Highly Melanated Podcast
Hosted by PJ, Blair & Red A safe space for you to enjoy every bit of your melanin no matter how "melanated" you are in skin tone, we are ALL Highly Melanated.Come enjoy funny and dynamic conversations that people of color face on a day to day basis with various topics such as loving ourselves, knowing who we are as a people and uplifting each other with a mix of class and rachetness (CLATCHETNESS)
Highly Melanated Podcast
Black Television's Evolution and Impact
What does Black television reveal about our culture, and how has its evolution shaped the way we see ourselves?
When the hosts of Highly Melanated reunite after a brief hiatus, they dive deep into the powerful impact Black sitcoms have had across generations. Their conversation traces the journey from Family Matters to Insecure, examining how each era of Black television addressed specific cultural needs and challenged prevailing narratives.
The 80s and 90s sitcoms deliberately showcased stable Black family structures to counter harmful stereotypes, creating spaces where Black families could see themselves reflected positively on screen. Shows like The Cosby Show and Family Matters didn't just entertain – they modeled constructive approaches to real-world problems that resonated with viewers gathering around their television sets.
As the conversation shifts to present-day Black television, the hosts identify a striking pattern: the rise of complex Black women's stories. Series like Girlfriends, Insecure, and Harlem have centered educated, independent Black women navigating love and career while simultaneously addressing broader cultural issues like gentrification. These shows embrace messier narratives and eschew simple moral lessons, reflecting our community's growing comfort with complexity.
Looking toward television's future, the hosts envision programming that addresses the mental health crisis affecting Black communities. They lament the premature cancellation of promising Black shows while celebrating the enduring role of music in Black storytelling – from iconic theme songs to the showcasing of emerging Black musical talent.
This thoughtful analysis of Black television's past, present, and future reveals how these shows serve as both mirror and window, validating our experiences while offering visions of what could be. When Black creators control our narratives, the result isn't just entertaining – it's revolutionary.
What shows made you feel truly seen? Join the conversation by following us on social media and subscribing wherever you get your podcasts.
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Oh my god, before we get started, I missed you guys.
Speaker 2:That's all. I missed you guys too.
Speaker 3:Oh, I missed the both of you.
Speaker 1:You want to get started.
Speaker 2:Sure.
Speaker 1:At least this is recording this time. That's all. That's better. I don't know what it is, but I just love being black bj here what up doe?
Speaker 2:it's your girl, blair. You know mel melanin was popping yesterday, it's popping today and it's shown up gonna be popping tomorrow it's your boy, red, and you're listening to the Highly Melanated Podcast.
Speaker 1:Hey guys, hey guys, hey guys, welcome back y'all. Welcome back to another episode of Highly Melanated Podcast, the safe space where it's okay to realize that you switch timelines because you know you had a conversation with someone and they swear you did not have it if you didn't notice it, but he's talking about blair.
Speaker 2:He thinks he's talking about blair, I promise you. I mean, I guess there's a chance, but I personally do not recall us having this conversation, because I didn't yeah.
Speaker 3:No, that's right, you better suck your teeth. I did.
Speaker 2:I've been hanging out with Caribbeans Like yeah, the fuck right, I've been hanging out with a lot of Caribbeans.
Speaker 1:They say soups in all day.
Speaker 2:The teeth sucking has been so intense.
Speaker 1:PJ is just glad to be here. Y'all, I'm glad I came.
Speaker 3:Alrighty, then I want to come too, like I just I don't even know if that went too well, but I'm glad to be here. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 2:This is a PG podcast. Keep it clean PG.
Speaker 3:Don't be lying to people like that.
Speaker 2:NC17. Okay, yeah, nc17 is more appropriate. Yeah, that's more appropriate.
Speaker 3:That's more appropriate. That's more like okay, I'm just glad to be here too, I'm glad to see you, you beautiful faces again.
Speaker 2:I am also just glad to be here. Um, gotta give a shout out to, uh, the person who actually made it possible for us to record today. In case you guys were wondering, we were on a hiatus. We always are on hiatus, you guys know that, but this time it was for a very specific reason. My computer had some malfunctions and was not working properly, and thanks to one, mr Christopher R We'll refer to him as he hooked me up and brought me back to digital life. As everybody should thank him by going and following his podcast that will be coming out shortly. Good, bad and different.
Speaker 1:Give him a follow as a thank you to his role in supporting the highly melanated podcast yes oh, and I'm blair, by the way okay, and the gang is back, y'all, and it's so funny, because what was that? Like three, three weeks ago, three like three or four weeks ago, and then then the week before that we tried recording and I didn't hit record, so you guys never heard that episode.
Speaker 2:You got the last five minutes of us realizing that we did not record. Lord have mercy.
Speaker 3:Let me tell you something it was a good episode.
Speaker 1:So we're still waiting for Chris to, we're waiting for him to join the band Reagan Bang a ring, and so we're still waiting for Chris to we're waiting for him to join the band, reagan, and to add to the tally.
Speaker 3:let me tell you something that last episode was really good too. We were very, we were very annoyed and very upset, but we just keep pushing forward session to ourselves.
Speaker 1:So you know it was mental health awareness month and, like the conversation was geared towards that and you know, you know, sometimes, sometimes a check-in is what you really need and sometimes it's not all for public consumption. So that's the, that's the angle that I'm going with it. Um, I was beating myself up and blair was uh, don't do it please don't.
Speaker 2:There really ain't no reason to.
Speaker 1:I've been where you've been. You don't want to be.
Speaker 2:I know, don't do it.
Speaker 1:Don't do it, you know but but we're here, we're back. So in the meantime, guys, how have you been 80s first?
Speaker 2:OK, you know I'm doing pretty good. Doing pretty good. Just things are so slow in the industry right now so it's kind of like it's a little frustrating. Those of you guys who also live the creative, like artist's life everybody knows that when things are slow you can get very frustrated and very agitated. But I'm trying my best to work through that. I went to Puerto Rico, hey.
Speaker 1:I saw that. I went to Puerto Rico did you post any of this?
Speaker 2:I posted like one story I saw that one story. I was like, what beach is she on? I was on the beaches of San Juan. It was for my sister-in-law's surprise birthday party that my brother planned. It was lovely. It was a much needed, short little getaway. I enjoyed my time immensely. I decided that I'm going to try to do more vacations this year, which is funny because it's like I'm making less money this year, but this is the year that I decided to spend money, so make it make sense.
Speaker 1:But you know, that's how you make more money. Is it it is? It is you have to, you have to spend? Say one more time you have to spend. Is it you have to spend? Say it one more time. Is it? You have to spend what you have. You can't hoard it. Okay, you have to, so more can come in. Just don't overspend.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I'm never in danger of that Blair's frugal self just keeps making up her face like no way. Very frugal self, yeah.
Speaker 1:But remember hello. Face like no way very frugal, so yeah, but remember hello. You know this other one of the jobs I got here today gone, tomorrow spend it just don't spend it all this is the important part is to make sure that you're spending it wisely and you're doing things that you love.
Speaker 2:So well, that's the thing. That's why I'm like, okay, I'm gonna spend it doing things that I enjoy doing so for the memories.
Speaker 1:All those times I spent money on those strippers.
Speaker 2:those were memories I don't really see it like that. That's not beneficial. It's beneficial to the strippers.
Speaker 3:It's beneficial to somebody.
Speaker 2:Well, there you go. The more you know, definitely, the more you know. Rainbow, have you been BJ?
Speaker 1:I've been doing very well actually. You know what, okay. Okay, let's be real honest for a second. I wasn't doing the greatest for a short period of time.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:And I realized it's because the shift was happening and presently, right now, all right, we're gonna start talking astrology. Talk right, real quick. Um, there's a part of my chart um, not the app, y'all the actual neonatal chart. Um, that is chiron, and chiron is a very centralized part of my chart. Nobody knows who this chiron person is. Chiron is an asteroid.
