Wasn't this show Stereotypical - Page 2 - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

vedastone · 11-27-2003, 07:19 PM

Amos and Andy the victim of bad timing... That explains a lot. It's unfortunate that it went down that way.

Amos and Andy revival? That would be so cool! But not much chance of that, I'd guess, considering the overwhelming timidity of the networks when it comes to worrying about political correctness. Look what happened to poor Charlie Chan on the Fox Movie Channel - a portrayal of a world renowned Chinese detective with positively superior human qualities, a winner in every way, is deemed unfit to be seen by the public! Thinking this whole thing over gives me a real headache - I'm getting sick of this selective censorship. It's not as if every kind of extreme violence and sex isn't available right on the tube. Why not air shows like Amos & Andy and Charlie Chan and put a disclaimer before it, explaining that some people might be offended by the stereotypes. Then we can act as adults and decide for ourselves if we can expose ourselves or our kids to it. But no-o-o, that's giving us too much autonomy, big brother network must decide for us what is acceptable for us to see....#$%!!@&!

Zoneboy · 11-27-2003, 07:42 PM

I say hey if you don't like whats on, turn the freakin' channel. It used to be you had 3 networks and a few independents to choose from now you have hundreds. I think it's a crying shame that none of these are willing or able to show Amos & Andy because of the fear of offending someone. If I were black, shows like Home Boys In Outer Space & Family Matters would insult me. If you want to talk stereotypical, I watch The Lone Ranger everyday and there hasn't been an episode yet in which Tonto wasn't called injun or redskin & to some, this is just as bad as Fred Sanford using the N word. The odd thing is that The Lone Ranger is shown on a religious channel called World Harvest Television. They depend on donations to keep the channel on the air yet they show this and other shows such as Lassie, The Rifleman, Bonanza etc...uncut and with no voice overs, split screens etc...Like WJ Griffin said, Thank God For The VCR.

bencasey · 02-01-2004, 05:13 AM

I'd just be curious as to what CBS would say if anyone called to buy the show for airing. They would probably not sell it to them. So no one could air it if they wanted to as it is not available. Another reason is that the show is now public domain. CBS even lost a court case when they tried to sue some of the people distributing the show. Unfortunately they are the only ones holding a set of negatives and clean prints on the show. The people selling it all seem to be missing 7 episodes so that you couldn't get a complete run from anyone.

As for the dialect used, I have to laugh. Why is the broken English used offensive but Ebonics and black English used by many blacks today not? I've listened to people talk like that Snoopy guy, and I can't understand a word he's saying. The mangled English on Amos and Andy had better use of tenses than any rapper uses. If Kingfish and Andy are buffoons that are offensive to black people then what about Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton? Are they offensive to whites?

Bottom line is this withdrawal was a big victory for the NAACP. For them to relent and let the show out of purgatory is not something they would ever allow. It was seen as too significant an act for them and they would not go for a reversal.

Curious about that TBS thing. Can anyone give me a specific time frame? I'd like to go back and check my TV guides to see if this is true. Also would be curious as to who they got the prints from, whether it was CBS or someone else.

W.J. Griffin · 03-05-2004, 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by bencasey
I'd just be curious as to what CBS would say if anyone called to buy the show for airing. They would probably not sell it to them. So no one could air it if they wanted to as it is not available. Another reason is that the show is now public domain. CBS even lost a court case when they tried to sue some of the people distributing the show. Unfortunately they are the only ones holding a set of negatives and clean prints on the show. The people selling it all seem to be missing 7 episodes so that you couldn't get a complete run from anyone.

As for the dialect used, I have to laugh. Why is the broken English used offensive but Ebonics and black English used by many blacks today not? I've listened to people talk like that Snoopy guy, and I can't understand a word he's saying. The mangled English on Amos and Andy had better use of tenses than any rapper uses. If Kingfish and Andy are buffoons that are offensive to black people then what about Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton? Are they offensive to whites?

Bottom line is this withdrawal was a big victory for the NAACP. For them to relent and let the show out of purgatory is not something they would ever allow. It was seen as too significant an act for them and they would not go for a reversal.

Curious about that TBS thing. Can anyone give me a specific time frame? I'd like to go back and check my TV guides to see if this is true. Also would be curious as to who they got the prints from, whether it was CBS or someone else.

