Inside TVLand: African Americans in Television (My Review)

[JT]

Here's what I thought of the three specials:

VARIETY:
This was my least favorite part of the set.I'm not that huge with variety TV, but I know some stuff.I know a lot about "Laugh-In","Flip Wilson","SNL" and others but those shows were not the variety they were talking about.Yes they were mentioned (exception to Laugh-In) but they spent more time on the musical part of it.It was just boring.I changed the channel after they talked about the Sammy Davis, Jr. special.

DRAMA:
I really loved this one."East Side/West Side" seems like a nice program.Of course there was the big thing about "Roots" but I didn't think it took too much time.I liked some of the clips like from "Under One Roof".I didn't like, however, the way they completly overrated "City of Angels".Too much time spent on it.Overall it was OK.

COMEDY:
Oh boy.I'm gonna tell you right now that I LOVED this one the ABSOLUTE most!!!!!!!!From the beginning to the end.In the beginning I enjoyed clips from "(The) Beulah (Show)".I think I would have perferred the MacDaniel season of the show the most.I liked the clips from "(The) Amos & Andy (Show)".I wish I had "my tapes" also(if you saw that part you'd understand the joke).I'm kinda mad they didn't show a clip from "The Danny Thomas Show" they showed pictures instead.Then came "Julia".That whole segment was, to me, unexpected.But I liked it."Julia" was always a good show to me.I loved it when NAN showed it in its Black History Month Fridays in 2000.I think that they could've shown more of "All in the Family"/"The Jeffersons" but they didn't.They started mentioning the roles of black actors in ensemble comedies such as "WKRP" and "Barney Miller".I'm very upset "Facts of Life" or "Love Boat" were not mentioned.What about Isaac and Tootie?They are cool!!!!!!!!I'm glad they had a section on "Diff'rent Strokes".I'm still saying "Watch it turkey!!!!" to myself so.......They talked about the character Benson DuBois.I liked "Soap" but why didn't they mention "Benson" the spin-off?Then came Nell.Now I want to see "Gimme a Break" more than ever.
Nell:I'm gonna teach you how to box.
Girl:But you're a girl!
Nell:I am woman!(does a little shake)
Nell Carter made a great statement when she said people didn't like her character.She said if they really did understand the plot they would know that Nell was best friends with the mother and when she died she wanted her to take care of her kids.The came Cosby.I think they were COMPLETELY WRONG when they said "The Cosby Show" saved a network.Whatabout "FOL"?Diff'rent Strokes?"Silver Spoons"?"Family Ties"?"Cheers"?"The A-Team"?"Riptide"?Hah!!!!!!!!Then came "Frank's Place".I think they spent way too much time on this show.I don't think they should've even mentioned it.They coulda split that time to talk about "227"(Marla Gibbs was there being interviewed) and "Amen"(So was Sherman Helmsley).Then after that everythig was mixed up.There was no "line" anymore.They talked about FOX's shows then on to UPN back to FOX then back to UPN.Talked about "Hughleys" and "Parkers".Never mentioned "Kenan & Kel".

Overall Grade:B+
Variety:D
Drama:C
Comedy:A

[Sitcomwriter]

comedy was the best.Worst was drama!

[Superbatboy]

I only watched the comedy portion. I liked it. I thought it was thorough and informative. The only thing I thought they did wrong, was not mentioning Family Matters as one of the bigger black sitcoms of the 90's. Because it was. Though it was never a huge hit like The Cosby Show, it still was and still is ABC's highest rated sitcom with an all black cast.

I never knew about that show Julia. That must've been groudbreaking television back in the 60's. But from the clips, it didn't seem like it was that funny.