Giving Credit Where it is Due

Last week, unlike The Hollywood Reporter's Tim Goodman, I calmly railed against ABC's new show Work It.  After watching the premiere of Showtime's House of Lies, I was compelled to give the new show credit for what it is doing right.  I can't speak for whether the show will be popular, I can't find a review out there where people think the show is any good.  However, the complaints about the show have nothing to do with Don Cheadle's performance as Marty.

Cheadle's role is in the kind of casting that the African-American community has been pleading for.  This is a mainstream show, with an African-American male in the lead.  It could have easily been cast for a Caucasian male, just like all of the formulaic shows on the USA network that House of Lies is being compared to.  He has a white ex-wife, and a son that actually looks biracial.

Unlike ABC's Work It, House of Lies addresses transgendered people in a tasteful and realistic way.  Marty's son, Roscoe, successfully auditions for the role of Sandy in Grease.  Marty's dad, Jeremiah, played by Glynn Turner (Col. Taylor from A Different World) is an ex-psychologist who encourages Roscoe.  Marty even stands up to Roscoe's teacher when she suggests Sandy's role should go to a girl.

Throw in the lesbian sex scene, and you've got a show that advances representations of inter-racial relationships and all kinds of minorities on television.  It doesn't work hard to break down stereotypes, and this is the OPPOSITE of a preachy show.  Therefore, regardless of whether this show is any good or not, I give it mad props for how these themes are addressed.  Personally, I think this show is interesting and original, and for now, I plan to keep watching.

Taking a Break

As a member of the LGBT community, I come across all kinds of articles related to the issues of "my people".  Over the course of the last few weeks, I've come across a number of articles about how Work It is offensive to transgendered people.  I decided to check it out to come to my own conclusion.

As a TV-phile, I think it's great that TV brings these issues up into the mainstream and understand that networks air programming that people find entertaining, regardless of their level of controversiality.  Sometimes, I think some organizations and critics go overboard in accusing shows of being offensive.  

However, I thought this show was WAY more offensive to women than it ever could be to transgendered people.  This show is not about a man who wants to be a woman or is making any fun of transgendered people.  This about a man who has run out of unemployment and does whatever it takes to get a job to support his family, even if whatever it takes involves dressing up as a woman.  

Therefore, he and his friends believe that the only good jobs available are for women.  At the beginning of the episode, the men fear that women are taking over the world and planning to use men only as sex slaves in the future.  A female character explicitly says that only women are considered for the positions, leading the men to dress up as women to gain employment there.  

There are a number of jokes at women's expense: the desperate single mother, tampons, and being overly emotional.  In the scene where the main character is hired, the interviewer is impressed with his knowledge of clinical trials because "all of the women who apply for this position believe that clinical trials are a place where Lindsay Lohan visits."  This is just one example of how this episode clearly implies that the company prefers to hire women, regardless of their incompetence.  

This sort of thing is why I'm interesting in working at a network, to stand up for women when this kind of episode is written.  I'll be back in LA this week, ready to kick my job search to the next level.  Wish me luck, everyone!