Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Neighborhood: "Welcome to Thanksgiving"

In this episode, actress Marilu Henner of Taxi fame plays a racist grandmother who hails from the state of Michigan.

For what it's worth, I, Tonio Kruger, also had a racist grandmother who hailed from the state of Michigan -- and Marilu Henner's character is so mild compared to her that I can't help but wonder how many real-life racists the producers of this episode ever actually met.

I realize that there's not much room for intellectual discussion in a thirty-minute TV show but I can't help thinking about the many Norman Lear sitcoms I saw growing up that were far more edgy than this. Whatever happened to them?

Pensamientos Acerca de Televisión

The Neighborhood: "Pilot"

There is undoubtedly a great TV comedy to be made about modern-day race relations in the U.S. -- but this isn't it.

However, the scene in which one of the white guy's neighbors tries to explain why a black man can't possibly be racist seems quite funny in the light of recent events -- but not in the way that the screenwriter intended.