8/17/13
View Logs: Dads Prologue
You may have noticed that my site leans more towards dramas. You might think that's because I prefer dramas over comedies. Actually, that's not the case (even though it would make sense...) The reason why I've focused a lot on drama is because I don't really like talking about comedies. When you think about it, comedies are almost completely impervious to dissections and breakdowns. If you laughed at a joke... you laughed at a joke. In most (if not all) comedies that's the intended end result. It's not to convey a theme, or message, or a philosophical core... it's just to make you laugh. Of course, I'm not trying to say that comedies have less of a craft than drama. Comedies can be every bit as great and intricate as dramas. But the fact of the matter is, the general public just takes comedies a lot less seriously than dramas, and when you take something very lightly usually you can't go deeper into it. I laughed. That's that. If you didn't laugh... you didn't laugh. Where as in a drama, it's more comfortable (and acceptable) to discuss characters, plot development, themes, messages, dialogue, etc. In fact, it's even acceptable to "sour" on a drama.Hypothetically, say Human Test Subject A watched CSI, which is a very mediocre crime show. If CSI is Subject A's first crime show ever, he might think it's pretty good for a crime show. So he'd likely come out of it with a pretty good experience, especially if Subject A hasn't personally experienced crime show cliches himself. Now introduce Human Test Subject B... he has a wide experience of crime shows and have experienced some of the best. I.E. Law and Order UK, Endeavor, Sherlock, etc. Subject A and Subject B discuss. And Subject B describes why CSI is medicore or even bad based on his experiences with better written materials. So Subject A watches those better written shows. At the end of all this, Subject A is likely to come out of it souring on CSI. He probably won't hate it, as arbitrary human sentiment is always an unpredictable variable to liking or hating something. But it's pretty safe to say that, if he allowed Subject B to expand his experience palette, Subject A wouldn't find CSI as engaging anymore and would probably even lose interest.
Imagine that with comedies. I've known people who have changed their minds on comedy shows. But generally speaking it's a lot more common for people to stick to "what they like no matter what" in comedies. Again, a part of that is just people taking comedies lightly so they don't see a reason to "grow" or "expand their experiences". Whether this is right or wrong is for another log. I'm not here to say that you should treat your comedies like your dramas (even though I do think people should be willing to dissect comedies a little more). I just wanted to elaborate on why I don't like to talk about comedies. So... the TL;DR version is that no matter how much I argue or dissect a comedy show, I don't think it'll matter to most people. That said, I'll still do a view log and do what I do because... well it's in my nature.
Which... brings me to Dads... from the producers of Family Guy and stars Seth Green and Giovanni Ribisi. Just... watch this...
Looks familiar?... I'll give you a hint... William Shatner... remember it? No? Neither do I. It's basically the same premise as Shit My Dad Says. Which I've actually personally attended a live taping off. Well... Ok I wasn't physically there... stuck in a science basement... but one of my scientists put a camera on his collar so I could see the live taping myself. Suffice it to say... I wasn't impressed. It was William Shatner doing a worse version of Denny Crane from Boston Legal. Which made it highly unfunny because Denny Crane straddled that quality comedy line quite a bit at times...
Anyways, so speaking specifically to the trailer. The idea itself is fine and it's something a lot of people can relate to I suppose. But what really makes me worried about the show are the asian jokes. The Father ignorance jokes and light nerd jokes at the beginning are fine (thank god it's not Big Bang Theory heavy handed), but the trailer really got sour to me when all the Asian jokes came up. Which made up a large portion of the trailer so that doesn't bode well for the show. Let me say this. China and Japan are two totally separate countries. Culturally. I understand to those who have lived in Western countries all their lives they may seem similar. But I wish people would stop assuming China and Japan (heck even Korea and Mongolia) are all the same thing. Are Nigeria and Ghana the same thing? Are Iraq and Iran the same thing? America and France? The correct answer to all of these is no. So if that's the case, stop assuming China and Japan are the same thing. It's actually a little offensive considering that China and Japan have a long history of killing each other.
Chinese businessmen would not be taking pictures of a hot Asian girl in a Japanese school uniform. By the way, Chinese school uniforms exists too. Just an FYI to the writers. Might have been better to actually use a Chinese school uniform? I don't know, maybe you can play off of that a little more than just generic hentaiesque Japanese school uniform. Like she grabbed a Chinese uniform and tries to act slutty then it turns out one of the businessmen has a daughter that goes to that school and suddenly she's caught trying to make up stories about growing up in China when she's lived in California all her life? Just a suggestion... But I've already put more thought into this scenario than the writers with their "creepy Asian businessmen like Japanese hentai" thing...
Look, generally speaking I'm ok with humor that's very politically incorrect. I like Family Guy (early... Family Guy) and South Park. But what I don't like is politically incorrect humor that's lazy and not thought out. I'm ok if people are offensive. But if you're offensive without a point to it, then that is like an immature 13 year old kid trying hard to be mature. Being offensive is not inherently clever. Mixing up Chinese and Japanese culture is the epitome of lazy politically incorrect Asian humor. Again, it's ok if you don't really know the difference between China and Japan. Not everyone can know everything about the world. What is a problem is when people assume there isn't one. That is where, as a writer, you have a creative duty to research if you want to tackle materials outside of your own personal experiences. The writers of Dads seem to be taking cheap short cuts.
In this day and age... that's not good enough. I think I'm in for a very very long view log for this one...
P.S. To those that doubt that China and Japan are really that different. Go and watch a Chinese Wuxia TV show then watch a Japanese anime and then come back to me and tell me that they are the same...