Speaker 1:Um, let's just say that chiron is about healing and about, like, your wounds and about, um, your trauma and stuff like that. And the crazy part about it is that people who have this certain type of Chiron complex are usually people who use their story to help others. It's crazy, and when I really researched this and I was like, oh my gosh, this is you know, and all these different changes has been going on, I've been feeling like I needed something, um, something new, something fresh, um, something bold, daring, um. So in the next few weeks shout out to it is pride month, y'all. Um, in the next few weeks, I do have um another podcast starting oh my goodness, yeah, highly melanated is not going anywhere, guys, unless these two say they don't want to do it no more.
Speaker 1:But it's a new one with another Chris. It's so many y'all keep popping up, stay away, huh Get away from us.
Speaker 1:There's healing in this, because you know the reason why, right. So now, like all the chrises are coming in, I'm okay with it. Um, but he, his name is christopher or king christopher, not chris. Um, you can follow him on tiktok, uh, as, am I really healed or heal with chris? Actually, um, and we've known each other for a while and he's another Libra, oh my God, I just realized that this is not the same Chris, but I love talking to him and like we've had such intellectual conversations and like really vulnerable, honest conversations, and we've done a show before on like a different streaming app, and so you know, know, I was like we should get this started. And he lives in tennessee, um, great guy, and so shout out to wowita, that's the podcast wowita wowita no wowita wowita, what is that shorthand for?
Speaker 1:What are we even talking about?
Speaker 2:I don't know.
Speaker 1:Okay, wawita, yeah, so I'm actually really excited. We have six episodes already recorded. It's just, you know, trying to do things a little differently and trying to get a better handle on social media. Now, good luck, good luck, good luck. But I've been doing well because of that and then also like going into the Whole place.
Speaker 3:For those of you that don't know out there, PJ just got a phone call and he is smiling from ear to ear Shut up.
Speaker 1:I'm recording a podcast right now. I'll hit you right back. Let me put this on silent. He was supposed to come over. Anyway, let me make sure I cut this part out, nerd, but anyway. So that's been happening and I'm really excited to get that started. That started, um, and then also on the other, I'm finally like moving through a lot of triggers and realizing some things and trying to get better relationships with people in my life, like family members, and then learning to like let certain things go, which might mean need to let them go as well. So there's been a lot of good things that have been happening.
Speaker 2:You know what that is. Growth?
Speaker 1:I've been watching a lot of those insecure little clips on my YouTube. I've missed that show. What about you, Chris?
Speaker 3:I've been keeping myself busy. Um, I recently got some headshots done because I I wanted some new media and some new um stuff to add to my portfolio. Um, I'm creating a website and um I didn't tell you guys this, but I recently did an audition for a stage play, a classical stage play, antigone, and I got the lead male role.
Speaker 2:Hey, that's what I've been.
Speaker 3:Congratulations. Thank you. So I've been sitting here trying to memorize all these damn pages, because the show is going to be in July and I'm busy with that.
Speaker 2:Where is it showing?
Speaker 3:it's going to be on 36th street. Don't get me to lie on the exact location, but 36th street it'll be. I think it's the 17th, 18th and 19th of July, I think, or 18th, 18th and 19th of July, I think, or 18th, 19th, 20th, one of those three. And this will probably be the biggest stage play that I've ever done. I've never done a classical piece.
Speaker 2:And so I'm excited you get to practice your old English I know right.
Speaker 1:I mean, you already talk like that anyway. You know it's so easy. I am so excited for you, jeeves. I am so excited for you.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a throwback. Not, jeeves, that's a throwback that jeems.
Speaker 1:That's a throwback when I tell you right now I was on the bus when you posted your pictures for your new headshots and I was like that's my dog man go, kylie go that was you're doing amazing sweetie, I was on your first round of headshots and compared to these. Now you've been in the game for a minute now Period. This is what happens. This is how it all began. Period Not this but you know what I mean Period.
Speaker 3:Now I just need real in-the-game money and deals. I'm awake for it. I'm awake for it. It's coming. I'm not wait for it. I'm gonna wait for it.
Speaker 1:It's coming, it's coming during this time, because production is slow and things like that. This is a great time to start doing your headshots, do your website, like you're doing right now, and start either going to like networking events or like still just putting yourself out there and doing working more on your craft during this time.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, so it's been really good. That's like I said before keeping myself busy that's still but it is.
Speaker 3:It is what is happening right now is that it's summertime. So my question a week question. A week question a week, question a your questions as they pertain to you prospectively and introspectively. My question to you, lovely people, because it's about to be like 100 degrees next week. I don't know if y'all guys saw that I did Like 100 degrees on Tuesday. So now that summer is here unofficially, what are five things that Five, all right, we can bring it down to three.
Speaker 1:This is only an hour long show Two.
Speaker 3:Well, we started late, we was touching up, all right, all right. Two things, two things. What are two things that motherfuckers out there must have for summer? What do we, what must you have? What do out there must have for summer? What must you have, what people must have? Because for me and I'm just going to put this out there real quick because maybe it's the easiest one, but it's also the one that bothered me the most- I was going to say we're about to say the same thing Deodorant.
Speaker 3:Deodorant? Okay, because I was at the gym and this nigga was not fresh oh my god, I was.
Speaker 2:I was on the bus and somebody was standing. It was awful. It was straight up body odor. I had to put my sweatshirt over my nose. I was like what the fuck it was crazy.
Speaker 3:How do you overload your nose so much that everything, once you leave the vicinity, everything smells like iron? That's how bad it was. It was bad.
Speaker 2:I'm right there with you. It was bad. I was like I had a headache from smelling this man. I was like I had a headache from smelling this man. I was like I had to get up and move. I was like I can't be down one of you. I was like I can't be down one of you.
Speaker 3:That's right, pj.
Speaker 2:Check yourself too, because like deodorant is on my list of things that everybody must have, and I mean a deodorant that works. I don't want that, you know. Oh, it's all. It's a. It's a sketch. I just made my self-adventure in crystals that I set out in the moon. No, I need something that is going to kill the bacteria that lives in the sweat underneath your armpit folds. That's what I believe in.
Speaker 3:That's definitely number one.
Speaker 2:I took a jade pebble and I cleansed it in natural water and I set it out overnight so it could absorb the elements and I rubbed that on my armpits. Nah, that ain't gonna cut it.
Speaker 3:Nah, you just need to burn your clothes after that because what the hell?
Speaker 1:I'm gonna stay quiet for the most part because of the three of us I'm the one who expires the most, so I can tell you, I know when, like for me, I know when it's happening. That's why I walk around with deodorant, not ax body spray you're not part that, but you are part of the solution.
Speaker 3:You're not part of the problem, you're part of the solution. Thank you so much. Right, because we know that people, they expire, we're not saying that, but you can't get to the point where it doesn't you smell like I don't know, like sewage or like whatever, like that's crazy.
Speaker 2:For our listeners. I'm doing a visual here, so like when you smell it and it reaches up into, like, your tear ducts. Like that, when you smell it in your tear ducts, that's not okay. No, it's not okay. So, yes, I'm gonna need everybody to have deodorodorants with them as we are reaching the higher temperatures. And the second thing people are going to PJ is taking a picture of us because he's using this as photographic evidence for something and the fact that I'm sitting here in my bonnet, who are you sending this picture to?
Speaker 1:and I am not posting this because you're like this. This was not. Who are you?
Speaker 2:sending this picture to.
Speaker 1:I know you know better than to post it.
Speaker 2:I know you know better than to post it, but who are you sending it? To sending it? To anybody, you're a.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh, I just got into it with someone for calling me a liar. Here's the thing. We are so off the subject. I don't like that. Don't call me that, because I know I'm not. It hurts my feelings.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry, you're a fibber, is that better? No, I'm just kidding, I apologize. I apologize, pj, I do, you're not a liar. I apologize, pj, I do, you're not a liar, I just. I need you to prove to me, I just need you to prove to me that you're not sending it to anybody.
