So, the much bally-hooed "Friends" reunion is now airing on HBO Max as a device to entice subscribers that this service will ultimately be one of the few outlets for new generations to watch the legendary sitcom.
I will not argue with the success of this show. While it's not my favorite sitcom of all time, I was a regular fan and did enjoy it wholeheartedly. My partner and I even wrote a spec script for the show.
Indeed, I am said that "Friends," with its very basic plot and universal theme, will live for generations just like "I Love Lucy." That's already the case. I know youngsters who are addicted to the program. Ultimately, "Friends" will be timeless entertainment.
Now the recent reunion was not a scripted affair. It was more like a documentary - a two-hour flashback of the series with its stars reuniting to discuss every nuance. For what it was, the reunion was fine. Jennifer Aniston looks the best of all of them. Matt LeBlanc now has a beer belly. And Matthew Perry obviously had extensive dental work because his "teeth" are now super white.
And that's a good phrase to spin off from. The day after the reunion dropped, I opened the Los Angeles Times to find a story from some hack writer named Greg Braxton. It was all about how the reunion was a reminder of just how white the original "Friends" series was. Oh, the scribe did reference that Ross had two diverse romances and that there were some characters of "color." But, overall, "Friends" was a bad representation of life in America and shame on them.
Puh-leze.
I was so incensed that I did a little research. I searched Greg Braxton on social media. To not my surprise, he is Black. And his history of articles in the Los Angeles Times is almost exclusively attempts to chide the world of entertainment for its exclusion of a Black voice.
I should have taken this all with a pound of salt. After all, this is the Los Angeles Times. I subscribe to it only for the sports news, the funnies, and the morning Sudoku puzzle. Their journalism otherwise is completely slanted. I am told by a friend that they are aware of great discrimination in the history of that paper, so the editors there have embarked on a lifelong apology tour.
But still....
"Friends" should not be denigrated for having a lack of color or diversity regardless of how untrue that might be. Another generation is now enjoying the show and we certainly all need a laugh however we can get it these days. And do we really think only White people are watching "Friends?" I would venture to guess that there are more Black folks watching "Friends" than White people watching...say..."Black-ish."
Greg Braxton posted his article on Twitter as if it is something he should be proud of. I chose to read the comments which were numerous and yes, there is a pronounced backlash to what he wrote. No, not by White supremacists or your local chapter of the KKK. The dissenting voices were all well-mannered and educated. And truly believing that diversity needs to be organic and not forced into everything we watch.
I thought about some other TV shows I watch. "House Hunters" on HGTV, for instance. In the past year, every episode includes a diverse couple or a mixed marriage or something from the LBGTQ world. Same for "Chopped" on the Food Network. And countless other series.
What should naturally occur is being crammed down our throats. It has made us all super-self-conscious. Even the virtual project I have been working on for the past year was impacted. Regardless of ability, we felt compelled to make sure there was at least two Black actors with speaking roles. They were fine performers. But, again, I felt their casting was more gratuitous than justified.
This country had made great strides and is truly not the racist country some would lead you to believe. From my vantage point, it all started to go downhill when Barack Obama was President. He was elected to continue the unification of this nation and it is something we should be proud of. But his skill sets only knew how to divide not combine. As soon as there was that altercation between the college professor and the policeman in Boston, he jumped on it like the barbecued spare ribs he used to have flown to the White House from Missouri. We have not been the same nation since. And then when an evil man steps on the throat of a durg addict and felon named George Floyd, we are off to the races.
No pun intended.
It's amazing that, even in its own success and virtues, something as pleasant and simple and innocuous as "Friends" can be destroyed by one asshole of a "journalist."
Dinner last night: Leftover Chinese food.
No comments:
Post a Comment