kikideliversjoy

The writers of Brooklyn Nine-Nine love subverting tropes and punning, and so do I! It's always a fast-paced, fun ride for all with it's hilarious and diverse cast. The show follows Jake Peralta, your typical well-meaning dudebro cop, who happens to be atypically competent at solving crimes, and a hilarious ensemble of truly memorable characters. The fast-moving camera and quick edits lends the show a frenetic energy, but this socially-aware comedy doesn't skip over the deeper stuff. The writers spend an appropriate amount of time touching on the uncomfortable realities of our legal system. The Nine-Nine heroically proves that a show can be laugh-out-loud funny and call out social inequities in the same breath.

Fresh Off the Boat is worth a watch if only for the novelty of seeing a Taiwanese-American family on tv and Constance Wu's incandescent presence. Otherwise, I find it to be lacking, especially in comparison to the myriad of culturally fetishistic shows that have cropped up in recent years. FOB leans a little too heavily on classic sitcom set-ups and regular Americanisms, and there isn't much depth to the characters. But the real problem I have with the show is that it merely nominally speaks to the immigrant experience. The fobby-est it gets is when Lucille Song pulls out her Chinese skills. Conversely, programs like Black-ish and Everybody Hates Chris give you a glimpse into what it means to be Black in America. Black-ish doesn't shy away from subjects like police brutality and the Black community's feelings about O.J.. FOB seems like it's pandering to an audience of liberal conformists.

Happy Endings is your typical attempt at a Friends remake with an addition **** character and a Black character. It's set in Chicago, though we're not exposed to the character of the city whatsoever. The humor is light, topical, and littered w/ pop culture references as expected. Definitely not POC-friendly with it's white liberal "don't see color" attitude and use of the term "gay-cist". Would really benefit from a more diverse group of scriptwriters. Overall, it was pretty watchable, if not a little too into itself (not unlike its characters).

Parks and Recreation satirizes warring American political ideologies in true mockumentary fashion. The show is well shot and perfectly paced, combining the genius of This Is Spinal Tap with lively **** office shenanigans. The characters, flawed and human as they are, really grow on you as the series progresses. And if you're looking for character development, you'll definitely find it here. Much of this show focuses on dealings with failure, heartbreak and depression which is counterbalanced by the protagonist's abundant optimism, so your heart is left feeling warm and tingly after nearly every episode. It's one of the few shows in which scriptwriters seem to genuinely empathize with each character. In a miraculous feat of scriptwriting, Parks and Recreation has created the sole instance in which I've found a libertarian to be charming. Watch this show; #treatyoself!

This deeply biased script is reflective of the American conceits of rigid self-righteousness and unfounded faith in police and military. It simplifies life and law into the dichotomy of good and evil, which at times gets pretty agonizing to watch. Good guys are often vilified and the Reagan family is pedastalized as the archetypal American family. You get the usual amount of hand-waving logistics and use of one-dimensional minority stereotypes to further plotlines. The redeeming quality of the show is the excellent acting (It's as if the police commissioner's role was written with Tom Selleck's mustache in mind!). Also, the camerawork and editing weren't too shabby either. Warning to POC: save yourself from this tasteless mayonnaise salad and stick with Law & Order.