A couple of points I'd like to make regarding the above:

1. Language. One thing you have to realize is that the dialogue used in "Amos 'n' Andy" was directly inspired by the jargon used for years by White blackface minstrels, usually to demean Black character (though, in this case, I doubt that THAT was Mr. Gosden's or Mr. Correll's original intent when they created these characters), so you can understand why the middle-class Black Americans who were then making their biggest strides toward equality would object to such characterizations. The "Ebonics" thing, on the other hand was a way that current African-American youth, many of whom feel disconnected and disenfranchished to the mainstream, could feel they were creating a "culture" of their own (their original African roots all but subverted by years of racial mistreatment at the hands of White America), and rebel against the ruling class.

2. Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton, along with Chester Riley, Stu Erwin, and others of the "bumbling fathers" school, had the good fortune to be counterbalanced with Joe Friday, Matt Dillon, and even John Cameron Swayze, whereas Amos, Andy, Kingfish, Lightnin' and Algonquin J. Calhoun were the ONLY examples of Black manhood depicted on the air. Belive me, if Kramden, Riley, etc. WERE the only examples of White manhood, rest assured that there would have been an outcry of protest over them, too. (Indeed, at the time there WAS an outcry, so a radio sitcom featuring Robert Young as a typical bumbling dad was retooled for television as the patrician "Father Knows Best".)

3. TBS showed "Amos 'n' Andy" sometime in 1982, if I'm not mistaken. When, exactly, in '82, I have no idea.

TV Knowledge Fan · 08-28-2006, 02:30 PM

Well, if you consider the characters of :

*a lovable loud-mouthed, lazy, scheming and conniving braggart;
*a "shrew" of a wife;
*a "not-too bright" buddy and co-schemer;
*an equally conniving lawyer who loses more cases than wins 'em because of his consistent stupidity in the courtroom;
*a "battleaxe" mother-in-law;
*and a "straight man" who's too smart to be mixed up in his friend's affairs...

....those characters are among the backbone of the American situation comedy format. In the case of "THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW", they happen to be black.

tv star collector · 08-28-2006, 04:25 PM

Re "stereotypes," do we judge all white people by ...

The Three Stooges!?

TV Knowledge Fan · 08-28-2006, 06:51 PM

....most of us are "Larrys" in a world overrun by "Moes", "Curlys", "Shemps", and "Joes".

Think about it.

NEWYORKEX · 06-04-2008, 12:50 PM

What is the great difference between Amos n Andy and Sanford N Son? None I think. People are trying to sell us the idea that stereotype was bad, I think it was pure entertaining as I do Sanford and Son. Arent all ethnicities stereotyped? of course they are because we are all different. I never saw anything in either show that belittled anyone. You can certainly make things fit if you want or rather try to make them fit. One thing about , those days Amos n Amdy aired we sure had far less crime, far less problems....the more folks said the shows were wrong over years the greater crime became, the greater rate of unwed moms, the greater rate of bad , period. Enjoy life and people for what they are. Not what radicals want us to see them as.

TVFactFan · 06-04-2008, 03:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by NEWYORKEX

What is the great difference between Amos n Andy and Sanford N Son? None I think. People are trying to sell us the idea that stereotype was bad, I think it was pure entertaining as I do Sanford and Son. Arent all ethnicities stereotyped? of course they are because we are all different. I never saw anything in either show that belittled anyone. You can certainly make things fit if you want or rather try to make them fit. One thing about , those days Amos n Amdy aired we sure had far less crime, far less problems....the more folks said the shows were wrong over years the greater crime became, the greater rate of unwed moms, the greater rate of bad , period. Enjoy life and people for what they are. Not what radicals want us to see them as.

I read on the web that some black leaders felt that the Jeffersons were more stereotypical than Amos and Andy-lol They said that the Jeffersons theme song was an insult to black people

warsaw dreams · 04-09-2010, 09:52 AM

It's a comedy tv show! It makes fun of people and life just like any other comedy show! If some people can't tell the difference between reality and tv, then that's their problem!!

MickeyMac · 04-09-2010, 04:36 PM

Its been so slong I dont remember anymore.

warsaw dreams · 04-10-2010, 11:29 PM

You can rent Amos N' Andy at Netflix. Check it out!!

