Who did it better? Living Single or Designing Women? Both episodic comedies portrayed independent women in business. One side was southern belles, and the others were savvy chic New Yorkers. Both did a lot of uplifting women. In this episode of TV Talk with the Sistas we discuss the impact these independent made on us.
Are You Designing Women or Living Single?
In episode 2, Crown and Country, we chatted about the Netflix series The Crown and an oldie but goodie, In the Heat of the Night. Something old, something new.
Episode 2 Crown and Country
We talked about two shows that each had a hint of royalty. Sanford and Son which featured Redd Foxx who was comedy royalty. Midsomer Murders which featured detectives from the Crown’s constabulary. If it has comedy or murder, you got us.
Episode 1 The King of Comedy and the Crown’s Constabulary
In this podcast, two sisters chat about iconic television shows and their impact on the African American and American culture. We are available on Stitcher, Apple, Google, iHeart, and Spotify.
Season Finale
In the final show of our first season we tackle a complicated show, The Wire. We examine the complexity of this show and the legacy it has created. Check out our season finale and let us know if we got it right.
Episode When You Walk Through A Storm
The Sistas talk about The Wire. Lots of people talk about it. Great actors were a part of it. Is this almost 20 year old story worth your watch. They saved it for the season finale.
Season Finale Episode 10
In the final show of our first season we tackle a complicated show, The Wire. We examine the complexity of this show and the legacy it has created. Check out our season finale and let us know if we got it right.
Episode 10
Listen to see what one sister did to the other so she could watch a good story.
Episode 9 Where No One Has Gone
At UPP Creative Media, we educate, entertain and inform our audiences through various media. In our podcast, TV Talk With the Sistas, we examine the diversity in some sci fi projects. But there are eight other episodes where other topics are discussed. Check them out and send us some feedback on Twitter @TVSistas.
TV Talk With the Sistas Episode 9
Episode 9 To Sci Fi or Not to Sci Fi, What Do You Think?
The Sistas look at Sci Fi. One likes it, the other does not. Can she be convinced that this genre is worthy of her time. Listen and hear.
It is like seeing the love of your life before he acquired all of the qualities that endear you to him. That is how this new Perry Mason is hitting me.
I am drawn to the fact that it is set in the 1930s like Erle Stanley Gardner’s books. I like the storytelling from this time period because it is before censors began curating what type of story could be told. Censors decided what the public could see and stayed away from anything that actually reflected society.
This new series gives Mason a backstory that reflects some of the things I learned of him in the 1960 series. As a matter of fact, he lives on the farm where he was raised as the story opens. But one thing this story does, which was hard for me take, is bust up Mason’s perfect image.
This takes my hero and makes him a former soldier of World War I with struggles that made him a divorced deadbeat dad who has a hard time holding down a job. I know right. But Paul Drake is an African American police officer with more morals than Perry in the midst of a corrupt police department. I am all in. Della Street brings in our LGBTQ storyline, which was refreshing because these storylines are usually men.
The main story with the criminal case is very dark, with parents accused of kidnapping their own baby.
In true Perry Mason style, they defend their client with all of the same tricks, but it gives you a glimpse into why Mason does what he does. There are many twists and turns, but worth it.
The biggest flaw in this series to me is cinematic. African Americans are so dark in this series that in some scenes they lose their features. It is just a large black blob. For instance, there is a moment when Drake shows up on Mason’s doorstep. He sits out in the dark with the moon shining on his face. The only features you can make out are the whites of his eyes. I hope the producers understand that it eclipses the actor’s humanity to not make him look attractive like the other actors. I hope they correct this in season two.
Matthew Rhys plays a very troubled brooding Mason with Chris Chalk playing an equally troubled and dissatisfied Paul Drake. I mean you can see where it is leading. But the train ride to getting there is pretty fun.
Each Sunday night they drop a new episode on HBO.