Speaker 1:I'm not sending it.
Speaker 2:Well, it's just for your core memories. Huh, fair enough. She's like I know where you live, nigga, I do. He also knows where I live. So the second thing you know what. You know what might not hurt for people to have. Well, I guess it's in the same family, so I won't go there. You know what you also need to have with you as we're reaching the higher temperatures. Keep some water with you. Keep some water with you. Hydration is important. Yes, um, it's all the craze right now to have some type of portable water bottle, a stanley or a hydro flask or a whatever. Fill it up.
Speaker 3:Have it with you or if you don't want to carry, they have those backpacks that have the liquid in them. You can get that too. Oh, I have the straw in your mouth and it's so small.
Speaker 1:Yes, yep, key thing y'all. And you know, while we're also in these summer months, um, understand this. We, we believe, as black people, that we need to make sure that we stay moisturized, right. Lotion makes you sweat, which is why we say all the way from the beginning you gotta have more butters. Where's the shea butter? So, invest in some shea butter and not use lotion on your body and use that because you're gonna sweat more with lotion.
Speaker 3:Um, random as fuck I know no, I mean it's helpful because some people don't know stuff like I'm a firm believer. Here's the thing. Even without you saying that, I'm a firm believer that you should know what works for your body. Don Don't be out here all slippery, stinky and dehydrated Like what the hell? Oily-ass beef jerky.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's unfortunate Baloney.
Speaker 1:I'm sorry we weren't even talking about us with that one.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, but I'm just imagining somebody smelling like baloney.
Speaker 2:B-O-L-O-G-N-A.
Speaker 1:We already know which people those are.
Speaker 2:I always used to be so confused as to how that was bologna, I was like, but that is not phonetically how you would spell bologna I always call it bologna bologna.
Speaker 1:So, to answer your question, um, I invested in a floor AC, like a portable AC, because my living room is a sauna. During the summer, I stay in the bedroom. That's why, remember, we used to do the podcast back there and you'd be like you're breaking up. You're breaking up. It's because the router's out here Shout out to I'm about to have Verizon come in and switch it all up. We're about to go to Verizon now, but this thing is huge, but it works.
Speaker 2:Hey Luke, whatever is the job done, Whatever makes it happen.
Speaker 1:I mean it's hotter in the other room because it for some reason it blows out hot air in the back. Maybe it's the setting, I don't know. But I also can't see because I don't have my glasses, so sounds so old you be sounding so old.
Speaker 2:I'm over here talking about my knees cracking you over here talking about you. Can't see without your glasses okay, listen, my feet been hurting. Oh lord. Well, that sounds about right, and also okay.
Speaker 1:And one other thing that I'm going to need everybody to have and I think this is an essential for me, especially during the summertime is like the ability to mind your fucking business because you can get correct. Ok, it's too hot. Y'all in my face, they're asking dumb questions, leave me alone. Mind your business in the heat, because people will snap. That's an essential thing.
Speaker 2:This is true People will snap.
Speaker 1:Mind your business, stay inside. Mind your business, stay inside.
Speaker 3:It's funny I've already started seeing a whole bunch of fight videos going on, so you know the heat is already starting to get to people.
Speaker 2:Not fight. Videos not Worldstar, no, listen. Did we cancel the Worldstar?
Speaker 3:No listen, can't we cancel?
Speaker 2:Worldstar.
Speaker 3:I don't think it was Worldstar, I think I saw it on Facebook. But like and I don't typically watch those videos, but like I was just watching how everything like went down, it was inside some club, I don't even know where, but it was like a 30-man brawl. It was freaking crazy, was it Atlanta?
Speaker 2:I don't know if it was Atlanta, but y'all be fighting.
Speaker 1:The girls are fighting, aren't they? I tell you, AOC is now. That is my new line. Ooh, the girls are fighting.
Speaker 2:Ooh, the girls are fighting, aren't they? Yeah, also, I don't like that because it's Anyway.
Speaker 1:You don't like they're fighting. I don't like that, because like it's there anyway. You don't like they're fighting or you don't like.
Speaker 2:I don't like the term. The girls are fighting, aren't they? Why? Because it's it's another one of those like where it lumps like women to get. Women are emotional, Women are fighting and you know, if you act like that then you're an emotional like woman and it's it's. It's it's low key, demeaning.
Speaker 1:So you know the way she said it was, because they're a couple, Elon, and you know. So they're going through a public breakup.
Speaker 2:Well, apparently Elon circled back, circled the block, so of course this country is going to hell.
Speaker 1:So in a handbasket, apparently, elon circled back, circled the block. Of course this country is going to hell. In a handbasket Minus the handbasket, okay, a handbasket with holes in the bottom, just a handle.
Speaker 2:Hold on to this. So, since we are going to hell in a handbasket, let's, let's, let's try to focus on things that bring us joy. Happier times happier mean like, as you guys know, my production company we've been focusing on 90s classic black sitcoms hey girl, hey, hey girl, hey. I've been kind of stuck in that realm of thought for a while and that's where I kind of wanted to bring today's episode to. But I would just love for us to take some time to talk about the impact that Black television has had, not only on the culture, but like how it, how it's a representation of Black culture and how it impacts the way Black culture behaves or reacts, based on, like, what we're seeing on TV. And I thought maybe the way we could format it is as a like a past, present, future kind of thing. So thinking about like the classic Black sitcoms of the past and when I say past I mean like the 80s to the 2000s. Let's just focus on that couple of decades and then for the present, we'll think like 2000, 2025. And then the future we'll get there later, but that's like what's to come.
Speaker 2:But I personally feel like each genre of what we've kind of seen on television has a very specific kind of like messaging with the shows that were like happening at that time. So I just kind of love for us to talk about that a little bit, since we all have our own favorites, you know TV shows and we quote them all the time and all that stuff. So I'll kind of lead us off by starting with. I just love for everybody to kind of say like what their favorite, if they had to say like what their either go-to or favorite black TV sitcom of the past, like from the 80s to the 2000s, and that's like our past, cause like we were born in the 80s, so 80s to the 2000s, and that's like our past, because like we were born in the 80s, so 80s to the 2000s, like what you would say your favorite show was and then what you feel the messaging and impact of that show was single.
Speaker 2:I'm glad I got my kick your head up. Boy, kick your head up, that's right, okay. So you would say, living single is yours.
Speaker 1:I've been thoroughly enjoying watching the reliving single podcast reliving single but living single is definitely my absolute favorite, like, if it's on, I mean shout out to Dabble here in New York. So I watch that all the time. But when I'm not watching anything else, living Single. But if I was to go further back, see, then I'm dating myself, because I know that you both didn't watch this maybe, maybe not, but this is what yours is what's happening?
Speaker 2:okay, I did not. Did not. What was it about the show that you really enjoyed?
Speaker 1:I thought one of the characters were cute. No, but it was it was. It reminded me of family members like Dee with her smart mouth, roger with like. Did you? Do you know the characters at all that I'm saying?
Speaker 1:yes, I'm familiar okay, you're like okay, sure, never seen this before. Because rogers, uh, the actor he spoke at my fifth grade graduation, um, and I think I was like one of the few people who knew who he was, um, but like I was like a big fan, like I really loved that show when I was growing up and it was just all about finding a handy hangout spot and the things that people get into or things that they want to learn. I haven't rewatched it as of late as an adult to see what the real messages were, but I did love that as a kid. But in the 90s and the 2000s, um, it was all living single for me, all living single.
Speaker 2:So and then what do you feel like was the? So I think there's two angles here. It's how was that, or whatever show you want to talk about, how do you feel like that show was a representation of black culture at that time and what do you think? What kind of impact do you think that that show had on where black culture was going?
