The New "Reality" of TV.....delivering the Worst of Stereotypes...

[pariah-1972]

I am a big fan of 30 Rock, but I have also noticed some surprisingly racist moments in the show.

I don't think that the writers or cast of 30 Rock is racist at all, but there have been times when the show has had some fairly racist messages.

I would agree with this.

A lot of shows i have seen don't know how to write black people in a decent way that doesn't make one cringe.

[Darrell D.]

I think 30 Rock plays with the idea of the stereotypes, and it becomes somewhat meta in the delivery.
I like the show quite a bit.

[pariah-1972]

I think 30 Rock plays with the idea of the stereotypes, and it becomes somewhat meta in the delivery.
I like the show quite a bit.

That's what i was hoping to see when he decided to go to the chicken shack but there was none that i could see or detect.

Of course i didn't find any of the show all that funny i don't recall even chuckling once.

[beetlebum]

I am a big fan of 30 Rock, but I have also noticed some surprisingly racist moments in the show.

I don't think that the writers or cast of 30 Rock is racist at all, but there have been times when the show has had some fairly racist messages.

You miss the point of 30 Rock. The point of 30 Rock is to play with stereotypes using satire, and to turn it on its head.

Grizz and Dot Com are actually the two smartest people on the show, not something you'd expect from two guys that big, and who amount to being paid lackeys. The brilliance with them is that they usually do or head off into a direction that is not expected.

Tracy, as infantile as he may be, is actually a good father figure, or at least tries to be, and is faithful to his wife. That's the antithesis of the single black father who runs out on his kids stereotype. Hell, he even tries to take care of Donald and claim him as his own, even though it's next to near impossible that he could have fathered him.

And besides, everyone gets it on the show. Witness the Irish stereotypes (The St. Patrick's day episode, Jack Donaghy fist fighting his own brother, and his own family) the repeated jabs at the Greeks and their style of governance:

Liz: Why did you have to offend the gay community? It’s the most organized of all the communities? They make the Japanese look like Greeks.

Tracy: How is what I said offensive and that’s not?

Liz: Because no one heard me say it!

... making fun of Tracy Morgan's homophobic comments by having a whole episode where he is quite literally, an idiot, and starts an advocacy group for fellow idiots (including fans of Entourage) and playing with the pressures imposed on women with the "spinster" stereotype, by having Liz Lemon's love life become the butt of all jokes by hooking her up with string after string of 'losers'.

If anything, the one character on the show that is the most stereotypical is Kenneth, as he's every terrible stereotype about redneck southerners put together. After all, he spent a few years of his childhood on a compound, then went back to pig farming, and his county never rejoined the union. And of course, his Heaven, post-rapture, is segregated.

And to sum it up:

For those of you who have not seen this episode of 30 Rock, the context is that Tracy is having issues dealing with his father so he is brought into Jack's office to see a therapist for help. Jack is soon asked to impersonate Tracy's father and, based on a few simple clues, is able to reconstruct his character apparently very well.

With only the facts that Tracy's father was from North Philadelphia, worked in a Campbell's soup factory, and had a droopy lip, Jack somehow drew that his father also enjoys collared greens and gambles away welfare checks. How was it that Jack "knew?" Simply because society constructs the way people typically act based on their race.

This clip plays off of the idea that we find it safe to assume that black people bust up chifforobes for a nickel and white people are nasally etiquette-nazis. We formulate stereotypes everyday even without thinking about it, and 30 Rock turned it into satire.

http://criticsandbuilders.typepad.co...ereotypes.html

[Jabare]

Man Jersey Shore really put a stain on New Jersey at such a short amount of time
I mean you had The Sopranos a show that ran for 8 years showing Jersey as a melting pot of different cultures that might not get along and granted it did take on some stereotypes of different cultures the way it was done made the stereotypes feel real

okay lets not exaggerate here. Its not like the rest of the country had a high opinion of New Jersey before this show. People just tried to zip through it on the turnpike as fast as they could and not inhale the fumes.

In all seriousness Jersey Shore just reminded the rest of America why they've been avoiding Jersey


as for this moonshine show it sounds like fun, and SUPER I didn't know you were from West Virginia

[Monty_Cristo]

That's what i was hoping to see when he decided to go to the chicken shack but there was none that i could see or detect.

Of course i didn't find any of the show all that funny i don't recall even chuckling once.

i find the peripheral characters funny. but, strangely, it's almost as if Liz Lemon's recurring issues stop me from laughing. the show is a 50/50 mix of funny and excruciating.

