7/17/16

High School Pranks on HBO

Walton Groggins was fantastic as the literate bad guy on Justified throughout multiple seasons, even though he was initially expected to be in the pilot only. So I am interested to see what he can do with tonight's HBO show Vice Principals
where he is the main character from the start. You can get an idea in this trailer

We have seen numerous school-based series in the last year, most of which failed, so this is a difficult terrain. Maybe two obnoxious vice principals will be the right mix this time.  Maybe not. 

USA Today cites the racist plot (pretty dumb anytime, and horrible now), noting:

Anything even marginally appealing about Vice Principals is overwhelmed by the witless ugliness, rampant stupidity and utter cluelessness about the times in which we live.

That is not to say rascism should be banned from TV. We need to know the good and the bad, and Goggins was an adamant nazi, community-bomber in Justified, yet he was clearly the demented bad guy. Maybe a comedy needs to be a little more careful these days in a time of Black-ish and other smart shows. 

Hence, HBO needs to tread carefully. It does make you wonder if All in the Family could air today. Then again, I wonder if we have the talent to write such a show today. 

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