advertisement

'Carmichael Show' gets how people actually talk about politics

September is the traditional month when a new crop of shows arrives on television, and with it, signs of new trends and new thinking in TV. But right now on NBC, a new show is getting a jump on that process.

"The Carmichael Show," a family sitcom based on star Jerrod Carmichael's stand-up comedy, is the rare series, comedy or drama, to assume that ordinary people talk about politics as a matter of course, rather than assuming that any time politics or policy enters the equation, it's a deviation from the norm and an occasion for a Very Special Episode.

In the pilot, politics first enters the conversation when Jerrod (Carmichael) and Maxine (Amber Stevens West) move in together and get their first piece of mail, a reminder to register to vote. Maxine is shocked to learn that Jerrod is not interested.

"In 2008, I saw this man rise from being poor and black in America to the greatest office in the United States, actually, the greatest office in the world," he tells her. "And I felt pride, you know. I felt inspired. He inspired me and so many other people. I mean, so many other people, I figured, he doesn't need me. He won the Nobel Peace Prize and I don't even know what he did!" Besides, he tells her, in a display of skepticism that carries over into the next episode, "Your vote doesn't count, and democracy is dead!"

Eventually, politics becomes a diversion for Jerrod, who isn't eager to tell his religious parents Joe (David Alan Grier) and Cynthia (Loretta Devine) that he and Maxine have moved in together without getting engaged, or even discussing marriage. The scene that follows is the kind of loose, funny family conversation that's almost entirely absent from television, complete with people trolling each other with extreme positions and working themselves into corners.

"I am thinking about registering Republican," Jerrod tells his parents as a distraction. "None of you could tell me why you voted for him without using the words 'hope' or 'change.'"

"Michelle!" Cynthia shoots back at him.

"I did vote for Bush in 2004," Joe confesses, explaining that he voted for President Obama mostly because of the stimulus check that came in the mail. Later, the conversation shifts to school prayer.

"There is prayer in school," Cynthia insists.

"No, there's not, because of the Democrats," Jerrod baits his mother.

"You mean they won't let the little babies pray?" Cynthia says, horrified, going on to make the totally ridiculous but highly apt suggestion that Muslim and Jewish students be segregated for their own good. By the end of the night, Jerrod has given up the ruse and confessed that he and Maxine are living together, but he's stuck with his earlier diversion.

"Voting Republican and living in sin - just nasty!" Cynthia huffs at him, gravely disappointed on both counts.

The next episode, in which Maxine and Cynthia decide to join a Black Lives Matter protest after a black Charlotte resident is shot by the police, is even sharper. And it's a useful reminder of the kind of conversations a show with a majority-black cast can have that a mostly white series simply can't carry off.

Jerrod and Maxine debate the value of protest in ending systemic injustice. "People protested for gay marriage in front of the White House and that worked out," Maxine suggests.

"You're going to credit that to protests? That was more Neil Patrick Harris than anything," Jerrod tells her, his dubiousness from the pilot carrying through. Joe and Cynthia disagree about whether Cynthia ought to join the march.

"Protests are filled with too much sexual energy. I don't need my wife against that many rebellious black men. Protests make you sexy. It's a fact," Joe declares grumpily, suggesting that no one would have found Malcolm X attractive without demonstrations. "He was a black ginger! And no one noticed!"

After Cynthia and Maxine head downtown, Joe and Jerrod end up in a debate about how Jerrod presents himself and whether respectability politics are evidence of discrimination or just good sense.

"That is one suspicious walk you got there, son! You always walk like that?" Joe tells his son. "I'm your father, and I would never shoot you, but that's one aggressive stroll you got. I blame it on the hip-hop."

This might be the multi-camera sitcom translation of Black Lives Matter's messaging. But the debate between Joe's argument that it's a sensible precaution to police your own behavior and Jerrod's emerging awareness that his life could be at risk for no reason is still a valuable thing to see on television and a conversation that a majority-white show couldn't possibly stage in any insightful way.

In a similar way, it's nice to see an intergenerational debate between Cynthia and Maxine about what a good protest actually looks like. Heading downtown together is a bonding moment for the two women, yet Cynthia is disturbed by the carnival atmosphere at the protests (though not so much that she doesn't bring home Jerrod's favorite corn on the cob from a food truck). And while she fled after curfew was declared, Maxine was arrested, an event that gives "The Carmichael Show" a chance to delve on the different treatment Maxine, who is light-skinned, and Jerrod, who is darker, receive on the count of color.

"This is something I have to deal with every single day," Jerrod tells Maxine after picking her up from jail.

"You know I'm black, right?" Maxine demands.

"Eh," Jerrod declares.

I don't mean to say that "The Carmichael Show" is a revolutionary show, or even, through two episodes, a perfect one. It has a heavy dose of intentionally terrible dad jokes, its multi-camera setting looks a little generic, and through two episodes, Jerrod's brother Bobby (Lil Rel Howery) and his sort-of-ex-wife, Nekeisha (Tiffany Haddish), remain very broad comic relief.

But despite these minor flaws, it's a huge relief to hear television people talking like actual humans about race and politics. In the dog days of August, "The Carmichael Show" is a delightful and invigorating blast of air conditioning.

Article Comments
Guidelines: Keep it civil and on topic; no profanity, vulgarity, slurs or personal attacks. People who harass others or joke about tragedies will be blocked. If a comment violates these standards or our terms of service, click the "flag" link in the lower-right corner of the comment box. To find our more, read our FAQ.