Adam Bozarth Enjoys the Internet: A Sitcom Looks Dumb?
I know this is not going to be a popular opinion, but I have to get this off my chest.
I don’t get this backlash against Whitney Cummings’ show “Whitney.”
Sure, the ads are glib and rather generic looking. Seems like any number of sitcoms about a married couple. So what if there are other shows about married couples? You think “The Honeymooners” said all there was to say about being married? Or “I Love Lucy?” So you don’t relate to it. Then it’s not for you. It’s for the millions of Americans who watch TV and are married and want to laugh about it. You know, like all of your high school friends who decided to start families instead of blogs.
And the fact that a lot of this is coming out of the comedy community is really disturbing. Whitney Cummings is a stand-up, which makes her no different than any of the other stand-ups or writers or sketch actors you know. Your friends, basically. She had to do the same shit we are all going through to get any kind of notice. She made a big splash on one of the Comedy Central Roasts and now she’s sold two sitcoms in one year to different networks. She’s doing what we all wish we could, but instead of seeing the possibility for us to do the same, we snark all over an ad campaign some dopey designer worked up in a Burbank basement.
So, it looks stupid, familiar, and other derisive adjectives. It just might be, but who cares. If people watch it, it stays on the air. If not, it goes away and you’ll never have to be reminded that married people wear sweatpants. Sweatpants! Could you imagine wearing such comfortable clothing after busting your ass all day?
If any of us were to be lucky enough to sell a show, save us from the snarky backlash if a bus advertisement isn’t God’s gift to comedy posters. If I was offered a job to write on this show, I would take it in a heartbeat. Writing for a network sitcom sounds like a dream job. You don’t get higher up by tearing others down, you get higher up by doing things better.
It’s demoralizing how much energy is going into making fun of this show that isn’t even on the air yet. If you don’t like Whitney Cummings’ comedy, fine. You don’t like it when characters are married on a sitcom, fine. Don’t watch it. There are millions of television shows to watch. You fully caught up on “Louie” yet? How about all the DVD commentaries for “Arrested Development?” Network television is fast food; it’s cheap and convenient and not that great for you. That’s the nature of the beast.
I don’t want to offend anyone with how harsh this sounds, but just replace the word “Whitney” with your own name and see how it feels to have people mock something you worked hard to create that they haven’t seen yet.
Super well put. See also: Scott Aukerman’s thoughts on comedians maligning “hack” comedy.
I think a big part of the backlash to these ads (and let’s be clear, since this seems to be at least partially a response to the conversation between Halle and I that we posted to Splitsider yesterday, that we were talking about the ads and not the show itself, which neither of us has seen and I still hold out hope for) isn’t that the jokes are bad, but that they have an angle on gender relations that is like 20+ years outdated. Bad jokes are one thing, but having these jokes about how annoying women are and how dudes just wanna be left alone by their naggin’ wives is another entirely.
Yes, comedy is hard to be successful at and we should be supportive of our peers. That’s why I don’t really cover shows I don’t like on Splitsider! I try to be positive, mostly, although obviously there are some exceptions. Nobody’s perfect! But comedy being hard doesn’t mean we can’t criticize something that is gross on not a comedic level, but a human level, which I think some of these completely ubiquitous Whitney ads are.
Wait a second. I’ve been married for three years and I can tell you this: sometimes my wife annoys me, sometimes I annoy my wife, and most of the time I want to be left alone and don’t want to be nagged about my clothes on the bedroom floor, or the dishes I left in the sink, or how it’s my turn to walk the dogs and take the garbage down to the curb. THIS IS HOW MARRIED COUPLES ACTUALLY ACT!
How can you say that this angle on gender relations is outdated when you yourself are not married? You have no perspective on this subject, unless I’m wrong and you have been married before. This is how my married friends act as well.
We’re not talking about men saying women shouldn’t be allowed to vote, we’re talking about me being annoyed that MY WIFE IS TAKING UP BOTH TOWEL RACKS BECAUSE SHE NEEDS A SECOND FUCKING TOWEL FOR HER HAIR. Where my towel gonna go, Frucci? Where my towel gonna go?
I’m pretty sure the premise of Whitney is that they are unmarried and living together, which is my living situation, having lived with Sarah for 2+ years. She has never given me the “silent treatment,” nor would I see that as a good thing if she did. But the towel argument is one that I have no rebuttal to. Point, Appel.