Sitcom Collector · 01-02-2011, 11:27 AM

In an interview once, Redd Foxx said he patterned Fred Sanford after Kingfish from A&A. Despite being based on a Britcom, the similarities between Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son are striking.
My sister gave me a bootlet copy she got off e-bay. Amos and Andy is pretty dated today, some episodes are funny. Others are a little over the top.
The Christmas episode is well worth the watch.

MrCleveland · 01-02-2011, 04:47 PM

I can see no difference from A&A and anything by Tyler Perry!

Stereotypes NEVER fade away! Dave Chappelle even said this "Don't expect the word ****** to disappear and a big rainbow is going to shine on us"!

I'm German, Italian, and Irish and yes here's how they're portrayed....

German=Polka Dancer (old), Hitler-lover/NAZI (new)
Italian=Eats Spaghetti and has a moustache (old), Mobster (new)
Irish=Lepurachan (old), Drinker (new)

And yes, there's other ones....

Polish=Stupid (I met many Polish-Americans, and they're hard workers).
African=Cannibals, backwards (old); Rappers, Eat KFC (new) (I have many African-American friends who are well-to-do).
Latinos=Lazy (I met a few Latinos who WILL work and are very successful).
Arabian=Terrorist (No...I have a Christian-Arabian friend who shudders about Terrorists).
East Asian=Opium-sellers (old), Smart (new) (Yes, many East Asians go to school...but some can't afford to go to school).
Jewish=Money-Hungry (Jewish people have a legacy in Hollywood for 100 years and some came from the Ghetto...really, that's where the word Ghetto came from)!

Hollywood even defended African-Americans before The Civil Rights. Despite Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor stereotyping the African-Americans in films, they defended them (Cantor's best friend was Bert Williams, an African-American from the Bahamas and Sammy Davis Jr.). Clark Gable almost left the stage of "Gone with the Wind" when he saw the dressing rooms were segregated!

And though Whoopi Goldberg has some "open mouth, insert foot" moments, she DID say something coherent..."Though these stereotypes were hurtful...we just can't brush them away"! Even today, we do that....Consuela (Latino), The Broflovskis (Jewish), The Corleones (Italian), Tyrone Biggums (African-American), Apu (East Indian), and Long Duk Dong (Asian). How different is that with the older sterotypes of Mammy, Speedy Gonzales, Lil' Abner, Katzenjamer, or Fu Manchu? Not Much...and it's that 10% that gets on their high horse about it!

dahur1 · 02-27-2011, 01:20 AM

I remember reading Red Foxx saying Amos and Andy was a great show, and should never been removed. In fact, he said he got a lot of his material from the show.
I had many black friends at work, and on occasion we would talk about it. They all said they thought the show was hilarious. And they would have kept it on. It was a mistake to stop it.

I have around 75 episodes, and I can sit down and watch them anytime.

11-27-2003, 07:42 PM	#17
Zoneboy RIP, I'LL NEVER FORGET YOU :( Moderator Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 13, 2003 Location: AT HOME WISHING ALL THIS WAS JUST A DREAM AND THAT I'LL WAKE UP FROM THIS NIGHTMARE. Posts: 34,412	I say hey if you don't like whats on, turn the freakin' channel. It used to be you had 3 networks and a few independents to choose from now you have hundreds. I think it's a crying shame that none of these are willing or able to show Amos & Andy because of the fear of offending someone. If I were black, shows like Home Boys In Outer Space & Family Matters would insult me. If you want to talk stereotypical, I watch The Lone Ranger everyday and there hasn't been an episode yet in which Tonto wasn't called injun or redskin & to some, this is just as bad as Fred Sanford using the N word. The odd thing is that The Lone Ranger is shown on a religious channel called World Harvest Television. They depend on donations to keep the channel on the air yet they show this and other shows such as Lassie, The Rifleman, Bonanza etc...uncut and with no voice overs, split screens etc...Like WJ Griffin said, Thank God For The VCR.
	__________________ 'Twas The Night Before Christmas And All Through The Full House Not A Creature Was Stirring, Not Even Mighty Mouse. All My Children We're Nestled All Snug In Their Beds While Visions Of Sugarbakers Danced In Their Heads.