Speaker 1:well crazy part is like for black culture itself because, uh, for me, individually, I mean, I think that living single was really based on and was helping black women see their strength in who they are and who they could be and all the different things that they were, um, as far as being a lawyer, as far as being a business owner, as far as you know, even okay. So then you've got kyle being a sorry brock, uh, stock broker and then um over to him being a handyman, which is okay, um, but I think that it helped bring the culture forward in a sense that you can do multiple things. You can do multiple things, you can have multiple degrees, you can have a lot of things to do, um, and be successful. And there are a lot of people in this world who became lawyers because of Maxine Shaw, you know, and the Maverick Okay, ride the Maverick.
Speaker 1:And there's a lot of people in this world that you know want to do social media, and social media was nothing more, is nothing more than a digital magazine, which is what flavor flavor was about. Not flavor flavor, but flavor magazine was about. You know, so like it was a great representation of seeing just beautiful black people live in this beautiful apartment that I love how TV makes these New York style apartments look nothing like what they look like on the inside. What format is this? What open concept is this? But it looks great, even like the Cosby show, you know.
Speaker 2:So that's my answer love that for now, for now, for now right because it could change, it could I mean, and that's that's why we're having a discussion, because, like I'm hoping that, like one of us will, or, like you know, like we can, I think we all kind of have like the same collective like base, but like we each kind of have and that's the purpose of this podcast we each have our own spin on it. So, chris, what would you point to as kind of like the quintessential black television show of the past?
Speaker 3:Quintessential is a very heavy word, it is.
Speaker 3:That's why I gave it to you yeah, it's hard to say what would be the quintessential, because that that that's like foundational and basics. But what I found myself often gravitating towards is, um is old Black sitcoms that were very grounded, a lot of like family stuff. I found myself often going towards or watching family members, family matters and even Fresh Prince, and when I think about it now, you know, with Family Matters, you know I won't, I won't scale the shows in terms of like you know what was better or which one was the best, but what I found with Family Matters I'm thinking about it now is that there was a lot of family structure that was like mimicked in what was in my household, right, in what was in my household, right, like Carl was a police officer, my dad is a police officer, you know and it was always around. It was always centered around the idea of doing the right thing, in particular when it came to like family matters.
Speaker 3:I remember a couple of episodes, but one of them was when, uh, they were having issues with gun violence in the neighborhood and, um, you know, carl was trying to do the right thing by having a, uh, uh, what do you call it A gun? Um, what do you call it a gun drop-off, and I remember the guy was with a child and the child really wanted him to get rid of the gun because basically he knew it was the right thing and he wanted to be safe. So he dropped off the gun and then that was kind of like the whole point of essentially making our communities better. Do we need those things? I mean, you know, in this political climate, I know that the argument is there that we should always have the right to bear arms, but you know at what expense? At what expense, at what cost does that look like? And even Fresh Prince, fresh Prince, I remember the episode when Will got shot and Will was protecting Carlton and it was a very emotional moment.
Speaker 2:Someone went out and bought a gun.
Speaker 3:Right, and you know it was. It was a lot, but it is all centered around this idea of we want to make our communities whole. We want to do better, and there's always a different way. So what is that lesson that we're going to take back with us?
Speaker 2:Mm-hmm, mm-hmm. How do you feel like those shows impacted where Black culture was going, or like influenced what Black culture became?
Speaker 3:I think it offered an outlet that sometimes people didn't have right. Some people, I think, have not the best situations or broken homes for various reasons, and so for a lot of people, they use TVs and entertainment as a way of distracting or even babysitting. You know those kids and I think some of the lessons that are there are embedded in the community, because what happened I don't know if he's going to face you all right.
Speaker 1:Oh no, while y'all are talking, I just got an email and I'm like I signed up for something and I need to unsubscribe.
Speaker 2:You got a very I was like. I was like what happened?
Speaker 1:I'm like the fuck Okay.
Speaker 3:So I think that provided an outlet for people to think of alternative solutions. It would be interesting to take numbers, actual hardcore numbers, and see, like what, how that might have affected communities. Um, because we know that the impact is there, or you just don't know how big of an impact that there is, but I think I think it. It showed some people like we don't have to do it this way, we can think of other solutions.
Speaker 2:I think that you and I had kind of a similar thought pattern when thinking about, like this era of television, because I think we can all agree that like Of course black television.
Speaker 2:Black television is Black television because it's one for Black audiences and it's for Black audiences and it's for other cultures to be able to see Black people in a real way that's not based on stereotypes. That's not. That is actually. That's dispelling stereotypes. It's actually like, truly authentic, and I think that, like, as we continue to talk about past, present and future, I think that that's always the. The underlying theme of any black show that exists is and that's kind of like the, the, the plight that we as black people unfortunately always have to bear, is we're always teaching other people about who we really are and dispelling the myths and the rumors and the lies that have been. You know, that's been the propaganda. So I think in the eighties, in the early two thousands, so many black TV shows were focused on the Black family and the Black family structure. So that's what we saw. We saw with the Cosbys, with the Jeffersons, with Family Matters. That was going to be my show too.
Speaker 2:So many shows from this era were about what does a Black household actually look like? You know, it's dispelling, like the propaganda of, like the broken home. You know, because that's what they wanted people to believe about Black people was that. You know we all came from broken homes, which is not the case. So that's why, like, that's part of the reason why people love the Cosby show so much, because it showed like an affluent black family living a normal life and that's really like what black people wanted to see on TV because it was, it was aspirational, it was a reflection of, like, what actually really was happening in the times, the times, and it it went in the face of what the man wanted people to believe about us.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I, I, I picked family matters also because, um, the way that, like the black family structure was set up, um, like you said, we had like a, you know, like a working class you know was set up. Like you said, we had like a, you know, like a working class, you know, family, mom and dad who had real jobs and did real things. And then, you know, you had the kids who went through you know normal teenage angst and all that stuff and how to deal with it. And like real life situations like you were saying, like with the gun exchange, or there was an episode where, like Eddie was drinking and like you know, how did Carl like deal with him with like all of that Like real world problems, that like you could see how to deal with them in a positive way, as opposed to, you know, something that wasn't going to be productive.
Speaker 2:And so I think that in that aspect, it was a reflection of what was happening with, you know, black culture at the time. But it also impacted, just like you were saying, chris, like what we could do, or where we could do, or what we should aspire to to do as far as like resolving whatever issues came up. So I mean, like to me, like that was the focus of black tv messaging back then was to really, you know, stand firm on the black family structure. And I think to me that was like what primarily, like the 80s, 90s, early 2000s were all about.
Speaker 1:You know, I mean I can remember us sitting together, actually as a family, to watch Family Matters, to watch not just the Cosby show, but we didn't do that much with Fresh Prince, but Family Matters was definitely a show. Yeah, my family, we all sat together and watched. Family Matters was definitely a show yeah, my family.
Speaker 2:We all sat together and watched Family Matters because it really did and it really felt like my family too, because, like we were a Midwest family, they lived in Chicago. We lived, you know, 30 minutes outside of Detroit. Like it felt very real to me, like they grew up like in a suburban neighborhood. You know, we grew up in a suburban neighborhood. You know we grew up in a suburban neighborhood. Like it felt like I was watching what could be my own family going through everything. Even I was.
Speaker 2:When I was, when I was a kid growing up, I lived next door to my my two best friends. They were twin girls and we would play house. Everybody knows house, right, it's like where you play make believe, but it's like real life, but it's like so like, you know, nine, ten years old, you know, pretending that we were like teenagers and you know, everybody was like a different person and had a different name or whatever. So I, my persona when we played house, was Laura um, inspired by Laura Winslow, and my boyfriend was Stefan Urkel. You know, because it felt realistic to me.
Speaker 1:Can we just say, can we just agree right now that Laura was the problem? Okay, moving on.
Speaker 2:Ooh.
Speaker 1:I said something. Another topic for another day.
Speaker 2:Put a pin in that one. Put a pin in it. We will revisit in it we will revisit someone.
