So this new show Reed Between the Lines is one of the newest in BET's revamped programming lineup and it stars Tracee Ellis Ross & Malcolm-Jamal Warner as the Reeds, and after watching most of the 1st season I have to admit that I just can't get into it.
Black television viewing options as a whole have been relegated into stereotypes in this day and age, while others try and struggle--I believe this show being one of them--to bring back the classic theme that Black sitcoms focused on. Black movies have either been relegated to religious-type movies where the damsel in distress ends up with a former hoodlum and they discover God in the process (which happens, I'm not knocking it) with some sassy grandma in the background--just look at examples like Family Matters and any of the Madea movies--or they try to bring back the days of old, Cosby-type shows. More embarrassingly, for those "actors and actresses" that don't have the chops to make it into either type of flick I just mentioned, they end up in some ghetto, amateur, straight-to-bootleg film full of tired stereotypes, worse acting and even worse camera skills.
As much as I miss the cheesiness of the classic Black sitcoms I watched as a kid, sad to say, the magic just isn't there anymore. And not because I don't enjoy watching them now as an adult, but because the same people who created those sitcoms are not creating the current ones. The dynamic, the target audience, and furthermore the vision that these people have today has changed. Everything today follows a prototype, often an overused one, or some sort of "joke skeleton" that they feel is entertaining for people to watch. Reed Between the Lines struggles to bring back a Black sitcom that the entire family can enjoy, and not because any of the actors are bad--I loved TER on Girlfriends and MJW will always be Theo to me. lol They're all wonderful actors and I liked that they brought in a veteran tv actress like Anna Maria Horsford. In later years she's gotten roles that didn't really do anything for her, like Friday After Next. I enjoyed her in the first one, but because I feel the dynamic of the Friday franchise changed after the first movie, I didn't enjoy it at the same level. And that's what kids know her for today, being the mom in the Friday movies. People don't remember anymore that she was Dee on The Wayans Bros back in the 90s after Friday or that she was on Amen back in the '80s. It's nice to see that she has a steady and stable role again and not only in a movie that has become a sad shadow of the basis it was originated on.
I don't find the show particularly funny or entertaining. I wouldn't tell my siblings or even my spouse that the show is on, mainly because I don't think they would enjoy it either. I know for a fact my bf would not. Maybe something's wrong with us, I don't know. What I do know though is that for the cast they have brought in, they aren't giving them much material. They had a two-part episode that I just watched earlier tonight with Sean Patrick Thomas (Save the Last Dance, Barbershop) playing the part of Ms. Helen's (Anna Maria Horsford) son returning from his 2nd overseas tour and discovering that he was suffering from PTSD. In the episode, he takes an innocent worker hostage during a flashback and puts a blade to his throat. PTSD is affecting so many people in our country today and so many soldiers can relate to that exact plotline, a proud soldier finally coming home after serving time overseas and having to carry those shadows and demons around for the rest of their lives, trying to return to normal function and pretend nothing's wrong. They could have done alot more with that role, explored it so much better than they did. SPT is a good actor and could have done excellently with more material. While he was holding the worker hostage, the guy was cracking jokes in the meantime that were falling so flat a pancake had more bounce. Seriously. It wasn't entertaining. Afterwards, when dude's mother entered the room and saw the guy on the floor, there was no alarm on her face, not even when she saw her son over him with a blade. That makes no sense on any planet. Even though this episode was not only about him returning with PTSD and even being a two-parter could not be the focus of the entire show, it still had the potential to be an excellent side story and in my opinion the writers dropped the ball. Like to the ground dropped it. lol
The jokes in this sitcom fall flat--I wondered during half of the episodes that I watched if some of their "jokes" are even meant to be funny--the main point of the episode is sometimes no bigger than what a side story in a normal sitcom should be, and honestly, I don't see that much chemistry between Tracie Ross and Malcolm Warner. I see more of a good friend vibe than a passionate husband and wife. I do like that Carla is different from Joan--Carla is alot less neurotic and "bam!" than Joan, however Malcolm's character reminds me too much of Theo after he watched his daddy for too long--reminds me of an adult Theo, which is probably why I can't remember this character's name. lol
Bitchy Review: I want to like this show, I really do. I'd love to support more Black ventures in film and tv. I enjoy that they employ smaller-name actors; you never know where someone will be in 5 years and its nice to put these people on the map. I think its also a good thing that veterans of tv are sharing space with the younger actors; they could probably learn a lot from these people which will benefit their careers lately. But as a whole, I don't think I'll be watching the 2nd season of this show.
Bitchy Rating: 2 (out of 5)
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