Wednesday, May 21, 2008

So "brothers" don't watch Seinfeld?!?



So “brothers” don’t do Seinfeld?

I was watching “Pardon the Interruption,” one of my favorite shows yesterday and they were talking about the UEFA Champions League final between Manchester United and Chelsea coming up. BTW, I hate both teams equally as an Arsenal fan, but if I had to see one win, I would pick United. Of course, Kornheiser and Wilbom don’t know shit about soccer so they start naming players that make no sense. At the end, Wilbolm says that “brothers don’t do Seinfeld and soccer!”

Oh really!?!

I’m glad he made this statement because it’s going to launch my multi-part series about what’s perceived as what’s reality of what people watch based on hidden racist undertones. I’ll focus how people say that they don’t watch certain sports because of race like hockey, how idiots like Torii Hunter talk about how there’s a crisis in MLB because there are “no black players,” how black people will say that they don’t like rock music because its white music even though rock is based on gospel and blues music played mostly by black people back in the day. I can go on for days about these because they’re personal issues for me. I’ll focus on music, sports and other things. For now, we’ll focus on television.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m black for those of you who have read this and never actually seen my picture.

Seinfeld is one, if not, my favorite show of all-time. Millions of people have talked about how great it is and I’ll save some of your reading time and just tell you that it’s an incredible show. I’ve always liked the show because it’s funny. Did they have a prominent black cast member? No. Honestly accept for Jackie Styles, Kramer’s lawyer, the owner of Monk’s, the coffee shop they always go to or George’s co-worker with the Yankees, I can’t think of many instances that black people appear on the show. Does that make it not funny? Of course not. However, you’ll have jackasses like Wilbolm making these statements and I know the bullshit he’s coming with. He doesn’t like it because it’s probably considered to unhip because they’re aren’t any “brothers” on the show. Therefore, if he doesn’t think it’s cool, then that means all black people don’t like the show.

It’s like when a famous black person makes a statement; it’s considered the belief of all black people. I’ll save that for another time as well. Writing these posts are going to be fun.

Now, I know that the worst thing to ever happen to ESPN and the epitome of trying to cater to the "brothers” in a fake way, including speaking in slang on a national sports broadcast, Stuart Scott, used to make the joke that “brothers” weren’t watching Seinfeld, they were watching Martin in the 1990’s, so this isn’t a foreign concept and Wilbolm isn’t the main culprit of this issue.

Um, what about watching both and enjoying both equally. I knew plenty of white people who watched both Seinfeld and Martin and enjoyed both equally. However, it seems if I would ask my black friends if they liked Seinfeld, it was an insult to their race that they would admit to liking the show.

Now, I’m not saying Seinfeld isn’t for everybody and everyone must find it as funny as I do. However, when people don’t give it a chance because of the racial makeup of the show, that’s sad.

I’m just tired of people looking to their skin color to qualify for what they should like and don’t like.

This issue even springs into an interesting lightening rod of “black” television shows, the Cosby Show. All races watched the show and loved it because it was just a great show. However, I’ve spoken with black people and actually studies articles in college discussing how the show was unrealistic because it was a black family with a doctor father and lawyer mother living in Brooklyn with money. How is that unrealistic? Does every show with a majority black cast have to be based on living in the lower class in urban settings? Think about it. How is it that shows with a white cast can pretty much have any plot imaginable, yet when black people are portrayed in a successful setting, its impossible?

That’s just not right and I don’t like it.

I honestly don’t care what the racial makeup of the cast is, if the shit’s funny, it’s funny. Just like I don’t need to see black players in a sport to watch it or black musicians in a band to listen to their music. Those posts will come up later, but that’s all for now.

1 comment:

DecaturHeel said...

Great post! It's become a cliche to say that blacks don't watch Seinfeld, but you did a great job of dispelling it. I tell ya, it's enough to make a fella say SERENITY NOW!