He befriended Stevie’s dad because Malcolm and Stevie became friends. There’s an episode where he first gets invited to the poker group and afterwards is noticeably extremely uncomfortable and feels like he doesn’t belong but eventually you find out it’s a bait and switch because it’s not because of their race, it’s the fact that all the other guys in the poker game are professionals while Hal is just a lowly office drone
>many middle class black friends?
Maybe they weren't "rich" rich, but they were all upper middle class while Hal was lower. And he became their friend through Abe.
It was like that well into the 2000s with the majority of MitM, My Name is Earl, Arrested Development, Curb, 30 Rock, etc. The quality of television writing took a huge nosedive after the writers strike and has only continued to plummet with more and more restrictions and forced diversity hires in writing rooms and all that shit. Remember when a stupid, goofy TV sitcoms could actually have extremely clever jokes and brilliant writing? Feels like lifetimes ago.
Yep. I remember the office just taking a huge shit around 2006 or 2008. The quality of writing just never recovered, thank god the millionaire/billionaires got what they wanted though.
I miss when you could just have interracial friendships on TV. Now the minority characters need to constantly be mocking and insulting the white characters and the hostility is palpable in the writing.
Sure, there were episodes where Abe made fun of Hal but it was because his family was trashy and the target of everyone's ridicule. Abe's family also had their own flaws that were funny and he wasn't some perfect display of superiority over all white people, which is how all minority characters are written now. It worked because it was just funny and not some attempt to vilify the evil white oppressor. They were just buddies. You just don't see anything like that any more.
I miss when you didn't even NOTICE interracial friendships. You just identified two characters as best friends and looked forward to their banter every week.
This. If the later seasons of Malcolm were airing today you’d no doubt have people on twitter complaining that it’s racist because it makes Abe the butt of too many jokes between the whole kitty cucking him then coming back out of the blue arc and episodes like the one where him and Craig are dating the babysitter at the same time or this one:
Don't forget making Steve a cripple, people would probably be mad because a black kid was portrayed in a wheelchair, despite on how inclusive everyone actually was with Stevie.
He'd have to be written as s supergenius who was always solving complex math problems and correcting the teachers. And other characters would always remind the audience how brilliant Stevie was.
I love the episodes where Reese is such a particularly un-selfaware meathead that he picks on Stevie ruthlessly but in the end gets his comeuppance >the circle game episode >the one where they schedule a fight and Stevie shows up in an exoskeleton
I know there are more I’m not remembering but those are the first two that spring to mind
>that episode where they went on vacations with Stevie's family >Abe and wife arguing all the time >Lois thinks Abe is hitting the wife so she opens the door to their room >They're actually fricking like animals
Why'd he have so many middle class black friends? Was he in the Navy?
There’s a bath house he visited downtown
He befriended Stevie’s dad because Malcolm and Stevie became friends. There’s an episode where he first gets invited to the poker group and afterwards is noticeably extremely uncomfortable and feels like he doesn’t belong but eventually you find out it’s a bait and switch because it’s not because of their race, it’s the fact that all the other guys in the poker game are professionals while Hal is just a lowly office drone
And at the end they tell the audience
What did you think it was? Because they were black? Yeah you would think that would you pshhh
>I OWN YOU
>many middle class black friends?
Maybe they weren't "rich" rich, but they were all upper middle class while Hal was lower. And he became their friend through Abe.
Still hilarious, shame how things can't be this funny anymore.
You will never see a scene lampooning moralizing, progressive white women now that they've wormed their way into every part of the industry
one of the best scenes in the show
still cracks me up how hal just joins in
lmao this is fricking hilarious. MitM was so soulful
>Shaking their FLAT asses around
>fistpumps
Race relations were at an all time high when this aired.
Not really. But people just didn't tolerate stupid shit from either side because social media didn't exist yet.
Why seethe over a simple fact? He's right.
you weren't alive when this show aired
Now call him an AI.
>It's an Ida episode
True kino
>acts like a c**t all the time
>summons the will to run while in her 80s and and gets her legs crushed to save Dewey from the truck
>thats right fatten up on pizza
>good luck running when they come with the dogs and chase you into the hills
>it's a hal's black friends scare Ida away episode
Im surprised MITM and Bernie Mac never did crossover episodes like back in the days.
>Malcolm and Bernie fighting for narrative power in their asides
>Bernie Mac threatening to give Malcolm an ass whooping for getting sarcastic with him
I can't believe we missed out on this kino.
>it's a stevie's mom talks about riding the wiener carousel episode
made me feel funny in my tummy
The guy that plays the wheelchair kids dad is uncle ruckus on the boondocks.
He also plays a random criminal in several Reno 911 bits.
He was hilarious in that too. Holy frick we had Cinemaphile so good from the 80s all the way up to 2001.
It was like that well into the 2000s with the majority of MitM, My Name is Earl, Arrested Development, Curb, 30 Rock, etc. The quality of television writing took a huge nosedive after the writers strike and has only continued to plummet with more and more restrictions and forced diversity hires in writing rooms and all that shit. Remember when a stupid, goofy TV sitcoms could actually have extremely clever jokes and brilliant writing? Feels like lifetimes ago.
Yep. I remember the office just taking a huge shit around 2006 or 2008. The quality of writing just never recovered, thank god the millionaire/billionaires got what they wanted though.
I miss when you could just have interracial friendships on TV. Now the minority characters need to constantly be mocking and insulting the white characters and the hostility is palpable in the writing.
Sure, there were episodes where Abe made fun of Hal but it was because his family was trashy and the target of everyone's ridicule. Abe's family also had their own flaws that were funny and he wasn't some perfect display of superiority over all white people, which is how all minority characters are written now. It worked because it was just funny and not some attempt to vilify the evil white oppressor. They were just buddies. You just don't see anything like that any more.
I miss when you didn't even NOTICE interracial friendships. You just identified two characters as best friends and looked forward to their banter every week.
Based
Love trek from TOS all the way to ENT.
Anything after doesnt exist.
This. If the later seasons of Malcolm were airing today you’d no doubt have people on twitter complaining that it’s racist because it makes Abe the butt of too many jokes between the whole kitty cucking him then coming back out of the blue arc and episodes like the one where him and Craig are dating the babysitter at the same time or this one:
Don't forget making Steve a cripple, people would probably be mad because a black kid was portrayed in a wheelchair, despite on how inclusive everyone actually was with Stevie.
He'd have to be written as s supergenius who was always solving complex math problems and correcting the teachers. And other characters would always remind the audience how brilliant Stevie was.
I love the episodes where Reese is such a particularly un-selfaware meathead that he picks on Stevie ruthlessly but in the end gets his comeuppance
>the circle game episode
>the one where they schedule a fight and Stevie shows up in an exoskeleton
I know there are more I’m not remembering but those are the first two that spring to mind
>everyone thought Einstein was crazy until he started kicking ass
>that episode where they went on vacations with Stevie's family
>Abe and wife arguing all the time
>Lois thinks Abe is hitting the wife so she opens the door to their room
>They're actually fricking like animals