I Just Tend The Bar

"I lost myself for a long time, and now that I'm finally me again, I can't. I love you. I love you more than I loved Burke. I love you. And that scares the crap out of me, because when you asked me to ignore Teddy's page, you took a piece of me, and I let you. And that will never happen again."

R.I.P. Andre Braugher (1962-2023)

He was a fantastic actor and so much more than his role on Brooklyn 99. I watched many of his movies and shows, but will most treasure and remember him fondly for bringing us gut-busting laughs and countless memes as Captain Holt.

“Dennis is asshole. Why Charlie hate?”  “Because Dennis is a bastard-man!”

It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia is my favorite show, it’s inspired me to become serious about writing and pursuing art, it’s comedy in a way I haven’t seen or experienced before. Everyone I know, knows that I sing this show’s praises every chance I get. That doesn’t mean I like every part, or that I can’t see its shortcomings.

The first episode of season 12, “The Gang Turns Black” is uncomfortable and ignorant in the wrong way. The show’s satire, the characters are supposed to be ignorant, offensive and terrible. The show tends to comment on current social problems in the US (such as the 2020 election, gun control, and the MeToo movement). But in “The Gang Turns Black” doesn’t do what it intends. The joke isn’t funny, it’s tonedeaf and just… kind of incapsulates the fact that the show is entirely written by white people. It’s a joke about the killing of Black child. No matter the context, that is not and will never be funny. It is not satire, it is not social commentary, it’s an extremely misguided joke written by white people.

The article featured in this post is written by Julie Mandel-Folly. She talks about the episode with more depth than I can. Please, read it the entire thing. Here’s the link.

Among other things, she brings up the commodification of this terrible joke and the profit made by the white show runners.

Remember, it’s important to critique that and those we love when their actions transgress into harmfulness and ignorance. I hope I have to some extent done that. But as always, I am very open to inputs or corrections.

If any clarifications need to be made, please let me know! Or if you want to talk about something else regarding the show that’s bothered you.