The Boondocks
 

Because we need a new thread.

So there are only three new episodes left (if I remember that AS bump correctly) for this season, starting with this Sunday's episode. While that sucks, at least it was a good season overall (even if the last episodes suck, most of the other episodes this season more than make up for it). And we can all take joy in the fact that they are making 20 new episodes to air in the fall.

I also wanted to make note that recently Aaron McGruder announced he was taking a six month vacation from the comic strip, which means that it won't run. I wonder if that has anything to do with making the new episodes, as I heard that the quality of the strip went down after he used a replacement last time while he was working on the show. I guess this time he figured he would rather have no strip at all rather than a mediocre one.

Damn, I was just going to start this, oh well, a little copy and paste...
New episode tonight on Friday Night Fix over at adultswim.com

Which episodes came and went?

I think only two; the Oprah kidnapping and the painting episode. Let’s Nab Oprah and Riley Wuz Here

Spoilers? Maybe, then don’t read on.
Damn, when I saw Let’s Nab Oprah I was laughing during that whole show- from the robbery of Ed’s Dad’s bank to the n*gger technology, to book store assault, the fight between Huey and that dude I know if from a movie with the big ass feet…that episode was just great
What was it, I think they described their robbery as taking a whole episode of Seinfeld.

Riley Wuz Here
Okay a Bob Ross clone was extremely enjoyable, especially since they have him on the local PBS channel- though I didn’t like Huey’s story too much, it sort of just ended no where.

So, new episode tonight, Wingman, hopefully just as good as these were- I think it will be.

Just to throw in, I think Friday Night Fix is the best thing since sliced bread, oh yeah, full episodes, commercial free, fast loading- great!

I hope that vacation doesn’t affect the show.

I think this show is out of control.

Samurai battles (not even that dream sequence, those two kids had a REAL SAMURAI BATTLE IN THEIR HOUSE), crazy gunfights in stores. Samuel L. Jackson and Charlie Murphey trying to voice white dudes and not sounding WHITE AT ALL. They don't even sound like ghetto ass white dudes, they just sound like Samuel L. Jackson and Charlie Murphy. They should have just drawn Samuel L. Jackson and Charlie Murphy right into the show; it might have been funnier. Charlie Murphy's big pearly grin alone is enough to make me crack up :)

Is the comic anything like this?

Also I think the characters say "nigger" more than (Benjamin*Tails)^10^10

Not what I've read of it. But then again, it would be hard to adapt 3-4 panel comic strips into 22 minute episodes, so I would rather have original stories instead.

I'm not saying adapt each comic strip and stretch it into a full episode, just make the show as down to earth as the comic strip. I thought that the overuse of the word "nigga" was already taking it perhaps further than many of us expected.

Well, obviously it's too late now; people expect samurai battles and convenience store shootouts.

I remember the comic just being down-to-Earth humor that happened to involve two not-so-stereotypical black kids living in the suburbs.

The one thing I appreciate about the Boondocks' is the main characters atypical view of black culture; how he has a pretty intelligent grasp on the nature of various races, especially blacks. I enjoyed the episode in which Martin Luther King appeared to tell the stereotypical-ized black community how ridiculous they had become. I wonder how that kind of social commentary, blacks criticizing blacks, settled with the black audience in general.

(I agreed with Dr. King in that particular episode, mainstream black trend is simultaneously working for and against the overall appearnace of blacks. This is exactly the kind of thing he would say if he saw the world today. I'm the kind who backs Bill Cosby when he says black kids are squandering their opportunities and need to pick up a book once in a while. It's sad how his generation actually showed how my race was just as brave and intelligent as any other, and my generation seems to be the growing antithesis of a lot of suffering endured for the fate of not only blacks but the nation in general.

Rant over.)

Well, regarding the down to earth part, I think they still try to make it as down to earth as they can, but they still have to try and appeal to a mainstream TV audience, especially that of Adult Swim's nature. Not to make a generalization that most Adult Swim viewers are stupid, but just looking at the other shows that surround The Boondocks lets you see what kind of comedy it features most of the time, which reflects its audience. Basically, each episode still gets its main, down to earth point across, but they add outrageous and sometimes unrealistic situations to flesh out the episodes and sometimes drive the point home even more (just look at the MLK episode, from the beginning it's not true, but presents one of the best messages of the series, and even the store shootout, which seems pretty stupid at first, has a point as a metaphor for the War on Iraq).

I'm really interested in checking out this show. Is it like a "black" version of Family Guy? I enjoy reading the comic from time to time.

No, not really. It's pretty far from being close to Family Guy, or anything else on Adult Swim for that matter. It's kinda hard to pigeonhole the show into some category similar to other AS shows, so I can only suggest that you just check out the show to see if you like it (which you could do in like less than an hour thanks to Friday Night Fix on adultswim.com).

Boondocks is a black Daria, only more sitcommy.

Each episode features several misanthropic observations of American pop culture, and may be focused around one particular element of that culture.

The three episodes I saw featured country clubs with one black member, a pop idol on trial for moral turpitude, and a fight between two old guys.

Personally, I think the character animation, comic pacing, dialogue, and voice acting are extremely weak. The backgrounds, character design, storyboards and action animation are very good.

I'm sorry, but I don't see the Daria connection. The shows are totally different to me, as The Boondocks actually has point in its episodes as opposed to Daria's endless bitching which has no point other than to bitch.