[Jabare]

You all realize the moonshiner show was fake right

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshi...28TV_series%29

and it was done by people who live in the local area, so from what I've read its a pretty accurate adaptation

Virginia authorities have stated that no illegal liquor is being produced. Kathleen Shaw, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, told the Associated Press via email that, ""If illegal activity was actually taking place, the Virginia ABC Bureau of Law Enforcement would have taken action." [2]

Local residents who know the show's stars claim the so called "moonshine" is, in fact, nothing but water. Even the suppliers and customers of the Moonshiners are actually friends and family who willingly participate in the dramatization. The show's stars and creators did learn the techniques of making moonshine from their family. While the show itself is dramatized, the processes and stories on the show are based on their personal experiences and first-hand knowledge.

[RolandJP]

Actually poor whites have never really been exploited on TV by comparison. Not since the Beverly Hillbillies.

there was an actually reality show in development that was going to take true mountain folk and put them in a modern apartment. But it was pulled.
which says a helluva lot about what TV programmers will and wont show.

Most stereotypical shows of that sort are reserved for non-wasps. While most WASP ( white anglo saxon persons) reality TV shows are of the rich well to do variety.

Subsequently what makes this " THE NEW--->WORST STEREOTYPE"?

They all are bad.

[Marc]

All these Louisiana shows are getting on my nerves. I love what it is doing for tourism, but I don't know why but it pisses me off when they show my culture on TV. No idea why, but I hate the spotlight being here. Wildlife and Fisheries are already a pain in the ass (for good reason), but I really don't want any more people trashing the environment. I know it is not just tourists, but man trash in the bayous pisses me off beyond all belief. I love this ecosystem so much, I want it to be here when I grow old too.

[Paradox]

Louisiana? This is in Virginia.

[pariah-1972]

Actually poor whites have never really been exploited on TV by comparison. Not since the Beverly Hillbillies.

there was an actually reality show in development that was going to take true mountain folk and put them in a modern apartment. But it was pulled.
which says a helluva lot about what TV programmers will and wont show.

Most stereotypical shows of that sort are reserved for non-wasps. While most WASP ( white anglo saxon persons) reality TV shows are of the rich well to do variety.

Subsequently what makes this " THE NEW--->WORST STEREOTYPE"?

They all are bad.

Does Jersey Shore count? i think it's become common place to see rich affluent people acting like white trash on reality tv which in it and of itself is a bit bizzare.

[Marc]

Louisiana? This is in Virginia.

I meant more of other like 10 shows they seem to put in the state for no real reason at all.

[Darrell D.]

You miss the point of 30 Rock. The point of 30 Rock is to play with stereotypes using satire, and to turn it on its head.

Grizz and Dot Com are actually the two smartest people on the show, not something you'd expect from two guys that big, and who amount to being paid lackeys. The brilliance with them is that they usually do or head off into a direction that is not expected.

Tracy, as infantile as he may be, is actually a good father figure, or at least tries to be, and is faithful to his wife. That's the antithesis of the single black father who runs out on his kids stereotype. Hell, he even tries to take care of Donald and claim him as his own, even though it's next to near impossible that he could have fathered him.

And besides, everyone gets it on the show. Witness the Irish stereotypes (The St. Patrick's day episode, Jack Donaghy fist fighting his own brother, and his own family) the repeated jabs at the Greeks and their style of governance:



... making fun of Tracy Morgan's homophobic comments by having a whole episode where he is quite literally, an idiot, and starts an advocacy group for fellow idiots (including fans of Entourage) and playing with the pressures imposed on women with the "spinster" stereotype, by having Liz Lemon's love life become the butt of all jokes by hooking her up with string after string of 'losers'.

If anything, the one character on the show that is the most stereotypical is Kenneth, as he's every terrible stereotype about redneck southerners put together. After all, he spent a few years of his childhood on a compound, then went back to pig farming, and his county never rejoined the union. And of course, his Heaven, post-rapture, is segregated.

And to sum it up:



http://criticsandbuilders.typepad.co...ereotypes.html

You said that so much better than I.
Great job, BB.

[Michael P]

Actually poor whites have never really been exploited on TV by comparison. Not since the Beverly Hillbillies.

Two words: Jerry Springer.

(Although Jerry was an equal opportunity exploiter.)

[i_mmmchocolate]

Two words: Jerry Springer.

(Although Jerry was an equal opportunity exploiter.)

Hell, even Montell and Ricki Lake, back in the 90's. I even think Paris Hilton's "reality show" had her living in backwater America.

All the usual stereotypes have been on TV at some point or another.