Introducing The Racialicious TV Roundup
Courtesy Los Angeles Times
By Guest Contributors Kendra James and Jordan St. John and Managing Editor Arturo R. García
In case you hadn’t guessed, the TV Correspondents here at The R watch a lot of television. Unfortunately, not everything of interest makes it into article form and, with that in mind we present the weekly TV Roundup: a catch all of televised pop culture tidbits that might not warrant a full column, but you still want to know about. Big SPOILER ALERT in place for the items under the cut.
Mad Men: There are tentative plans for a mid-season roundtable on this show this year, what with the unexpected addition of an African American secretary, Dawn Chambers, to the pool at Sterling Cooper Draper Price. The period piece finally seems ready to delve into civil rights as other plots being to head down a darker path (pun unintended). This week’s episode juxtaposed the fear of the race riots in Cleveland with the fear brought on by the Richard Speck murders in Chicago. As we’ve covered before, when asked why the show never focused on the lives of African Americans in the 1960s show creator Matthew Weiner insisted that it wasn’t racially driven and that it just simply wasn’t the story he was looking to tell yet. His story is about white Americans. I found almost this exact viewpoint being expressed by the characters on the show in watching their reactions to each of the mentioned current events. The race riots weren’t their main concern, and they weren’t elaborated on by anyone but Dawn, who was so aware of the tension that she was afraid to go back to Harlem by herself at night. The others–the white employees–forgot about the riots as soon as news of Richard Speck started spreading. Peggy’s friend Joyce even announces that she’s sure the gruesome pictures of the murdered women will knock the riots off the front page. Like everyone else in the room, she’s excited about it.
We’re only four episodes and three weeks in, but look for more on Mad Men later this season. - KJ
(L-R) Matt Bomer and Darren Criss. Courtesy theqit.com
Page 1 of 3 | Next page