Speaker 2:Go ahead, I'm sorry okay, so that was the past. Let's move into the present. So we're thinking shows from the early 2000s to till now 2025. So we got 25 years of shows we we want to think about. What is television like for Black TV sitcoms in this era? I'll start us off. I feel like this era, these 25 years, is really focused like the rise of the black woman, like really like focusing all the shows that I really feel like I see are from the first person perspective of a black woman. So shows like girlfriends, insecure um, harlem, um, uh, what's the one with Kyla Pratt um? And Flex Washington. Help me one-on-one.
Speaker 2:One-on-one you know, basically like any black show that I think about in this time frame, all had a black female lead and it was told from like her perspective or what her narrative was, and it was really just about like what black female stories look, like, the type of different black women that you see. So, girlfriends, you had a lawyer, you had a realtor, you had a professional college student in Lynn who never wanted to grow up and be an adult. And then Maya, the working class woman you know the working, you know working class, like women. You had women from all different like stations in life, same thing with you know Harlem and Insecure. And I feel like the this story that you see so much is about the pursuit, like all these women are pursuing love in some way, some form. You know, because black women are so educated black women are. So you know, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Um, it's on the tip of my tongue, I can't speak today. Um, independent, wow, that's it. Independent, wow, black women are so independent that it literally is a quest to find love and that's what we see so many of these characters go through and the story that we see.
Speaker 2:And then I feel like the underlying current or the underlying story is tied to something about the black experience. So like in Insecure, you know it was about Issa and Molly and everybody trying to find, you know, love. But then the secondary storyline to all of that was their relationship with LA. You know, los Angeles, like the black city of Los Angeles, crenshaw, like all like the things that you saw with, like the black experience as far as like that city goes. Same thing with the TV show Harlem. You guys know Harlem is near and dear to my heart but that's also like the storyline there too. All four women looking to you know find love, career, whatever it was, so something that like the piece that was missing that would, quote unquote, fulfill us.
Speaker 2:But then the underlying storyline was like what about the Black experience tied to that city? So in this case the actual city of Harlem, you know, and like all the things that we saw with gentrification and you know how that's changing the Black experience or Black people's experience in Black cities. So I feel like those two things are always kind of going hand in hand with one another in the stories or the TV shows of this era. So I feel like that's the reflection that we see, because that's what's happening in real life. We know that it's so hard for an independent Black woman to find a mate, essentially, so we see that reflected in these storylines so much, and then also, too, just everything that's happening with the Black experience as far as like culture and gentrification. We see that reflected in these storylines too. That's kind of what the present black TV kind of looks like to me, but then again it's probably no surprise that I have that perspective, being a black woman looking for love.
Speaker 3:Well, I, I am.
Speaker 1:Can we talk about that on the?
Speaker 2:show. Maybe I won't say no. Black woman looking for love here at Highly.
Speaker 1:Melanated. We will vet you all. Watch how you come to her, don't come wrong. All right, give me your last four digits of your social, all right.
Speaker 2:Oh my.
Speaker 3:I don't. I think that's from my perspective. I think that's correct. Actually, blair, I think a lot of it is centered around the Black woman. I think a lot of it has undertones of the Black experience.
Speaker 3:What I will say is this and I don't know if it's necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, but when I see a lot of the shows today, well, I shouldn't say a lot. Let's just say some Some of the shows today, for example Insecure. We'll use that because that's a good example. Insecure was very good. That because that's a good example. Insecure was very good. I thought that it was a very good show. I thought it had a very good run.
Speaker 3:But I feel like these shows these days are a lot more complicated. They're not your campy. Oh, let's just watch the Cosbys and then get a good like, um, uh, a good lesson out of it. Um, and I wonder if that's good or bad. And I wonder, um, where it's good and where it's bad. You know what people that does that affect or does that not affect, if that makes any sense, right, because some people need just simple messages and then some people can process like a lot of highly complex thoughts and issues and things like that. You know that's part of one of the reasons why we, you know, we really like insecure.
Speaker 3:You know the three of us, you know because it's so complex, because, because it's complex and we can deal with that, but I wonder if somebody else is kind of just like and kind of misses the whole point or the the, the messages that are that are in there. Yeah, I, it's not Necessarily a bad thing. I do want to see more stories. I don't know if they're necessarily there in the same sense, like you said before, where they're centralized around a Black woman, because I think Black men also need that too, and nothing is really coming to my mind right now that is current, that in doing that and yeah. So I just worried about the complexity of you know, to that point.
Speaker 2:I think that like it's part of the evolution of one television, but also like, what stories do we want represented as the black experience? Essentially Because I think it goes back to just kind of what we were saying before, like back in the 80s and the 2000s it was about dispelling myths about what a black family looks like, and we spent so much time like really like building like that foundation, and now that that foundation exists, we don't have to spend as much time dispelling myths. We can actually really dig more into like what the actual, like black experience is like, and it is complex. And so that's why we see, and why you know people, the three of us, are so drawn to shows like you know, insecure, because it really is. It's, it's reflective of what our experiences are. We, we, we know that you know black people are not a monolith and that we do have complex experiences and and you know environments and behavior and all of that, and it's to me I appreciate seeing that reflected on television.
Speaker 3:And I will say this just before you go, pj. What I will say is this I do also feel that sometimes it's a moving target because we're not staying stationary in time Right Shows that we really loved and enjoyed back then we might still enjoy now, but we also might change because our situation has changed, our outlook on life has changed, or we might remain the same and because we're trapped in this time capsule, if you will, of what we think a really good show is Like. If we want to talk about shows that are a little bit more modernized and are current, that I still relate to and I still love. I'd enjoy Black-ish a lot because that was also centralized around a Black family, but I did not really care for Grown-ish as much because maybe it was harder for me to relate as a. You know I'm an adult man.
Speaker 3:I'm an adult man. I'm all like. All of y'all are stupid and wasting time, like you know. I wish I had these problems in college.
Speaker 2:What are you talking about?
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, get out of here, yeah Right.
Speaker 2:PJ, what about you? What do you feel like the present? You know, in 20 2000 said 25 2000. Wow. What do you think the present, 2000 through 2025? Black television experience is kind of saying, or looks like so, so, interesting enough, I don't think it's saying much now.
Speaker 1:Now you know we can skip past. You know because when it was saying it also, that's when they were using us to build their networks. And then, once they got their whatever they need like with UPN, when UPN became the CW, you know Because, let's go down the list we got one-on-one my wife and kids half and half the game. Everybody hates. Chris, all of us, which I loved, the Bernie Mac show, girlfriends, eve, which I loved I never really got into Proud, I know, but I was all also older for that boondocks. And then you got corey's house, which I think is an extension of the.
Speaker 1:That's all raven um and true jackson, uh, and then those holly perry shows and that's how you lump those together and that is how you address those okay, um, but like when I'm looking up, let me see, let me, let me do this right quick and I'll say black kids sitcoms in the 2020s uh, black as fuck, um, and assisted living, that's what came up.
Speaker 2:Is that an AI generated?
Speaker 1:answer no. This is the list of in 2020 and beyond.
Speaker 2:Who were in these shows. These are actual titles of television shows.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Black as Fuck was created from it's Kenya Barris' show. That was with him and Rachel.
Speaker 2:That show that lasted all of five seconds.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, and we're glad it did, because, goodness, Black-ish. Remember, when Black-ish first started, I was like I don't how many times are we gonna say it because of racism. But you know, really everything is because of racism, but it grew into something that I grew to love. Just like you said, you couldn't get into grown-ish and I definitely couldn't get into mixed-ish. Um, but, and no shade, I wanted to, but it's not like tracy ellis ross was really in the show, so like, but I just couldn't, I, I couldn't relate and it was like also telling stories. And I think now where we are with like sitcoms, like I try to get into the upshores.
Speaker 1:Um, that you know I'm talking about right I I've tried and it's not. Maybe it's because our values have changed, our attention spans have changed.
