MeTV's SuperSci-Fi Saturday Night

[The Old Mixer]

But we also have to look at it from the context of its time...in that context, I don't think it would have been viewed as harshly as when watched with modern sensibilities.

ETA: Meanwhile, on Decades...there's Tom Selleck playing himself in the second part of the two-parter guest-starring Erin Gray.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

Bixby played it well, though, never coming off as condescending or unlikable...and if we look at the episode in a color-blind manner, it's not unusual at all for David to be the most educated guy in the places where he works...often backwater hick towns.

True--he's never condescending, and yes, he supposed to be very intelligent--his advantage in the world (except in jobs like working on an oil rig...).

I don't think that the episode intended to tackle racism against David as a serious issue...it was more a matter of putting the shoe on the other foot, putting a white guy in the position of being the "minority" in a black neighborhood.

That was the point--going into the story, we already know the black characters know and live with racism, but we get a rare glimpse of it aimed at a white person (in TV at the time) for the length of the episode. Moreover, the script was on-point in focusing on what I mentioned earlier: poor youth victimization by criminals--particularly of the same race, who use that racial connection to exploit the trust of those who see no opportunity or chance to survive in the so-called "white world." For most of TV history up to that time, we usually saw the white exploitation of black people (no matter the demographics of the location), instead of members of the same group preying on the other.

Being raised in late 20th century southern California, I saw that type of Taylor George predatory behavior firsthand--time after time, whether the neighborhood was predominantly black, Chicano (as certain residents referred to themselves) Jewish or multi-racial (I lived in each at one time or another)--but there was always some criminal of the same race zeroing in on their own, as they were keenly aware of every emotion, desire, and racial identity concerns enough to do exactly what Taylor George did to Mike--and far worse. That was where "Like A Brother" was successful in its message, and in the opposite--the Reverend Williams types who fought against criminal exploitation, though in real life their fight was not so easily wrapped up.

 

[Christopher]

But we also have to look at it from the context of its time...in that context, I don't think it would have been viewed as harshly as when watched with modern sensibilities.

You can say that about any naive portrayal of race or sexuality in past TV and movies. It doesn't mean we aren't allowed to recognize its shortcomings. It was a well-intentioned try, but it was a try by white writers, and their ability to understand the issues was limited by their perspective.

That was where "Like A Brother" was successful in its message, and in the opposite--the Reverend Williams types who fought against criminal exploitation, though in real life their fight was not so easily wrapped up

I think that's giving too much credit to a story that was basically just a knockoff of the blaxploitation genre.

 

[The Old Mixer]

This isn't a book, though...don't the black actors have some agency in this situation?

 

[RJDiogenes]

I remember that. For a brief, shining period, Fridays nights were pretty cool: The Night Stalker and Apes.

And not even a full season for either.

No, no drinking game for how often the protagonists get tied up and freed. You'd die from alcohol poisoning

Good thing apes don't tie very good knots.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

I think that's giving too much credit to a story that was basically just a knockoff of the blaxploitation genre.

Being all too familiar with most of the Blaxploitation movies, I can conclude that "Like A Brother" did not take its story from that, as again, this kind of racial exploitation from those of the same race was a real, active problem, and that did not reach public awareness (including TV writers) through those films.

Furthermore, for a series that has handled every sort of topic--teenage alcoholism / mental retardation (and exploitation of one suffering from that) / child and spouse abuse, etc., with great understanding & sensitivity, there is no ground to suggest this production suffered from what would be an astounding, sudden loss of one of its obvious "mission directives" by using what was largely seen--even in that decade--as a setback / slap in the face to black cultural progress in North America (for all of the dehumanizing mischaracterizations in so many films of that genre). TIH production was too aware to get lazy/thoughtless/uncaring to--in out of character fashion--copy+paste / take influence from anything born of that largely offensive film genre.

 

[Christopher]

This isn't a book, though...don't the black actors have some agency in this situation?

Black actors in '70s TV? It's not like they had a huge number of choices for major, well-paying speaking roles. You show up, you read the lines, you get paid, you get to keep eating a while longer while you look for your next paycheck. If you don't want to read the lines as written, there are other struggling actors who would. Not a lot of agency in that situation. That's why so many minority and female actors over the decades have done roles that portrayed them unflatteringly or demeaningly. They need what work they can get, and if the only paying work available is to play a stereotype, well, they need to pay the rent.

Besides, as you said, this episode wasn't that bad by the standards of the time. But we can look back on it today and see it as an example of a problematical trope that people were more naive about back then.

 

[publiusr]

Still light years beyond the minstrel crap of early Hollywood and the like. I saw what they were trying to do--to show struggle. Today's TV is a bit more thoughtful. Then too, watching nothing but fistfights in the recent Dark Matter program on Syfy--it makes me wonder if the folks in the 1970s did better TV than today.

 

[The Old Mixer]

@Christopher makes some good points that I won't attempt to debate, especially about how they could have done a more ambitious story in which David learned a few things while immersed in a black community. But I don't think he's giving enough credit to the '70s as the decade that saw a veritable explosion of black representation on TV. I grew up watching a number of shows with mostly black casts...quite the dramatic contrast to what was out there when my parents were kids.

 

[Christopher]

But I don't think he's giving enough credit to the '70s as the decade that saw a veritable explosion of black representation on TV.

