Making the jump from newspaper funny pages to national television has always been a path fraught with peril. "Garfield and Friends" and "Dilbert" were met with mixed reviews. Nevertheless, it was with high hopes that Cartoon Network launched the TV adaptation of "The Boondocks" last Sunday.
"The Boondocks" has been one of the most controversial and popular strips of the past half-decade. Created by Aaron McGruder while he was an African-American Studies major at the University of Maryland, the strip, with its biting wit and cultural awareness, quickly picked up fans and was in newspaper syndication by 1999.
The strip focuses on an African-American family: two young boys - Riley Freeman and his smart-mouthed older brother Huey - and their grandfather, referred to simply as "Granddad."
Although it remains one of the United Press Syndicate's most popular strips, "The Boondocks" is controversial. It was pulled from several papers in mid-2004 after running a series that poked fun at Condoleezza Rice and offered her dating tips, responding to the verbal slip the Secretary of State had made by referring to President Bush as her husband. The strip was reinserted in all publications within a week.
The TV show makes no real departures from its paperbound counterpart in style or tone. The anime-like style will be instantly recognizable to millions of newspaper readers across the country. And while adding voice to a well-known cartoon character is a tricky business, Huey and Riley (both voiced by Regina King) sound much like a reader would expect: young, outspoken and unapologetic.
In the first episode, the family has recently moved into a new suburban neighborhood, and a white neighbor comes over to invite the family to a party at their opulent house. Granddad graciously accepts the invite while Huey scopes out the neighbor with a laser-sighted toy rifle. The family goes to the party, and the rest of the episode focuses on the differences between the Freemans and the other party-goers.
When Huey tries to explain to the crowd that Ronald Reagan is the devil, he's greeted with laughter and applause. "So well spoken!" a middle-aged woman proclaims. When the racist black groundskeeper of the host's estate gets up and sings a song filled with the n-word about why black men shouldn't be trusted, he is met with the same applause. ("I think it's OK when they say it," one teenaged white girl explains to her friend.) The episode ends with the party's host telling Granddad that he likes him because he's "old school."
"The Boondocks" has retained the dark comedic edge that brought it fame. Even the pilot episode pulled no punches, using the n-word with a frequency usually reserved for rap songs (about 15 times in all). Virtually every line of dialogue as well as every joke is based around either perceived or real racial stereotypes.
While the jokes are for the most part very funny, the repeated use of "the race card" to advance the plot or finish a punch-line becomes a bit tired after a half-hour. Since the comic strip consisted of one joke told daily, McGruder never had to worry about overusing this edge. It seems that McGruder and co-writer Reginald Hudlin are trying to adjust to the new format.
Although "The Boondocks" (both in strip and TV format) should be applauded for initiating a dialogue on modern race relations, it remains to be seen whether the show will be enough to entertain viewers. The show is at its funniest when it brings up these issues subtly - such as when Huey meets a white rapper just home from fighting in Iraq.
Without some refining, the show risks becoming more of a soapbox for venting societal grievances than an entertaining cartoon. It is (for better or worse) only by embracing the latter that it can hope to stay on the air. Luckily, with an upcoming episode reportedly based on Oprah one titled "The Trial of R. Kelly," the show seems poised to provide as many laughs as critiques.
"The Boondocks" is struggling to balance social commentary with more traditional jokes. The good news is that even without the perfect mix, the show is entertaining and frequently funny, and it seems like it can only get better.