Speaker 2:Reality tv has ruined it for everyone um you know, but we do you feel like the shows all kind of lack some kind of direction.
Speaker 1:They lack substance. They lack a moral objective, in my opinion, um, because every show, even like moesha, even the parkers, had, like, a moral objective and there was some lesson that was to be learned. There was something that happened, um, and I think now we've gotten so far away from um watching people interact with each other to learn a lesson, versus watching people to interact to cause conflict. It has changed and this is how, as an educator, I see these kids walking into these schools, because reality TV has destroyed it. Whatever these kids are watching, if they're watching anything with their parents, or if their parents are at home, or whatever their home situation is. A lot of this probably was going to go into the next question. He was probably going to ask about representation and why these shows that we watched were so important, and then now, like you know what?
Speaker 3:is there. I mean, what was the? What was the show recently with Wayne's brother? Oh, what was that show with the Wayne's brother? You probably already mentioned it. It wasn't Black as Fuck it was he's the Father.
Speaker 1:Oh, that got canceled. That just got kicked at Daddy's house.
Speaker 3:Daddy's house.
Speaker 1:Okay, you know, and that was actually good.
Speaker 3:Okay, so it was funny because I started watching it.
Speaker 1:And I started to feel like it was coming back. Like you know, tv is coming back. I'm sorry, I cut you off. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:No, no, no, no, no, no, no. I agree, because I watched an episode or two and I said maybe I should put this in my rotation and then I think it was you that mentioned it like they canceled it and then like it completely deflated anything that I wanted to even do with it, because that if you want to piss me off, that is the one thing that you can do. You start something that I think is going to be good and you just end it suddenly, and so I didn't even want to be even be bothered and I was just like what is it? Is it that it wasn't good or was it that, like you know, know, what is it like? People aren't taking to it because that's not what they want to watch anymore on TV. They would rather watch Real Housewives. You know, I don't know here's the crazy part.
Speaker 1:I think that TV really started changing for the worst and I love Her to Death, but I think Empire had a lot her to death, but I think Empire had a lot to do with that. I think Empire it just became just a yeah, it really became a telenovela in a sense, and then that's just really what people think that you need to do to grab even Queens.
Speaker 2:With Brandy Eve, eve and notori norton, that was great, but they got canceled so to that to to that point, I think that that is reflective of what has been happening in the black experience these last 25 years.
Speaker 2:Like we're we're whether it's television impacting life or life impacting television, we're we're, we have this understanding that you know, to make it, you gotta be flashy and you gotta you know be sassy and you gotta be willing to get into fight. You know, like, there's again it's it's it's kind of flying directly into the face of like, what black TV in the eighties was trying to work against was, like, you know, there's this jigaboo version of what a black person is and that's what we're seeing on TV now. And you know, with, like, with all the reality TV shows that have black people fighting all over the place, or like, you're saying that like, there are shows that are more so about, like, the black family structure and how that works, and those shows are getting canceled. But the shows that are getting canceled are the ones where it's a chaotic black experience, and that's what it's a chaotic black experience and that's what it's propaganda besides Abbott Elementary, the Upshaw is propaganda in my opinion.
Speaker 1:And there was this one show and I'm not even sure if it's the Meet the Crew show that was on Peac, um or nbc and I'm not sure if it's still going on um and that's it. That mean like this, I mean for sitcoms, dramas. We're gonna always make dramas like and you know they're gonna be what they are like atlanta, like snowfall, snowfall, oh my god, snowfall is great, like you know, and and the reason why and my uncle even said it best like snowfall, like power, he's like I don't watch that nigga shit. Uh, because that's all it's like why black people always gotta be selling drugs, why we always gotta be doing abnc, you know, and it's just like I would love for them to rediscover what.
Speaker 2:Hold that thought, because I think you're going into the next part, which is Hold, hold, don't forget it, keep it right here, keep it right here. She's like I want to introduce you.
Speaker 3:Don't forget so, because now we're going into the future and just what we want to see on TV, as far as like, how we want to see the, it comes to Black television, or what do you think the next kind of like wave is, as far as like, what's going to be televised essentially, I think you know this is the first thing that comes to my mind, but I think, with the way that everything is set up, because part of the reason why we're not getting people to really become attached to the old sitcoms like we used to is because the attention span is not necessarily there very short, short things, short series that somehow get the point across and it doesn't feel like a chore.
Speaker 3:Because even with myself and the fact that I'm a, I'm a, I'm in, I'm a millennial, but I'm in the early part of the millennial. So I don't know, I'm not as as affected as by the, the, the shrinking attention span, but I still find myself having times where I'm just like damn, that was like really long, and so maybe having short series that somehow can be put into like a couple of minutes. I know that there's one that are out there that are like like what is it called? Love, death and Robots is one where it's just it's kind of like Black Mural, but an animated version of Black Mural, and they typically will pick a particular topic or topics and all of them the anthology for the most part all follow or have some type of um piece that follows that topic. But I really enjoy those watching those really quickly, because maybe that's like how you get quick messages across you know what I?
Speaker 1:I that's, I agree, I agree, but let me, let me let me. Before I answer your question, let me step it up a bit. I going to tell you what I don't want to see. And what I don't want to see is what I've been seeing, and that's this. Ai generated what black people I mean some of them have been funny. I'm not going to lie. Death is seeking you at the bingo table. I hackled.
Speaker 2:You don't understand, because I feel the same way. Pj, I was like I'm tired of seeing this. Ai shit, but that got me, that got me.
Speaker 1:She said death is waiting for you at the bingo table when I originally saw that, I didn't realize that that was ai so and then now that it's been like flooding our timelines like these are the things, that artificial intelligence or it's not, whatever the new term is going to be, because I forgot I was watching something, because, you know, I always fall into these YouTube polls, and they were talking about everything that we have created and we have done. It can just be repackaged and rewrapped and represented in a way that will make us look bad. Um, because they're picking all the nostalgic, negative things. Now, what happened to the good times? What happened to, like you said, the jeffersons? And we're gonna go back into the six.
Speaker 1:I'm into the 70s, goodness, the 60s, you know, even even the 60s. I mean, well, there really were no black TVs. But I think that I would love to see creativity done with a purpose. I would love to see it be, you know, no shade to what you're doing, doing right, um, because this is just for hey, girl, hey, and this is for to get you started. But I would love to see new shows that aren't reboots, like original series, that um nobody has original ideas anymore except for me coming soon
Speaker 1:there have been some that you know I've stumbled upon, but they're British, but they're actually good. They're good love, you know. So it's like it's interesting how like TV works and like how fashion works and how music works. It's just a cycle and it's going to come back around again and soon. Soon as it does. Um, just as long as we are not the ones in the background, being the loud, loud ones, um, I'm good with it if it's a great representation of who we are and not the stereotype of who they want us to be.
Speaker 3:Something that someone told me the other day is that there aren't any good writers anymore out there, and I won't say that.
Speaker 3:But it's really hard to find somebody that is all encompassing, that can together like really complex ideas and complex stories, like you know. For example you know I'll use me as an example, not not to, like you know, say toot my horn or whatever, but like this, the scripts that I've been writing recently. They're very complex, sci-fi stories and one of the biggest complaints that you get from people these days is that they'll start with this really great idea and then that person will either leave or they'll stop midway through, and then somebody will try and pick it up but that person, even though that the blueprint is there and laid out for them, they't know, they cannot connect the dots. I cannot see anybody with the script that I have right now. I can't see anybody um just handing it over to them and them finishing it up. They'll do it, but there'll be so many things that are missing because they just don't have the vision. They just don't have where you're trying to go with it.
Speaker 2:It changes we saw that happen with the game, like when it switched networks, like the whole television show changed the whole production of it the look of it, Everything changed and it just it was not it anymore. It was very smoke and mirrors. It didn't have the same kind of substance that it used to have it's just it, just it's.
Speaker 3:It's crazy to me to to think about it, but I I don't.
