– Of the seven main characters, only two are white men
– Of these two men, one has dozens of hobbies which includes local food critic, sewing, yoga, and other traditionally non-masculine interests
– The other seems to be a stereotypical overconfident jerk, however most of his arcs revolve around messing up and having to acknowledge and genuinely apologize for his screwups
– One of the main characters is a middle aged gay man who isn’t a TV stereotype, who is married and lovingly committed, bringing up his husband in casual conversation throughout the show without it being the only important thing about his personality
– Every female character has a distinct personality, goals and fears and aspirations, and all have multiple episodes focusing solely on exploring their characters and development
– GINA MOTHERFUCKING LINETTI
– Terry Crews as a big buff doting father
– Humor that never relies on offensive jokes or stereotypes, that is genuinely funny with great comedic timing
– Multiple accounts of close friendships between men and women without any implications that there will be more
– The few relationships that do exist between the main cast are developed naturally over time
Thank you for reading, go forth and enjoy this fantastic show!
Also, This scene exists
also one of the white men is jewish
the stereotypical overconfident jerk is jewish
i can’t emphasize this enough
^^^^^^ played by a proud Jewish actor too, which is even better than merely having non-stereotypical representation of your group
Literally the best show I’ve watched in years.
Also, GINA MOTHERFUCKING LINETTI is a gift unto this universe
Oopsie Doodle. Terry Crews as Terry Crews. All the unapologetic, casual-yet-pointed feminism.
So good.
Yes!
Also includes:
Punching homophobies in the face and this not being frowned upon what so ever.
The main white guy constantly calling out sexism, even casual sexism.
He called out TRANSPHOBIA. In a show that has no “reason” to do it other than that they decided “Hey, transphobia sucks, let’s find a way to toss off a line about that at some point when it’s not even the topic of the scene.”
protip: if the cashier asks “you throwing a party?”
where’s the interview w/ andy samberg where the interviewer asks about why there’s no jokes made around holt being gay and andy’s face twitches like “don’t do it.” and the interviewer goes on like “we live in such a weird PC culture though!” and andy laughs so uncomfortably i need it for science
The ironic thing is, there are plenty of jokes which involve him being gay. But it just doesn’t register as humor to those people if it’s not making fun of him for it, or using his sexuality as the actual punchline. A show actually respects its characters (for the most part) while still managing to provide top-notch humor and all a lot of people have to say is complaining about “pc culture”
i don’t understand how anyone who’s watched the episodes where ray holt pretends to be a hetero would ever believe that there are “no jokes about him being gay.”
because that’s not the problem. the problem is that the jokes about him being gay are specifically for an lgbtq audience. they’re jokes that heteros don’t understand because for once, we’re not the punchline like we usually are. we’re not being made fun of in a way that tears us down. they’re jokes about the absurdity of our existence. of having to fake being straight, even though a lot of us are actually really bad at it, and having straight people actually believe you.
the other really great example is that one joke ray holt makes in the first season, about how the hardest thing about being a gay black police officer in the nypd is the discrimination. that joke was funny for so many reasons, and yet, not a single straight person really got it when i watched it with them. it feels like there are no jokes because the jokes aren’t intended for straight/homophobic people, where the punchline isn’t all about how they relate to us. it’s about how we relate to them for once, and that’s the greatest thing.
other show’s lgbt jokes are “loltranswomen” or “lol flamboyant gay men”
brooklyn nine nine’s lgbt jokes are “we got married as quickly as we could bc we were worried they’d repeal it” and then footage of Kevin and Raymond not letting the officient finish his sentence before they say “I do”
i remember watching the first episode of season 4 where jake peralta — one of the main characters of the shows who could so easily be depicted as a toxically masculine cop who doesn’t “get” political correction or like, basic human decency in general — casually mentions the existence of transphobia in passing. the show had been fairly liberal and good at playing jokes for laughs instead of hurting people’s feelings, but this solidified my loyalty to the show and its brand of humor.
what’s more, jake mentions transphobia in connection with media content and delivers the line in such a way that it was only after seeing this post (literally months after the initial episode aired) that i realized people who are not queer or in the know about queer things would not find it funny because they wouldn’t understand it.
in short: jokes at the expense of others humanity is rarely, if ever, funny. consequently, b99 comes out with better hi-jinks and bigger laughs because they get it and work within those (not actually at all limiting) confines.
reckless & terribly gay 