'The Boondocks' Season 3 Sucks, What Happened?
Uncle Ruckus on Twitter, Why Retweet Racist Tweets?
Adult Swim is intended for mature audiences and tends to have more cynical humor, but there's something I find especially wrong with beeping out words like "motherfucker" but not bleeping out "nigger." I sucked my teeth the entire time I watched Season 2's "What Niggas?" and "Behind 'The Boondocks'" scenes when the cast chose to say "nigga" as many times as possible. I can't tell whether they're trying to take the sting out of the word or is simply too naive to believe it's still offensive.
When the first episode of Season 3 came on, I wasn't really into Huey's skeptical view of President Barack Obama or the way that episode never portrayed those who are savvy at politics and supported Obama because he was qualified, not just black. I still gave the show a shot, but the rest of the episodes so far have been ridiculous.
"Smokin' With Cigarettes" is about an incredibly bad juvenile who is hell bent on doing "bad things" to get attention, like stealing his grandmother's gun, throwing mattresses and fake babies on expressways, recklessly driving a car, stealing food as he walks by shops and shooting German Shepherds. Riley goes from admiring his contumacious attitude to being freaked out about it. I got tired of watching the boy and wondered where was this episode going. The way it ended made me cringe and expect yet another episode about him.
"Night of the Living Stinkmeaners" is another episode full of using the word "nigga" with an angry old man who was supposed to be dead in Season 2. His name is Stinkmeaner. He's back to haunt Grandad. I was bored before the episode even got halfway through and over Stinkmeaner in the first episode. How many times can we discuss "nigga moments" before it just gets old? It only took me once. Move on.
"An Epic Contest" is a long episode about Huey going back to playing baseball with a competitor who is determined to beat his record. Outside of a few kicks, this one wasn't interesting either.
The episode with a racist country singer who is befriended by Uncle Ruckus blew me completely. There were entirely too many racist and self-hating jokes. It went from making Uncle Ruckus that crazy sellout, funny guy to not being amusing at all. On Twitter, that episode got very mixed reviews and left some people (including myself) really pissed off. It was supposed to be based on a real country singer, but unlike Season 1, there was no last-minute lesson involved. Think of Kramer's long, racist tirade and imagine it went on for 30 minutes in animation. Yep, it was that NOT funny.
Then came an episode about an old rapper who used rap beef with a young, non-lyrically talented artist and Autotune to sell his music, but it didn't work out and he's still washed up. Yes, Souljah Boy made sure to alert his Twitter followers about this one. I'm sure Ice T was none too thrilled. Although the episode had a point, I was still dozing off. Is it just me or do these episodes not even sound interesting? It took a couple years for Season 3, but I honestly think McGruder should've stopped at Season 2.
What's worse is the people who are retweeting this Twitter.com/Uncle_Rukus page with him tweeting things like "IF I SAY 99.9% OF NIGGAZ AINT SHIT #whatimreallysayingis#THETRUTH," "IF I SAY I HAVE SOAP #whatimreallysayingis MEXICANS BEWARE I AM ARMED," "YESSIR, @Eminem IS A PRIME EXAMPLE THE WHITE MAN CAN DO ANYTHING BETTER THAN DARKIES CAN,.. DAS WHY HE DID DRUGS JUST TO PROVE IT" and "#NiggaQuestions WILL MY STAMPS BE ON THE CARD AT MIDNIGHT?"
While the account is not verified and Uncle Ruckus' name is spelled wrong, the fact remains that whoever is maintaining the page is using the name and the photo of the self-hating brotha who swears he has reverse vitiligo.
The worst part is people are retweeting these ridiculous and offensive tweets, and most of them doing it are black. I know we're supposed to be able to take a joke, but when does the joke end and getting serious begins? This Twitter.com/Uncle_Rukus account has 32,100 followers, and I'm wondering "Why?" Honestly, if this Twitter page is supposed to be amusing, the KKK site might as well be "Def Comedy Jam." Why not just visit the KKK's message board and join in the "fun"? Same difference even if the Uncle_Rukus bio says, "UNCLE RUKUS IS HERE FOR LAUGHS DONT TAKE OFFENSE...UNLESS U A COON..THEY OFFEND EVERYONE."
Twitter needs to close that account. "Boondocks Season 3" needs to get better. But I doubt either one of those will happen. I guess I have to find calling people "darkie" and saying "nigga" 18,000 times in 30 minutes funny to enjoy this season. I'll pass and stick to Season 1 with classic episodes with characters like Gangstalicious, which should have made homophobic folks start re-evaluating their perspectives, and the Peabody award-winning "Return of the King." The difference between Season 1 and Season 3 is when there was something incredibly offensive on Season 1, by the end, I respected what the creators were doing. Viewers learned something. It was clever. Season 3 is about as intelligent as the folks who want to wear rat fur.