08-28-2006, 02:30 PM	#20
TV Knowledge Fan Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 29, 2006 Location: Long Branch, N.J. Posts: 2,577	Stereotypical? Well, if you consider the characters of : a lovable loud-mouthed, lazy, scheming and conniving braggart; a "shrew" of a wife; a "not-too bright" buddy and co-schemer; an equally conniving lawyer who loses more cases than wins 'em because of his consistent stupidity in the courtroom; a "battleaxe" mother-in-law; and a "straight man" who's too smart to be mixed up in his friend's affairs... ....those characters are among the backbone of the American situation comedy format. In the case of "THE AMOS 'N' ANDY SHOW", they happen to be black.

08-28-2006, 06:51 PM	#22
TV Knowledge Fan Member Senior Member Join Date: Mar 29, 2006 Location: Long Branch, N.J. Posts: 2,577	Unfortunately, "tv star collector"... ....most of us are "Larrys" in a world overrun by "Moes", "Curlys", "Shemps", and "Joes". Think about it.

01-02-2011, 04:47 PM	#29
MrCleveland Drew Carey from Hell Forum Star Join Date: Nov 10, 2007 Location: The City of Cleveland, in The State of Cleveland, in The United States of Cleveland Posts: 14,229	I can see no difference from A&A and anything by Tyler Perry! Stereotypes NEVER fade away! Dave Chappelle even said this "Don't expect the word ****** to disappear and a big rainbow is going to shine on us"! I'm German, Italian, and Irish and yes here's how they're portrayed.... German=Polka Dancer (old), Hitler-lover/NAZI (new) Italian=Eats Spaghetti and has a moustache (old), Mobster (new) Irish=Lepurachan (old), Drinker (new) And yes, there's other ones.... Polish=Stupid (I met many Polish-Americans, and they're hard workers). African=Cannibals, backwards (old); Rappers, Eat KFC (new) (I have many African-American friends who are well-to-do). Latinos=Lazy (I met a few Latinos who WILL work and are very successful). Arabian=Terrorist (No...I have a Christian-Arabian friend who shudders about Terrorists). East Asian=Opium-sellers (old), Smart (new) (Yes, many East Asians go to school...but some can't afford to go to school). Jewish=Money-Hungry (Jewish people have a legacy in Hollywood for 100 years and some came from the Ghetto...really, that's where the word Ghetto came from)! Hollywood even defended African-Americans before The Civil Rights. Despite Al Jolson and Eddie Cantor stereotyping the African-Americans in films, they defended them (Cantor's best friend was Bert Williams, an African-American from the Bahamas and Sammy Davis Jr.). Clark Gable almost left the stage of "Gone with the Wind" when he saw the dressing rooms were segregated! And though Whoopi Goldberg has some "open mouth, insert foot" moments, she DID say something coherent..."Though these stereotypes were hurtful...we just can't brush them away"! Even today, we do that....Consuela (Latino), The Broflovskis (Jewish), The Corleones (Italian), Tyrone Biggums (African-American), Apu (East Indian), and Long Duk Dong (Asian). How different is that with the older sterotypes of Mammy, Speedy Gonzales, Lil' Abner, Katzenjamer, or Fu Manchu? Not Much...and it's that 10% that gets on their high horse about it!
	__________________ Thank God for kids that love Obscure Things. Lee Hazlewood (1929-2007) You ARE Special to God! Rev. Ernest Angely (August 1921-May 2021)

11-27-2003, 07:19 PM	#16
vedastone Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Aug 05, 2002 Posts: 120	Amos and Andy the victim of bad timing... That explains a lot. It's unfortunate that it went down that way. Amos and Andy revival? That would be so cool! But not much chance of that, I'd guess, considering the overwhelming timidity of the networks when it comes to worrying about political correctness. Look what happened to poor Charlie Chan on the Fox Movie Channel - a portrayal of a world renowned Chinese detective with positively superior human qualities, a winner in every way, is deemed unfit to be seen by the public! Thinking this whole thing over gives me a real headache - I'm getting sick of this selective censorship. It's not as if every kind of extreme violence and sex isn't available right on the tube. Why not air shows like Amos & Andy and Charlie Chan and put a disclaimer before it, explaining that some people might be offended by the stereotypes. Then we can act as adults and decide for ourselves if we can expose ourselves or our kids to it. But no-o-o, that's giving us too much autonomy, big brother network must decide for us what is acceptable for us to see....#$%!!@&!

