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Thread ID: 20904 | Posts: 3 | Started: 2005-11-05
2005-11-05 19:40 | User Profile
[B]'Boondocks' on TV has an edge as sharp as ever[/B] [img]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/C/05/18/06/image_1906185.jpg[/img]
By RODNEY HO The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 11/05/2005
"Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11."
Those are the first words out of Huey Freeman's mouth in the TV version of "The Boondocks," Aaron McGruder's provocative newspaper comic strip about two black kids rebelling against life in sterile suburbia.
And with that salvo, McGruder dispels any notion that he might have compromised his principles when he joined Cartoon Network's oddball, satirical Adult Swim lineup. He's as in-your-face as ever.
In fact, the n-word pops up so often in the first two episodes, McGruder seems to be mocking the reluctance of mainstream white America to say it out loud.
"We don't use the n-word in this house," admonishes cranky grandfather Robert Freeman, who moved to the burbs to improve the lives of his two not-so-grateful grandsons, 10-year-old Huey and 8-year-old gangsta wannabe Riley.
"Granddad, you used it 46 times yesterday," Huey barks back.
Much like the characters on "South Park," "The Simpsons" or "Family Guy," people in "The Boondocks" can say the darnedest things, which real-life TV people can't. The results can be flat-out hilarious.
When Granddad dates a hooker named Cristal (after the champagne, of course), Huey confronts her and in exasperation, says, "You realize I'm doing prostitute laundry? Don't you realize how disgusting that is?"
And Uncle Ruckus, a black man filled with self-hate who works for rich white guy Ed Wuncler (played amusingly by Ed Asner), becomes alarmed when Freeman and his kids arrive to Wuncler's garden party. "Oh lord have mercy! Security! We have a code black at the main gate!"
The show is visually faithful to the strip, placing its sharply drawn characters against a dull, grayish palette that makes it seem as if the Freemans live in a threatening, foreign land.
Yet for all the vented anger, there's an underlying sweetness to "The Boondocks," a conventionality not found in Adult Swim shows like "Aqua Teen Hunger Force" and "Harvey Birdman," which tend to be crudely drawn and packed with non sequiturs.
Granddad may beat Riley for calling Cristal a "ho," but he's doing it because he wants his grandkids to be good. To him, corporal punishment is perfectly acceptable old-school discipline. And McGruder finds a way to make it all funny.
If that offends you, well, you'll have turned the channel long before that scene arrives.
Seriously, the sweet-and-sour mix works.
While Riley clearly sees Cristal for who she is ââ¬â a gold digger ââ¬â Huey knows his granddad is smitten: "I didn't want to believe Riley," he thinks to himself. "I want him to find love in his life."
That's a genuine sentiment you'd never hear from Frylock or Meatwad on "Aqua Teen."
And that comment Huey made at the beginning of the first show about Jesus, Reagan and 9/11? In his dream, it triggers a riot among the pampered white folks at the garden party.
In (cartoon) reality, all it does is incite clapping and praise for his "articulate" comments.
As Huey laments, "They're rich. No matter what happens, they just keep applauding." [url]http://www.accessatlanta.com/entertainment/content/entertainment/tv/1105/05boondocks.html[/url] [B] [I]Wait! there's more...[/I][/B]
AccessAtlanta.com
Raisin' a ruckus Uncle Ruckus, that is. He joins 'The Boondocks' comic crew debuting Sunday on TV
By RICHARD L. ELDREDGE The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Published on: 11/05/2005
Gary Anthony Williams, who voices Uncle Ruckus, one of the characters on "The Boondocks," has this to say about his new show: "There are two dates you have to remember: Nov. 6 and 7. On Nov. 6, 'The Boondocks' debuts on Cartoon Network. And Nov. 7 ... the white men realize they made a huge mistake putting this bull-[expletive] on the air!"
Actually, no matter what your race, tuning in to the "Boondocks" series premiere at 11 Sunday night is likely to make you squirm a little.
When this is pointed out to creator Aaron McGruder during a phone interview he gave the AJC from his Culver City, Calif., studio, you can almost hear him smiling on the other end of the line.
"That's great!" says the 31-year-old. "That's what we're hoping to accomplish."
McGruder is the man behind the wildly successful "Boondocks" comic strip that appears in 350 newspapers, including The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. And he's hoping to rattle just as many cages with his 30-minute cartoon series as he does with his satirical strip.
Both the strip and the show focus on Robert "Granddad" Freeman and his grandkids, Huey and Riley, who have moved to the lily-white Chicago suburb of Woodcrest. And both share an edgy sensibility that's frequently used to skewer pop culture targets like Condoleezza Rice, 50 Cent, Vivica A. Fox, President Bush and B.E.T.
