infinite zest - 2014-02-17
I never understood the popularity of this show. I get that, unlike The Cosby Show or The Jeffersons it was black people living regular lower-middle class lives, like most people of any race live instead of "check us out! We're black and can do stuff you associated with white people like be doctors, or whatever it was that landed Jefferson the apartment on the east side. Episodes like this one (I didn't watch the whole thing) are cute, because the movie theatre owner gets to see all of his favorite stars, touching and heartwarming I'm sure.
My problem is that shows like Archie Bunker, Happy Days, even Family Matters addressed social issues that are still relevant today, where Martin was about as shallow as Full House. It's just set in an almost-exclusive black community with funny transvestites saying "oh no you didn't" and hanging around in barbershops. All this does is lead to things like Tyler Perry movies, where the one white guy is Larry the Cable guy, who is about as stereotypically white as Mr. Bojangles was stereotypically black.
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