02-01-2004, 05:13 AM	#18
bencasey Member Senior Member Join Date: Dec 29, 2001 Location: Long Beach Posts: 1,692	I'd just be curious as to what CBS would say if anyone called to buy the show for airing. They would probably not sell it to them. So no one could air it if they wanted to as it is not available. Another reason is that the show is now public domain. CBS even lost a court case when they tried to sue some of the people distributing the show. Unfortunately they are the only ones holding a set of negatives and clean prints on the show. The people selling it all seem to be missing 7 episodes so that you couldn't get a complete run from anyone. As for the dialect used, I have to laugh. Why is the broken English used offensive but Ebonics and black English used by many blacks today not? I've listened to people talk like that Snoopy guy, and I can't understand a word he's saying. The mangled English on Amos and Andy had better use of tenses than any rapper uses. If Kingfish and Andy are buffoons that are offensive to black people then what about Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton? Are they offensive to whites? Bottom line is this withdrawal was a big victory for the NAACP. For them to relent and let the show out of purgatory is not something they would ever allow. It was seen as too significant an act for them and they would not go for a reversal. Curious about that TBS thing. Can anyone give me a specific time frame? I'd like to go back and check my TV guides to see if this is true. Also would be curious as to who they got the prints from, whether it was CBS or someone else.

08-28-2006, 04:25 PM	#21
tv star collector I Love Susie Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 18, 2005 Location: South Carolina Posts: 4,486	Re "stereotypes," do we judge all white people by ... The Three Stooges!?

06-04-2008, 12:50 PM	#23
NEWYORKEX Member Occasional Poster Join Date: May 07, 2008 Location: new york Posts: 53	What is the great difference between Amos n Andy and Sanford N Son? None I think. People are trying to sell us the idea that stereotype was bad, I think it was pure entertaining as I do Sanford and Son. Arent all ethnicities stereotyped? of course they are because we are all different. I never saw anything in either show that belittled anyone. You can certainly make things fit if you want or rather try to make them fit. One thing about , those days Amos n Amdy aired we sure had far less crime, far less problems....the more folks said the shows were wrong over years the greater crime became, the greater rate of unwed moms, the greater rate of bad , period. Enjoy life and people for what they are. Not what radicals want us to see them as.

04-09-2010, 09:52 AM	#25
warsaw dreams Member Forum Regular Join Date: Sep 22, 2000 Location: Milwaukee, WI USA Posts: 659	It's a comedy tv show! It makes fun of people and life just like any other comedy show! If some people can't tell the difference between reality and tv, then that's their problem!!

04-09-2010, 04:36 PM	#26
MickeyMac Member Forum Star Join Date: Jun 18, 2008 Location: Kalamazoo, Michigan Posts: 19,006	Its been so slong I dont remember anymore.

04-10-2010, 11:29 PM	#27
warsaw dreams Member Forum Regular Join Date: Sep 22, 2000 Location: Milwaukee, WI USA Posts: 659	You can rent Amos N' Andy at Netflix. Check it out!!

01-02-2011, 11:27 AM	#28
Sitcom Collector Member Occasional Poster Join Date: Nov 12, 2010 Posts: 31	In an interview once, Redd Foxx said he patterned Fred Sanford after Kingfish from A&A. Despite being based on a Britcom, the similarities between Amos and Andy and Sanford and Son are striking. My sister gave me a bootlet copy she got off e-bay. Amos and Andy is pretty dated today, some episodes are funny. Others are a little over the top. The Christmas episode is well worth the watch.

02-27-2011, 01:20 AM	#30
dahur1 Member Frequent Poster Join Date: Apr 02, 2007 Location: Alamogordo, NM Posts: 195	I remember reading Red Foxx saying Amos and Andy was a great show, and should never been removed. In fact, he said he got a lot of his material from the show. I had many black friends at work, and on occasion we would talk about it. They all said they thought the show was hilarious. And they would have kept it on. It was a mistake to stop it. I have around 75 episodes, and I can sit down and watch them anytime.