And The Boondocks doesn't really talk about American pop culture. If you were to ask me, it talks about American Black culture more than it ever has talked American pop culture.

And the first episode wasn't about a country club with one black member, it was just a party at a rich white guy's house.

You're right about the party bit. That's the one ep I don't have on tape.

American Black culture *IS* American culture -- even if it is a subset that bleeds into the mainstream every so often.

Both Daria and Boondocks featuring bitching about some element of the worlds in which their characters inhabit. Daria skewers the values of her younger sister, her classmates, her teachers, her "sick, sad world".

MacGruder, to a similar extent, skewers celebrity worship, the insularity of wealthy Caucasians, and the irrational, self-destructive behavior of "niggas". He pretty much skewers his sick, sad world, too.

Dismissing Daria's observations ars "bitching", while propping MacGruder's misanthropy is understandable, but nonetheless strange. Both shows appear to be the products of cantankerous cartoonists.

But it's not necessarily the same as American pop culture, which is what you said at first. Those are two different things. In a way, so are American Black Culture and American Culture, or else they wouldn't be labeled differently in the first place. Yeah, they somewhat overlap, but overall I wouldn't say they were that similar.

I find this to be true to some degree, but you still can't just lump all things like this into the same category. I would consider Daria's observations as birching simply because that's how she does it in the context in the show, as she is normally bitching about things to Jane or bitching at someone else to their face. The way Huey does it though is diffrent, as he is addressing us, the audience, when he talks about stuff. This narration aspect just seems to give it more of a seriousness as opposed to Daria's indirect way about it.

In my eyes, Daria's indirectness is more effective, because it's slightly more subtle. Huey's directness ("Niggas are crazy!") isn't more serious; it's just less subtle. Pointed but not well honed, if you catch my metaphor :)

Surprisingly, both series feature the occassional bout of sympathy. Daria talks Quinn out of getting some sort of nose surgery that could permanently change her, and Huey still believe that "crazy, dumb, blind nigga" was a brother who needed to be loved. Daria was swooning over a guy, and had a future that imagined her as a stable, working mom. Grandpa's prayer for the fallen crank was a nice beat to end a pretty downbeat third act.

I just saw several episodes of the show, and I must say that I enjoyed it fpr what it is. The show isn't as clever as I thought it would be, but the episode "Let's nab Oprah" was absolutely brilliant.

The animation fits the tone of the show quite well in my opinion, and reminds me of the old Men In Black animated series. Voice acting has its ups and downs, but considering that this is its first season, it's good enough. The show itself actually reminds me of Duckman, in how it isn't afraid to go all out.

Well, I was talking more about how Huey at least talks to the audience to do his bitching as opposed to Daria only doing it to the other characters on the show. Huey is really only less subtle about it when he's talking to other characters on the show about whatever he's talking about (the R. Kelly episode comes to mind), but when he speaks to the audience he usually is pretty subtle about it.

But still, getting back to the overall point, I don't see how having two outspoken characters make both the shows similar. I mean, there are other shows with these types of characters as well, but I wouldn't group them all as being the same, with one just being a "black" (or however else it differs) version of another.

I think the serious makes an interesting "fish out of water" plot. While Gran Dad fits in well with the rich white people (especially with Mr. Wuncler who calls him "Free Man" instead of "Freeman"), Huey and Riley embrace their balck culture, albeit in different ways (Riley is the "mainstream" hip-hop black kid, while Huey is a short Malcom X).

I love the show personally. As a black guy, the whole "nigga" issue doesnt bother me at all. In fact I've had some talks about it with friends of mine and my brother. I've noticed some things too. Boondocks seems to be one of those series where you get it or you dont with some people. Personally I think I "get it". But most people I know cant seem to get by the language long enough to give the show a chance or the more "uppity" folks that I know flat out refuse to watch it without forming decent opinions. Its very polarizing in a sense. If you've grown up in or around people like Huey, Riley, or Grandad then you can definately get a sense of where things are coming from in some relation.

As far as the show being a "black Daria". I never really made that correlation but its an interesting one nonetheless.

I've only watched this show once. And it was when some lawyer was scared to go to jail and get anally raped. His dream made me laugh my ass with the black dude with like 4 foot cock. But, it wasnt half bad I'll watch it some more most likely.

Sony produced this show, as well as Men in Black. Not sure how many staff members share credits on both shows, however.

Holy fuck -- tonight's episode was kinda hilarious.


Holy shit. ;__; XD

I'll have to wait to wathc it, I live on the West coast:aargh:

I just downloaded the Huey Freeman Christmas episode. I dont think ive ever laughed that hard in my life.

The part where Santa gets his ass kicked and he gets up and starts yelling, "so no ones got Santas back, Fuck all yall."

It's even funnier watching Riley try to assassinate Santa. He's so into it. Almost as ridiculous as the time when Wuncler's grandson attacked a convienience store.

Yeah, it wasn't continuously hilarious like some episodes were, but the parts that were funny were really fucking hilarious. I did think that fighter plane sequence was pretty funny all throughout, though. I also liked the references to previous episodes ("Thuggin' Love playing on the radio when they got into the car (even though that song has been in a lot of the episodes), Riley throwing that chair).

Only two more episodes left :(

The throwing a chair thing has become another running joke with my friends and I. We were thinking about throwing a chair just after seeing Ultraviolet. That movie was some kind of trash.