Speaker 1:I don't want to say that there's no good writers out there, but I just I just, but I want to, I want to add, I want to add this part about it it's easy to write a drama. It is hard to write a comedy, because beats are important, right, and I love.
Speaker 1:The thing is like it's yeah I love all the new um shows that have come out. Um, like you said, that's, that's features black women. Um, especially um, what was the one? Uh, uh. And they just recently had Morris Chestnut come for a season. It's a Jay Z lyric, what's? The name of the song, dang on it. Hold on a second Holy Grail.
Speaker 3:H to the N so, d to the N soS-O, d to the S-O.
Speaker 2:Push his own money until he's a jewel down in the A.
Speaker 1:She's a reasonable doubt. You know these shows like.
Speaker 3:Oh, that.
Speaker 1:Yes, oh, that Y'all went through the whole, you know.
Speaker 2:Hey, beyonce, it's the rock, okay. Wow, she always gonna sneak her ass up in here, cause she said y'all talking about my man exactly period, as I would too.
Speaker 1:I heard you mention my man but you know, I think that it would be. It's harder to write for a comedy, but it's also harder to write for a younger generation that can't keep focus, that um the tiktok generation, if you know their comedy is also different too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, and like their language, like these words, I mean. So like I think that we're sold, we're good at what we got. You know we're gonna watch these shows over and over and over again, even yeah, so we don't probably we don't necessarily need any new ones us. But for the next generations coming up, what is their representation?
Speaker 2:they're gonna say so with that I feel like, and I agree wholeheartedly and I feel like the that's so rude. He took a bite of his knickers. He tried to hide it, but he didn't try to hide it that was so quick he tried to hide it, but he didn't try to hide it.
Speaker 3:Good day, I've been playing with it for the longest. You know she was gonna see it. You know that right he had it all in the camera literally look.
Speaker 1:Chris, you looked. It was like this Well, he had it all in the camera, literally Look, chris, you looked away.
Speaker 2:It was like this it was not like that. It was like this that's the nigga, anyway, proceed. Anyway, you're going to have to cut that part out. It's fine, wow.
Speaker 3:Now he's completely off screen.
Speaker 2:So I personally feel, like I said before, I feel like every era of black TV has had like a very kind of specific like messaging. So I feel like, you know, the black television of like the eighties, nineties was about the black family and what the black family looks like and how to deal with. You know everyday issues, um, in a positive way kind of thing, mixed in with a little bit of comedy. And then in the 2000s to you know recent we see the Black woman narrative and the Black woman struggle and you know the Black woman's success and you know the Black woman on a journey or a quest to, you know, find fulfillment in something, whether it's career, love, whatever it is. It's about her journey to find some type of overall resolve in her life.
Speaker 2:I feel like the next kind of wave of where we're, where we're focusing, and I feel like we already have started to kind of see it um kind of like with shows like Black-ish and Grown-ish, and the direction that we're kind of going is just mental health, black mental health.
Speaker 2:I feel like that's where the future of Black TV really is like seated and about how to take what we're experiencing and understand it and kind of take like have a seat in it, live it and understand, like what that means to be part of the world around us, kind of thing. Like I feel like it's very much therapeutic in a way. So whether that means that, like you're seeing Black people go to therapy, which we have already kind of seen but I feel like it's going to take on a whole new life, about what it means to have sound mental health being a Black person in America specifically, I feel like that's where the future of Black television should be focusing, because that's where the crisis kind of is right now, and I feel like that's what the pattern has been is what's been the focus or what's been the crisis. What can Black television do to combat that crisis and create a positive experience coming out of whatever that crisis is?
Speaker 1:And I think it's like, and also to add to that, we can show it, but we don't need to glorify it in a way that is expected. Like you know, every one of his shows that this man creates, you know, and I like I refuse to watch Straw. The thoughts and opinions expressed are from PJ alone.
Speaker 2:I don't think I'll be watching it either, though yeah, but I it's. I think I'm going to actually I saw.
Speaker 1:I, you know, when I, when I, when I made my my house call and they were watching, they were when I went to see Amanda, they were watching it and I was like what is this? I was like, oh god, it's this, and it was like the last 20 minutes of the movie. So I'm like, good, now I know what it's about. Tiana Taylor, were her hard think she's Olivia Pope walk, and Just the drama and the trauma is already embedded in us and things that we experience, and I think that it creates a cycle, and I've seen a lot of conversations about this, about how Doing things about mental health is great, but when it becomes toxic is the issue.
Speaker 1:And a lot of those productions, from all of those shows on the BET network that are produced by that man, um, they all have the similar tropes, like everything is the same and it's just like we have so much more to offer. Um, and you know, exactly that's what I felt. I want to run, you know, but you know what? Also, I want to add this In the 2000s or a little bit beyond, it became more mixed, like it couldn't be just a Black show. There has to be some more white people in there, you know. So I would love for us to, I would love for us to Affirmative action DEI, you know I would love for us to have.
Speaker 1:I would love their affirmative action DEI, I would love for us to have. I would love their. I've been watching Deli Boys. I used to love Fresh Off the Boat. Fresh Off the Boat was good. She was hilarious. It's not just us as the black community. Every community has this. I think that when we start supporting what we got going on and we stop looking for who's going to throw a drink and fight somebody, we can actually get to the meat and have a good meal versus being starved. And now we're eating a Snickers off camera. It's open now, so it's like in the corner of my eye. It's been sitting here this entire time. Ladies and gentlemen, what you guys don't know is that I bought a Snickers almond. I usually buy one when we record because it's Blair's favorite and she got me addicted to Snicker almonds. I usually buy one when we record because it's Blair's favorite and she got me addicted to Snicker almonds.
Speaker 2:They're delicious. It's my favorite candy bar.
Speaker 1:So when we record, little do they know is that I usually have two One for you spiritually, but I will have them both. They eat both of them.
Speaker 3:I was all like.
Speaker 2:I don't know if that's how that works no, but it is for I I did.
Speaker 1:I dedicate these nutrients from this almond snicker to fill her soul, without even her knowing that this is what's happening. I pray every single time for the first one. The second one is all mine.
Speaker 3:Anyway, back to what we were saying. You guys should see the look on her face right now.
Speaker 2:She's all like how dare you? It's fine, hey comment. I'm trying to be off sugar, so go ahead, have to have one for me.
Speaker 1:I'm just going to come by your house. I'm going to come by your apartment one day period.
Speaker 2:I hope I'm here, because I haven't been here the last couple times you've come by and I would send a picture. He sends pictures from outside of my building.
Speaker 2:Hilarious, it's so cute um, and you always were in there yeah or just like because it's usually a specific day of the week that he's in this area. I'm not gonna say it because I'm not trying to get either one of us doxxed. Um, I'm done with that school already. Okay, but yeah, usually there's a specific day of the week when you I would go to the blink next door to you, don't say that, don't say that, no, just kidding.
Speaker 1:Everywhere.
Speaker 2:There are, but you know, people are sleuths Anyway. Okay, so I guess to wrap us out, A hip hop, the hippie to the hippie.
Speaker 1:Oh, I'm sorry Not that rap. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:We've talked about the messaging of black television from the past, the present and the future, and I think the one thing that always ties that, the thing that ties this whole thread together, this whole timeline together, the one thing that all of these Black shows do have in common is, again, something that is so ingrained in the Black experience, and that's music. And I truly believe that part of the reason why we're addicted to some of these shows is because we are addicted to the music, to the theme songs of the show. You guys heard us before we started singing the Living Single theme song, like off rip, like it was nothing.
Speaker 1:I was singing 101 in my head when we were talking about Flex.
Speaker 2:We do it with everything, we do it with everything. So, with that being said, I just, um, I think it's important that we kind of continue to carry that into the future, carry that into the future. And, with that being said, what are some of the ways that you think that we can kind of reinvent how music is incorporated into these shows, if any?
