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. While there’s still some growing pains in the network, Freeform’s newer shows have felt refreshingly grounded and well made in ways we’ve never seen before. Their new strategy seems to have paid off with their biggest hit to date Cruel Summer. Still a teen drama in the vein of Pretty Little Liars, their 1990s set mystery not only had record viewership and kept nostalgic Millennials buzzing all summer but received critical acclaim and even notched a Hollywood Critics Association TV Award.
I for one am excited to keep watching what Freeform has next and don’t miss the old days of ABC Family at all.
Afrobeats Lands in America
In 2022, Billboard started to track African music consumption in America with a new weekly Afrobeats Songs chart. This new, groundbreaking chart was introduced after songs like “Essence'' by Wizkid and “Love Nwantiti (Ah Ah Ah)” by Ckay started to go viral on TikTok and subsequently rose up on the Billboard Hot 100. Since then we’ve had the pop superstars like Justin Bieber and Ed Sheeran collaborating with African artists and Drake and Future working with new Nigerian It Girl Tems for recent releases. Even if the songs don’t chart on the Hot 100 itself, several Afrobeats songs go viral monthly on TikTok as users make dance challenges, do their make-up, create cooking tutorials and more to the music.
I won’t lie, it was a bit surreal to see this take shape. White American teenagers singing along to music I’ve heard my whole life was a bit funny to witness. African culture has always felt quite insular in America compared to our British, Canadian and European counterparts. The African diaspora while growing is still relatively small. I never truly had to think much about what a crossover moment would mean or look like for the genre?
What does it say about the American music industry that they felt like a white man needed to be on the remix of Essence to increase sales?
What does it say about the key gatekeepers in the African music industry?
Can Afrobeats branch outside of Africans in the same way reggaetón, Latin pop, reggae and K-pop all have their place in America?
Of course the history of African music in America doesn’t start with Essence, but I will be watching closely to see what the future holds. In the meantime read this wonderful Vulture article that says everything I want to say but better and in more detail.
Feeling Very Unmagical Right Now
I’m pretty meh with the fantasy genre in film and television these days. Unlike its other speculative fiction counterparts, science fiction and horror, it seems like fantasy is stuck in a rut.
For a genre that can theoretically be about anything and anyone at all, it seems like we really only see a few flavors of fantasy these days. Tolkien-esque medieval set epics that sweep across and explore fantasy Europe as they defeat great darkness in the world (think Wheel of Time, Witcher, Hobbit sequels etc), bad attempts at adapting Greek mythology (Immortals, Clash of Titans), and the usual fairytale reduxes that no one really wants (Grimm, Once Upon A Time). Everything is starting to blend together even if it’s good.
There’s this idea that “fantasy looks into our past while science fiction looks into our future” and I just feel as if this is a limiting idea for the genre. Why can’t the world of magic and wonder explore society’s current state? A genre that is obsessed with looking back at itself can never progress.
Where science fiction and horror gets interesting media like Made For Love, The Haunting anthology, Arrival, Black Mirror, Hereditary, Get Out and more that explore complex characters and social issues, I struggle to find a similar equivalent in the fantasy world. So much of fantasy TV and film are adaptations of previous work as well, another sign of a stifled genre. The attempts in fantasy social commentary very rarely go any further past a simple discrimination allegory (ooh these magic users are ostracized in society, kind of like black people, get it!?).
It never really works well and considering most of the genre is written by straight white men who never truly will understand the nuances of marginalization, much of my viewing experiences in the last few years have felt very insulting to my intelligence.
I think the straw that broke the camel’s back for me was watching Joss Whedon’s The Nevers, a truly god awful show that poorly handled the concept of sexism and highlighted everything wrong with the fantasy genre while being a waste of a good HBO budget.
As a history obsessed genre, fantasy tends to be extremely un-diverse on screen as well. Most stories are set in some quasi-European land with all white protagonists. Sometimes a person of color shows up to be a stereotype or die quickly. We are seeing progress though, as Hollywood understands diversity does sell, more non-white actors are showing up in projects. Just compare Game of Thrones’ lily white cast to the slightly more inclusive one in the upcoming spin off, House of Dragon. Similar changes can be seen for the upcoming Lord of the Rings television spin off as well. While diversifying old franchises is always a step forward, it doesn’t really isn’t enough. At times these new non-white characters can feel awkwardly shoved into a world that wasn’t catered to them, such as the well meaning but clumsy attempts at racism metaphors in Netflix’s Shadow and Bone.
