Word: sitcoms
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...with Weeds, some will believe the subject matter cannot be funny because it should not be. Neither sitcom is for those who want easy answers from TV. The rest of us will be hooked. --By James Poniewozik
...Showtime president Robert Greenblatt told Ridley he wanted Barbershop to be a kind of urban-comedy M*A*S*H--a sitcom that would take a hit movie in a new direction. Before Greenblatt took over at Showtime, his production company made Ridley's UPN drama Platinum, a savvy look at the hip-hop business. Ridley also wrote Undercover Brother, a 2002 send-up of blaxploitation movies. "He's a really funny writer but also very intelligent," says Greenblatt. "I thought he would bring the right combination of humor and analysis to the series...
Truth be told, the movie Barbershop was sitcom-like to begin with, and not in a bad way. Most of the funniest gags came not from the wispy plot but from people standing around talking. And along with the broader humor were flashes of commentary, notably a controversial rant from a character played by Cedric the Entertainer, who said Rosa Parks was an overrated civil rights hero and "ain't do nothing but sit her black ass down...
...fall is the Rock-produced Everybody Hates Chris on UPN, in which a white kid uses the N word during a fight scene. October brings an animated version of Aaron McGruder's militantly funny comic strip The Boondocks to Cartoon Network. Ridley, once a writer on Martin Lawrence's sitcom Martin, says that means there is more pressure to stand out. "When I started out," he says, "black TV was very limited--Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Homeboys in Outer Space. Now they're raising the bar. We can't just give people more of the movie. They can get that...
...running, is, how's the video? Truth is, I wasn't bowled over. You're not going to get any pleasure watching Full Metal Jacket or The House of Flying Daggers on your Slingbox, but Family Guy and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart are passable. Think "sitcom" or better yet, "animated sitcom...