The Boondocks

The Boondocks follows two black kids from inner-city Chicago who've been sent to live with their rich uncle in the suburbs. The story itself is not hugely important, but it provides the set up for what this show does best - social satire and biting political commentary.

The whole show acts as window through which the writer expresses his viewpoint as a true disillusioned 'African American'. So rarely does it seem that any black TV writer gets the opportunity to express their views this way without having to conform to the rules of mainstream American society. Thankfully, Aaron McGruder (creator) uses this opportunity to its fullest. The show is controversial, in-your-face and often downright offensive. Never before have I heard the 'N-bomb' dropped so many times in a show.

This may seem like a terrible thing, but it's only offensive to the people that, quite frankly, deserve to be offended. The 'N-bomb' is only overused because it is overused in real life. Much like other great satire, it uses these shock tactics to help highlight the ridiculous elements that exist in African American culture and (more broadly) American politics.

The Boondocks is thoughtful, obscene and incredibly funny. Everything it should be.

You Have Been Watching

Took a trip down to BBC Television Studios yesterday to catch the filming of Charlie Brooker's You Have Been Watching. I happen to think, much like many in my age-group, that Brooker is somewhat of a demi-god, so I couldn't pass up the opportunity to see the filming of his series live.

I've seen quite a few TV filmings in my time and I was still pretty taken aback by how long it was. The recording lasted around 3h30 for a show that's half an hour in length. Fun as it was, I'll admit that I was pretty anxious to leave by the end of it.

Brooker was brilliant. Charismatic, witty and yet somehow just a bit shy. From the moment he walked on the audience were putty in his hands, laughing at everything he said, mainly because it was all hilarious. Great script and some hilarious ad-libbing. He was by far the most entertaining of the bunch.

The show itself suffers from some fairly big flaws. It's actually a reasonable comedy panel show but it's just terrible as a TV review show. In that 'panel' format, it's very hard to say anything honest about a programme because everything you say has to be 'funny'. The show quickly descended into being simply about who can insult the most creatively and ridicule anyone that did like it.

This gets a bit annoying after a while. I had to sit through more than 3 hours of people never really saying anything. David Baddiel seemed particularly prone to this. He had a notebook of one-liners prepared that he left slightly off-stage, seemingly just so that he could get some extra time on camera.

I've always respected Brooker's honesty. One of his greatest qualities, in fact. Whether good or bad, he expresses his opinions passionately and unreservedly, whilst still managing to connect with the reader/viewer. I've watched several TV series only because he has talked about them with such vigour and excitement. This show just lacks that entirely and it's a little dull to watch. I'm sure that, once edited, it'll be a fun show eventually added to Dave's programming schedule but don't expect too much from it.

The season premieres this Thursday 15th April at 10pm, Channel 4. I'll obviously be watching to try and catch myself in the audience because I'm that goddamn cool.


P.S. I managed to get these pretty bitchin' pictures of my sister and I with the Tardis. Fuck yeah!