Cartoon Network, which is paying an estimated $400,000 to producer Sony Pictures Television for the licensing rights to the first 15 episodes, is hoping that controversy will translate into big ratings. As the new anchor of the network's late-night "Adult Swim" lineup, "Boondocks" is as important a moneymaker for Cartoon Network as "The Sopranos" is for HBO.
Fans of the "Boondocks" comic strip who are concerned that the animated version won't pack the punch of the frequently yanked political newspaper strip can relax. Being on basic cable at 11 on a Sunday night actually affords McGruder many more freedoms than he has in the far tamer pages of a family-friendly newspaper.
In the pilot alone, the n-word flies approximately 15 times (as one clap-happy white woman whispers to another, "I think the n-word is OK as long as they use it!").
Long lead-in time
The downside is that because it takes 15 months to produce an episode (from writing the script to bringing it to life in a Korean animation studio), McGruder can't give the show the feel of immediacy that the newspaper strip has.
The upside is that he can bring deeper levels of detail to the Freeman family in the 30-minute version.
For example, McGruder, a history buff, is able to show through flashbacks Granddad's participation in the civil rights movement.
Or lack of.
Sunday, when the family patriarch begins lecturing Huey and Riley on "dogs and firehoses," a flashback reveals that Granddad actually missed a civil rights march because he ran home for his rain slicker.
"There are so many more opportunities to explore the nuances of these characters with the TV show," says McGruder. "As a writer, it's a bigger canvas to work on."
In "The Garden Party" episode, Granddad, who is consistently cranky with his grandkids, dramatically downplays his personality in order to fit into his new, less diverse neighborhood.
"In Granddad's day, if you walked around saying Harry Truman's the devil, you were in trouble! His generation saw so much brutality. This is about survival for him. It's great to be able to explore that generation gap."
In an upcoming episode, "Guess Hoe's Coming to Dinner," it's the kids who have to educate Granddad, informing him that the young thing he met at the supermarket who's maxing out his credit cards and Red Lobster coupons is a, er, working girl. Complete with a purple-suited pimp.
Throughout his beautifully drawn pastel TV universe (it's the most expensive 'toon Cartoon Network has ever aired), McGruder has written in Uncle Ruckus. He's a self-loathing black man, working in a largely white world that doesn't trust "them new [expletive deleted] over there."
Voiced by "Malcolm in the Middle" actor and former Atlantan Williams, Uncle Ruckus could prove to be the flashpoint for the animated series.
"He's the wrongest character ever!" concedes Williams, laughing. "He says horrible, horrible, hilarious things. Just being inside the head of that dude is wild. He's, let's say, a little heightened, but I've also known people who hate themselves and their people to that extent."
'He's so twisted!'
For McGruder, Uncle Ruckus and Williams' portrayal of the character is the most fun to write.
"He's so twisted!" McGruder says. "My first goal always is to be funny. But as a satirist, there's also so much you can do with a character like Uncle Ruckus."
Later in the season, McGruder will continue to push the satirical envelope with an episode titled "The Return of the King." In it, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. comes out of a three-decade coma, presents an award with Sean Combs on MTV's Video Music Awards and realizes that after the Sept. 11 attacks, his nonviolent "turn the other cheek" philosophy doesn't fit.
"Any rational person would have saved this for Season 2," McGruder says, laughing. "But I thought, 'What if this bombs and there's no Season 2?' I just wanted to remind people of the hypocrisy of the war on terror, and the man who preached nonviolence."
One other upcoming juicy revelation for "Boondocks" fans: Robert "Granddad" Freeman was a friend of MLK who's still bitter about a particular 1955 bus trip in Montgomery, Ala.
Explains McGruder: "Granddad actually refused to give up his seat first but everybody ignored him. He's still a little mad at Rosa Parks!" [url]http://www.accessatlanta.com/news/content/entertainment/news/1105/05lvboondocks.html[/url]
[img]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/09/05/06/image_1906059.jpg[/img] [img]http://img.coxnewsweb.com/B/05/07/06/image_1906075.jpg[/img] McGruder [img]http://images.ucomics.com/comics/bo/2005/bo051104.gif[/img]
2005-11-05 21:08 | User Profile
[QUOTE=Sertorius]"Jesus was black, Ronald Reagan was the devil and the government is lying about 9/11."][/QUOTE]
"Judas was blacker, Ronald McDonald cooked all my meals growing up, and the government is lying about Diversity."
2005-11-05 21:21 | User Profile
IR,
Ain't that the truth. [QUOTE]And Uncle Ruckus, a black man filled with self-hate who works for rich white guy Ed Wuncler (played amusingly by Ed Asner), becomes alarmed when Freeman and his kids arrive to Wuncler's garden party. "Oh lord have mercy! Security! We have a code black at the main gate!" [/QUOTE] How appropriate to use Asner's talents. Instead of "Uncle Ruckus", why not call him "Uncle Remus" and be done with it? I don't think there is so much self-hate as there is hating whitey from reading the comic strip in the past.