Not all hope is lost, there are attempts at pushing fantasy forward. My forever favorite show, The Magicians, was a brilliant and hilarious look into mental health and trauma. A refreshing and introspective change of pace even while it satirized staples like Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance was a rare prequel that felt necessary. The late and literal legend, Jim Henson (Muppets, Sesame Street, etc.) would’ve been proud to see how his original film was updated for the new era. It was also gorgeous to boot.
Avatar: The Last Airbender fans will get a second chance after a terrible film adaptation with the upcoming Netflix live action series. While the jury's out on the actual quality of the show, it will be nice to see some fantasy not focused on European culture for once.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians will also get redemption from a bad movie with a new Disney+ show. While a riff on Greek myth, PJO always stayed more faithful to its source material than any of these macho action movies ever could.
Amber Alert
Where is Saweetie’s “debut album”?
The Bay Area rapper had a fun round of singles in 2020 ending with Best Friend but the loose singles since haven’t reached the heights of say, "Tap In" or "My Type". It seems a bit ridiculous we’re still waiting on a full project from her as she *checks notes* sells McDonald’s meals or whatever. Especially if we remember she’s been out making music for over five years now and been teasing the release of Pretty Bitch Music for at least three of those years.
Well at least she dresses cute.
Recent Developments on The Black Eyed Peas (Or Should I Say "Frijoles"
I feel like no one is discussing the fact that the Black Eyed Peas have found a weird career resurgence in Latin pop music?
While never critical darlings (we all remember that Super Bowl halftime), Black Eyed Peas spent all of the 2000s racking up pop rap hits until they took an almost decade long break after their album The Beginning in 2010
They tried to go back to their “conscious rap” roots a bit with their grand return in 2018, but I found that the singles from album Masters of the Sun Vol.1 to be quite derivative and corny that read more like a parody of what social hip hop sounds like versus anything authentic to the actual group and what got them their early fanbase. Either way the album went triple aluminum and made very little noise amongst listeners and critics alike.
It was when they randomly scored a hit with “Ritmo”, a collaboration with J Balvin, in 2019 that they started to see a return to commercial success.
They quickly then followed up in 2020 with the album Translation and the tracklist reads like someone shooting darts blindly at a Latin pop radio roster. Songs with Ozuna, Nicky Jam, Shakira and more all show up and several singles found their way to the charts.
It is funny for me to imagine the meeting The Black Eyed Peas had where they decided that making the same microwave pop music but just in Spanish was the move for them after one big song.
Translation itself isn’t that great, but funny enough, the cheap, hype party music felt more authentic to the Black Eyed Peas than anything I heard from their “political album”. This will always be their legacy and it seems like they have finally embraced it to the fullest.
The Black Eyed Peas clearly still have some place in the world and hey who wouldn’t want to sell out for some quick cash?
Surely Charlie Brooker Isn't The Only Genius Out Here?
Does anyone have a decent answer why no one can get episodic anthology television right? Black Mirror re-popularized the format of stand alone scripted episodes but no show following has come even close to being as good or as relevant as Black Mirror has. There were attempts to follow in Black Mirror’s genre footsteps with TV shows like Solos, Lore, Electric Dreams, Soulmates etc. but none of them lasted long nor kept the public interested even with buzzy, popular actors fronting episodes. Even Jordan Peele couldn’t keep interest in his reboot of The Twilight Zone.
There’s been more critical success outside of science fiction and horror with the Amazon’s romance Modern Love or Netflix’s slice of life comedy Easy, but neither show is truly the runaway hit that is Black Mirror.
So what gives?
Charlie Brooker is a master screenwriter but he isn’t the only talented person in television, why does this specific format seem to evade people so much?
While I don’t have an answer, anthology TV still seems like an underutilized medium. I hope more shows come out that will be compelling enough to sit through all episodes.