We can say don't take offense because it's just jokes, but saying the most horrendous thing you can think of and adding "just kidding" at the end isn't going to make everybody smile. I still haven't cracked a grin.
Published by Shamontiel
Shamontiel is the author of "Round Trip" and "Change for a Twenty," and in mid-October became the Chicago Tribune's Digital News Editor. She works on National Travel, Health and occasionally Breaking News, a... View profile
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33 Comments
Post a CommentAyanna, thanks for commenting. I'm in the minority on this one though. There are a LOT of people that loved this season, but I just couldn't get with it. I enjoyed Seasons 1 and 2 (minus the excessive use of the n-word), but this season didn't sit right with me. It was like they doubled up on being as offensive as possible. I can still hang with that more than that Uncle_Rukus Twitter account. Folks might as well get a KKK e-blast. It's the same type of "humor."
I think I have only caught one episode of Season 3 thus far, and I can agree with you on the amount of humor therein. Season 1 in my opinion is by far the best. I am wondering--are they still playing "Thuggin' Love" from passing cars in Season 3? I used to listen for this little song in each episode. Just one of the show's wonderful little idiosyncrasies that I loved.
No, Rion, I won't laugh about it. I do know that most of the episodes are based off of real events, but it's the EXTRA stuff I couldn't get into that I know was more McGruder's creation than of the actual events. For example, the Tyler Perry episode should've gotten him a lawsuit. I'm not amused, but thank you for commenting.
MmerCat, if "uppity" means not laughing about racist comments and not laughing at a show that's more malicious than it is funny, (in my Redman voice) "I'll be dat." But if you really want to have an intelligent discussion, how about explaining why you feel my opinions are "uppity" instead of just declaring them that. What's "uppity" about not laughing at Uncle Rukus' page or the episodes I pointed out? If it made you laugh, cool. I doubt it did judging from the tone of your comment, but I'll appease the lying. Thanks for reading. Good day to you as well.
Mmmmerrr!! Many fans of t.v. shows do not care about some blogger's uppity opinions. I read your article, laughed, and now I shall move on. Good day.
As far as Huey, yeah, I really did want him to be the voice of reason. I talked about this on another entry (http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2962190/the_boondocks_is_back_huey_says_eh.html), but I was hoping there would be SOMEONE on there who would be politically savvy. I didn't think the voters were presented fairly. I've watched a few more episodes, and I was disappointed so I stopped watching altogether.
Thanks for reading, Beverly. I saw Mel Gibson's name in the trending topics and shook my head at people criticizing dude. While Gibson was dead wrong, what bothers me more is the 55+ people retweeting Uncle_Rukus tweet saying, "DEAR MR. Mel Gibson I THINK YOU HAD A BRAVE HEART FOR SAYIN WHAT U SAID ABOUT NIGGAZ! LORD KNOWS THEY ARE THE WORLDS LETHAL WEAPON." We can't shake our fists at the actor and then retweet this ignorant ish. I wish Twitter would close that account.
I agree! The Boondocks is not funny this season. The first episode showed promise. However, it would have been better if Huey had challenged the Obamabot kool aid drinkers. Instead, McGruder had him remain silent. The rest of the season so far has been a colossal disappointment. Perhaps McGruder is burned out or has run out of ideas for the show. This would explain why it took so long to bring season 3 to the airwaves. I heard this is the final season. How sad as there is SO MUCH to be talked about, parodied, satarized, and called out.
Isiah, I have debates like this all day long because I write about some controversial topics but there are times when I definitely do have to just agree to disagree with people. Oh, I didn't see last night's episode. I read on Twitter that it was pointless and too short, but I haven't watched the show since the "smoking with cigarettes" episode, and I was about a week behind on that one. As far as summer reads, visit Shamontiel.com and look under "Shamontiel's Bookshelf." I'd recommend any of those books. Thank you for the compliment on my intelligence. :-) And thank you for checking out this entry. I appreciate the commments.
Shamontiel... ok, though we will agree to disagree on the contemporary interpretations on Shakespeare. That would be a convo to have in person. Your HS English teacher would probably have a heart attack that R&J is a dark comedy ( gotta love critical theory) I am going to have to join your bandwagon based on last nights episode... even I, King of B.S. went " What was the point of that episode." As for regional affects on black culture... I can only speak from my experience, and the places I have lived. It is different. I enjoy your writing and thoughts. You would be fun to have a tete a tete with. Looking for a good summer read any thoughts? You're intelligent, around my parts that is a rare find. LOL (Please read that with the twangiest, countriest, accent you can muster. )