Speaker 1:I would love to see. Not, I just said no reboots, but then then, okay, this is like an updated version. Um, remember how new york undercover used to have like the live performances?
Speaker 2:um so many shows.
Speaker 1:Like you know how moesha used to have like live performances I think that would like yeah, at the den, you know, um, but I think it would be great. Um, neo said it best, I think neo said it and usher said it. Um, when it came to the music industry itself, like it used to be like an elite group, um, and same thing with like people who even us as actors. You know it's an elite group. Well, really, blair, you're the elitist most of us because you're in SAG. Stop it, stop it. But like now, I think I would just love to see us getting back to the basics, getting back to having stuff on that really represents us and not on because it's popular.
Speaker 2:I agree. I think that I think that there are so many creative ways that we would incorporate music into the shows, because music is part of our identity as black people. That was also kind of the theme in Sinners that I really appreciated and, just like we said, like the examples that we saw, insecure too, that's how she did all those in the theme music in the way that they incorporated into the live performances in the show. The thing that Insecure did was incorporated like current, like music that people gravitated to but also introduce you to new artists, people that you should know, you know or people that are on it. Like it. It was really good at helping people discover undiscovered talents, you know, giving people their shot, giving people their opportunity, and I would love for us to continue to do more of that, whether it is through transition music that you see in the show or if we do get back to the kind of model of having live performances during the show. You know what I think might be cool and this was popular back in the day, but I think that they can find some kind of way to like reinvent this.
Speaker 2:I remember back when I think it was oh God, what show was it? It wasn't the Jamie Foxx, was it the Jamie Foxx show? It might've been the Jamie Foxx show, but cause you know, like his job he was a jingle writer. So they incorporated into the the um story of an episode where he was trying to come up with like a jingle for something. And oh no, it wasn't. It wasn't jamie foxx, it was half and half. It was half and half. It was half and half. She was a music executive producer and they were looking for the new hit talent group.
Speaker 2:And they did it on the show, but they also did it in real life and they had real life submissions like people who were trying. It was like American Idol before American Idol, but built into the actual like tv sitcom of the show and you saw, like at the end or like throughout the episode, like the different, like audition tapes for people, and then they narrowed it down in the end and they had a winner. I would love to see some kind of like reinvention of that. I think that would be dope.
Speaker 3:I didn't. I didn't know that they did that, but in you saying that, I think it's possible to get something like that done because of the fact that, especially these days, kids are so when I say my kids, it could just be anybody, but I'm using kids for this example, because of when I was in my rehearsal, they were talking about how they're teaching their kids classical plays, and so what they did was they used AI to basically redo. I'm just using the example, but this is still good, though. Using the example, but this is still good though they used AI to recreate one of the classical plays using the AI, and they did it all within like a couple of minutes and the kids loved it and it was circulating around everywhere.
Speaker 3:I don't know if you've seen like those weird AI cat videos that they did, but they did one like for mcbeth and then one for another thing, and so it's just I I love the idea because you're getting everybody involved. I just that's. I guess that's all I wanted to say. I really just love the idea, because once you get people involved, like that's just another outlet for people to do things if people can.
Speaker 1:I want people to be stay involved and you know, like, let ai do other things. Um like, I said not just ai, it could be anything I'm, but at the state that I'm like oh my god, let me get on this, because if you don't, if you're not in it as the curb is happening, you're gonna get lost right, you're left behind oh my, I'm already left a little bit. I'm like I'll try to catch this bus this ai bus, but um, we really need to get back to theme musics did.
Speaker 3:They did every. Let me ask you this because I can't, for whatever reason I I'm not thinking of it right now, but every new season did they create a new like song or new music, or was it always the same and then the visuals changed?
Speaker 2:So it depends, like some shows did both, like Martin, for example, like they like it, they changed the theme song three times and they changed like the visuals also, so like there was like three like iterations of it changed, like the visuals also, so like there was like three like iterations of it, like three iterations of different world with with uh, dawn patty and then aretha yeah, so it depends I just I just asked because I think sometimes, depending on, like um, the medium that's there, I think people look forward to those changes, especially if you can find a way to make them acrocentric.
Speaker 3:I know with anime they typically will do it every time there's a new season or a new arc, the song will change, and some animes that I watch they really, really take the time to find good artists to do it and I find myself jamming to this particular type of music all the time, you know for that particular arc, and then the new arc comes and you go I don't really like it and then you go no, I actually do, I do dig it and you're back into it again. So really, just fulfilling all of those different sensory perceptions, I'm with it.
Speaker 2:So overall, just bring Black music back to Black TV, make it a little more prominent.
Speaker 1:And I mean I am here for, you know, love is love. I'm not, you know, I'm not one, I'm not a Dr Umar kind of guy, but can we still be centered around like as much as like? I love Lena Waithe, love her down and I love what she started when she created the shy.
Speaker 1:Um, but a lot of these shows, let them stay centered around the black family, um, black friends, and yes, obviously there's some mixed people in it. Immediately you know a white person or an asian person or whatever, like. There are parts of it that we're losing in a sense, but also the world is is also changing because white people are becoming obsolete. Um, that's why they're mad.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, I said it huh, that's why they mad you big man you know, but I think like there's also so much talent out here, um, and this is also like how I feel about podcasting, like you remember we've been we, for all of you who are still here, thank you for taking the time to listen to another episode. Um, we've been doing this long before it became really really hugely popular where all these celebrities have podcasts now and it's taking um what could be money in our pockets because we haven't made it down from this.
Speaker 2:But we do this because we do this for the love of the game and we do and, to be honest with you, I do it.
Speaker 1:This is why I enjoy it. This is a passion thing of mine. So this is why I'm about this um, podcast life and I get annoyed when another actor and you know whoever somebody, rich and famous, has a podcast is taken away from us. So it's the same thing like if zoe saldana wants to be nina thompson, let her be nina thompson as the colombian person or whatever representation is. Yeah, I said it. Yeah, I said it. You know, let them do that. You know, because everybody keep talking about. Nobody was mad. I was mad at robbie down, robert downey Jr, for when he was in Tropic Thunder I was just like the fuck is this? But the community loved it. But anyway, I'm getting off topic because this open Snickers has been like it's like eat me, eat me.
Speaker 3:Blair is not amused.
Speaker 2:I am not, I'm not, I'm not amused. So, speaking of, she's not amused, I am not, I'm not, I'm not amused so, speaking of, she's not amused guys.
Speaker 1:Thank you again for taking the time to listen to it. Yeah wrap it up because I want to wrap that snickers up thank you for taking a lot of time to listen to another episode, finally, of highly motherfucking melanated. The safe space where it is okay to create your shit for us that represents us as black people, not as the world as they see us? Yeah, and the safe space once this goes off wow, it won't be safe afterwards.
Speaker 2:They're going to put on her shoes and walk across the street to Walgreens and get me a snicker.
Speaker 3:I would actually prefer you beat him up, but okay.
Speaker 1:Mind you, I get him M&M's every time I see him.
Speaker 3:Now, this is how you treat me watch shut up, because why are you not telling people the real story? And you forgot it last time and then I had to be eminemless.
Speaker 2:He's while we were watching the movie he was so bad he said said I was Eminem-less.
Speaker 3:I wasn't even mad that Honestly. I was just hungry. I said I needed something.
Speaker 1:On that note, peace, love.
Speaker 2:And bring back Black TV.
Speaker 1:Bring back black TV. Bring back black TV, bring black. Bring bling black, bring black black TV. That's not going to be recreated by a white cast you think you're going to make it like this way now.
Speaker 2:Now what? Yes, it was stolen. Yes, it was.
Speaker 1:Friends, friends, dressers, stealing, stealing Ray Jean's outfits. You know we are the blueprint, y'all remember that, so let's create it. Let's outfits you know we are the blueprint, y'all remember that, so let's create it.
Speaker 2:Let's create it and don't you forget it. All right, bye, niggas. Thank you, bye.