Blackish: Neighbors and Sterotypes

 

   In tonight's Black-ish, titled  Sink or Swim, Andre (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross) once again confront and challenge the stereotypes plaguing their neighborhood in an effort to teach their kids something. Much like the modern day Cosbys, they want to be treated like everyone else that is white. This usually leads to some major blow-up that embarrasses their four kids. First, the twins Jack and Diane both enjoy the activities of the other twin's boy/girl scout group. After some lying gets to be too overwhelming, Jack bakes a casserole and Diane ties ropes and saves her dad in the pool. Much to their grandmother's disappointment,t the twins defy the stereotypes set out for their genders. If only it was so easy for their parents....

     Andre fusses over not getting invited to their across the street neighbor's house for pool parties, just because he thinks she is biased against their black family and assumes they cannot swim. Dre finds no love at work as his coworkers pick apart more of his flaws (too much cologne, touching all of the doughnuts, etc..), When Dre confronts Janine (Nicole Sullivan from King of Queens and Mad T.V.) about the lack of invitation, she honestly confesses she thought the Johnsons didn't like her and her family (due to several overheard conversations). In an earlier episode, Jeanine wouldn't let her kid stay over because Dre kept a gun locked in a safe in the house, and she went postal on Halloween about teen kids (possibly from a bad neighborhood) coming for their good candy. After securing a friendly invite to the pool party, Dre's children find out he is the only family member that can't swim, due to his "heavy bones". A failed swim lesson later, Dre attempts to go in the pool and almost drowns to prove to Jeanine that he is more than a stereotype. Then he is rescued from the pool by his ten year old daughter and swaddled by his mother.

     Bow tackles self image and worth with her teens, trying to show them there is more to life than likes and being a "woman of leisure." She makes up flimsy excuses to get away from the "Mom Mafia" at school, who try to pressure her into signing up for committees and invite her to a grueling schedule of midday yoga classes. After countless reminders that she is a working mom with 4 kids (and a cardiothoracic surgeon), Bow decides to tell one mom off at the pool party. After shaming the mom for her fancy clothes, lack of purpose in life, feeding her husband, Bow discovers this mom is also a doctor, and she somehow has this work/life balance thing together. In the end, Junior and Zoe toll their mom they're proud of her and they look up to her as a role model for their grown-up dreams. They also show her a video the moms made of Bow yelling at the other mom while Andre helplessly splashes around in the pool, calling for help. This is humiliating image for the parents, but the kids wouldn't have their parents any other way.

Cosby Show: Revisited

     It appears that I am not the only person who recently re-discovered The Cosby Show. I spent my new year's weekend watching bits and pieces of 80's America's  favorite family on Hulu to re-capture some of the magic the show brought me as a youngster, learning valuable life lessons with a hug and funky dance number at the end.

     Two highlights of this binge included  season 3's Cliff's 50th Birthday, where the children provide a presentation titled: Things that are older than dad. I also watched the last episode, And So We Commence, Part 2, where the family (minus Denise) come together for Theo's graduation from NYU. While the jokes were still the same, and the family love was bountiful, there was somethign creepy about Cliff Huxtable begging his son to take a visiting friend's daughter to the roller rink. It was almost as if he would take this girl and drug her if she didn't get out of the house.

     Maybe I'm just a little too into the Bill Cosby scandal, but I am having a bit of a tough time separating him from Cliff Huxtable, like in this Inside Amy Schumer sketch. I watched the A&E special Cosby: The Women Speak and heard over 10 accounts that started out, I was invited for acting lessons .... or I went to dinner..... and ended up with :I have no idea what happened, but I was violated. After checking out the great and intriguing new season of ABC's American Crime this week, I totally am very creeped out by Cosby. American Crime details a plot line about a teen boy who was drugged at a party and violated by someone on the basketball team.