I'm just talking about this one episode, not making a broader point. And I'm not denying that it was an attempt to be inclusive -- but early attempts at such things often come off as naive and mired in unexamined preconceptions when you look back on them decades later. Like how the original Star Trek was seen as championing gender equality back in the day but is now considered quite sexist.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I was referring mainly to:

Black actors in '70s TV? It's not like they had a huge number of choices for major, well-paying speaking roles.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

@Christopher makes some good points that I won't attempt to debate, especially about how they could have done a more ambitious story in which David learned a few things while immersed in a black community.

But that was not the point of the episode at all. This was not the social handwringing / preaching exercise you see flooding so much of modern TV--this story was about exploitation within a racial group (something much of TV is too gutless to explore). David was an observer who tried to help, but in the end, Mike had to reach his own conclusions about being a pawn of a criminal who happened to be of his own race (when he was introduced as being blinded by identity in his mistreatment of David).. He found his moral center, and while David was an influence, it would have been misplaced social preaching to take the story away from Mike (and Rev. Williams') struggles to force fit some "David learns a very special lesson," particularly when no one can assume David is completely clueless, so he had to spoon feed said lesson to the audience.

A greater point was made of Mike's inner conflicts (manipulated by Taylor George), and risks in order to help his brother than anything else one would have written in a 45 minute episode where David was not the focus.

But I don't think he's giving enough credit to the '70s as the decade that saw a veritable explosion of black representation on TV. I grew up watching a number of shows with mostly black casts...quite the dramatic contrast to what was out there when my parents were kids.

Yes, there an explosion, and not just on the offensive sitcoms (The Jeffersons, Good Times, Sanford and Son, That's My Mama, or What's Happening), but in many progressive roles, especially on police or detective dramas (e.g. The Rookies, Tenafly, McCloud, Police Story, Police Woman) and other supporting roles that were largely unthinkable to networks at the dawn of the previous decade.

 

[The Old Mixer]

What do you find offensive about the sitcoms?

 

[Peach Wookiee]

What do you find offensive about the sitcoms?

That's my question too...

 

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, I watched most of those shows and the only one that was offensive was Sanford and Son-- and that was because of Redd Foxx. I think the only negative thought I had in those days was that sitcoms seemed to be becoming segregated, whereas the adventure shows were becoming more integrated.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

What do you find offensive about the sitcoms?

They overflowed with gross stereotypes that did not advance black characterization forward. Producers such as Norman Lear thought he was some "king of relevant TV," but he--and the writers/producers of other series--added stereotyped characters that were--in some cases--as bad as the kind of crap seen in the Amos 'n' Andy (the TV version), or the human joke characters in Golden Age Hollywood short subjects (e.g. Dudley Dickerson's work) that only existed to scream, bug their eyes and issue an encyclopedia's worth of offensive behavior and/or catchphrases.

Good Times' John Amos left the series (fired) in large part due to his heated criticism of the intensifying, black modern-day minstrel / assclown antics of Jimmie Walker's J.J. character. During its development, Amos was led to believe (by Lear) the series would take a more serious look at a struggling black family, but as the J.J. antics proved popular (so much can be said about that), the PTB wanted to play both J.J.'s act and catchphrases for all it was worth. Amos' departure had nothing to do with network-fed stories of the actor wanting to move into serious roles.

Additionally, a significant motivator for Bill Cosby to create The Cosby Show (in the following decade) was to stand as a full-on fight against the kind of 70's black sitcoms that sold a generation of audiences on the idea that African Americans were sideshows--subject to racial mockery.

As noted yesterday, there was an explosion of black performers cast in TV, but drama was where the real advances were made (much like 1960s American TV), with only a couple of characters on other sitcoms not falling into that sideshow / minstrel category.

 

[RJDiogenes]

Jimmy Walker was a clown, but he was a popular comedian and that was his schtick. But all of those shows had a variety of positive and non-stereotypical characters-- well, I don't really remember That's My Mama, but the others did. The Jeffersons even had an "inter-racial" couple. The Jeffersons themselves were an upwardly mobile family who left Archie Bunker behind, the characters on What's Happening were middle class-- even the son on Sanford & Son was a well-educated everyman. There were a couple of obnoxious celebs, like Jimmy Walker and Redd Foxx, but that was true of a lot of shows.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I don't really remember That's My Mama

Funny you should mention that, because that's the only one that I didn't recognize.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I recognized the name, that's about it. I just looked up the Wiki page and I guess I did see it a few times. I didn't remember that Ted Lange and Lynne Moody were in it.

 

[HGN2001]

Back to the subject of MeTV, their new fall schedule has just been announced, and there will be changes and expansion of the SciFi Saturday night with the addition of RedEye SciFi overnight into Sunday morning. Starts September 10-11.

It'll all start at 6 PM Eastern with the return of THE WILD WILD WEST.
7 PM THE INCREDIBLE HULK
8 PM WONDER WOMAN
9 PM STAR TREK
10PM SVENGOOLIE MOVIE
12AM BATMAN
12:30 BATMAN
Starting at 1, there's a full four-hour Irwin Allen block:
1 AM LAND OF THE GIANTS
2 AM THE TIME TUNNEL
3 AM LOST IN SPACE
4 AM VOYAGE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA
It all wraps up at 5 AM with THE PLANET OF THE APES

http://www.metv.com/stories/mister-...ick-and-more-join-the-metv-fall-2016-schedule