TMP Television Edition: Family

It's the last Thursday of the month, people. That means Thursday Movie Picks, hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, is...er...not about movies. It's about TV. Specifically, this edition is about family. You know family - those people you're stuck with so you figure out how to love them...or you don't and just don't talk to them unless you (or they) REALLY need something. Yeah, those folks. The number of TV shows about them is practically infinite, so my only problem is narrowing it down to a few to post here. Well, I go a little help since I used one of my potential choices last month. Oh well, now I'm picking from infinity minus one. Let's do this.

Roc

(1991-94)

Family: The Emersons

Unlike most sitcoms about families, there are no children in this one. Our hero is Roc (Charles S. Dutton), a hard working garbage man in Baltimore who lives with his loving wife Eleanor (Ella Joyce). He's also got his retired dad Andrew (Carl Gordon) staying with him. His irresponsible brother Joey (Rocky Carroll) doesn't live there, but is constantly around. The show had a nice mix of humor and social commentary without going overboard on either. Dutton and the entire cast was fantastic. Most notable, every episode of season two was televised live. No small feat. Unfortunately, this was one of those shows with a passionate following that wasn't large enough to sustain it.

South Central

(1994)

Family: The Moseleys

Suffering the same fate as Roc, even from the same network and airing on the same night, was this show about a family navigating life in South Central, Los Angeles. Our focal point was teenager Andre, played by Larenz Tate fresh off of his dynamic big-screen performance in Menace II Society. Mom Joan (Tina Lifford) is divorced and raising two other kids along with Andre, Tasha (Tasha Scott) and Deion (Keith Mbulo). It was a sitcom, but it was definitely a heavy show. Critics loved it. No one watched it. After only ten episodes, it was gone.

Everybody Hates Chris

(2005-09)

Family: The Rocks???

There is a question mark next to the family name because their last name is never mentioned. We can only assume it's Rock because this show is based on the teenage years of famed comedian Chris Rock, here played by Tyler James Williams, as he is growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, New York in the 1980s. He lived with his mom and dad, Rochelle (Tichina Arnold) and Julius (Terry Crews), his brother Drew (Tequan Richmond), and sister Tonya (Imani Hakim). Being a New Yorker who grew up during the same time period as the setting of the show, it touched on just about every aspect of my own childhood. I recognize the situations and the people who populate every episode, and it all makes me laugh uncontrollably. Unlike my previous picks, this show did make some noise. It earned three Emmy nominations, plus a number of other award noms. In 2007, the American Film Institute named it one of the ten best TV series of that year.


Since I like cartoons, and I'm in a laughing mood, I've got more.

The Jackson 5ive

(1971-72)

The Family: The Jacksons

Yes, this is based on the exploits of music's most famous family/boy group The Jackson Five. Truthfully, I don't remember many details of the show. I just remember watching it as a kid who was a very big fan of prepubescent Michael Jackson, just like the rest of the country. The fact it only lasted a year almost doesn't matter because of what it represents. Think of the racial climate of the country in the early 1970s and imagine how huge this group had to be to get their own Saturday morning cartoon.

The Proud Family

(2001-05)

The Family: The Prouds

This Disney Channel show follows the exploits of Penny Proud (Kyla Pratt) and her zany family. As you might imagine for a Disney show, it mostly focused on fairly general growing up stuff, but it did it well and with a cast almost exclusively made up of people of color. That cast included Tommy Davidson (In Living Color), Soleil Moon-Frye (Punky Brewster), Paula Jai Parker (Ray Donovan), Aries Spears (Mad TV), Tara Strong (tons of animated work, including lots of Batman), and Carlos Mencia.

The Boondocks

(2005-14)

The Family: The Freemans

Ten year old militant Huey P. Freeman and his thugged out eight year old brother Riley live with their grandfather Robert (John Witherspoon). They have all recently moved into a predominantly white neighborhood and encounter all sorts of crazy situations. The word poignant was made for this show as it examined race from every possible angle, and did so hilariously. It also looked at lots of other subjects with a sharp eye. The show started as a newspaper comic strip and transferred wonderfully to the screen, drawing inspiration from everything from blaxploitation to kung-fu flicks to anime. All of it with a distinct hip-hop flair. However, with its liberal use of four-letter words and reputation as a "black" show meant the network it called home, The Cartoon Network was never quite sure what to do with it, often relegating it to ultra-late, irregular, and oft-changing slot times. Look at the years it was on - 2005 to 2014. Sounds like a long run, but the show only had four seasons stretched out over that time. Sad. Still, I love every minute of it and, like Everybody Hates Chris, it's among my all-time faves. Oh, I almost forgot one of my favorite aspects of the show. The two little boys the show focuses on are both voiced by the marvelous Regina King, doing some of her best work.

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