A Closer Look -- "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency

I love movies, TV and music. And I love random, old, and sometimes obscure movies, TV shows and music. I also love writing, but it wasn't until a friend suggested I find something about which to write--and do it on a regular basis--that I decided to write about all of my aforementioned pleasures. With my Closer Look segments, I want to shed light on forms of entertainment I think are undervalued, have been unnoticed, or are worth a view just so people can judge it for themselves.

After HBO's "The Wire" ended, the network has been missing their token critically acclaimed show starring 90 percent or more black people. In my opinion, "The Corner," "Oz," and "The Wire" were no mere place holders. From what I've seen and read, those shows were great, providing smart, insightful entertainment all the while providing work for hosts of minority actors. But when I saw Jill Scott and Anika Noni Rose in advertisements for "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency," I had mixed emotions.

On one hand, we had and abundance dark skin and natural hair back on HBO, a network renowned for its high-caliber productions. On the other hand, there was forced acting and even more forced African accents (nawt the duddee = not the daddy). There were perfect-pitch notes: the show was actually filmed in Botswana. And notes that fell flat: a song by The Cardigans playing throughout the commercials. Imagine listening to "Love Fool" while watching the trailer for" Amistad."

But knowning how misleading commercials can be, I turned to Channell 14 Sunday night to judge show for myself. "The accents won't be that hard on my ears once I see the whole show," I told myself. "Playing The Cardigans during commercial for a show about Africans in Africa is just a way to rope in more white viewers. The show will be good."

But it wasn't good. It wasn't even average. There werent many things wrong with the show, but the things that were wrong were massive. I'm not that cunning of a linguist, but I know those accents can't be acurate. Anywhere close to accurate. Jill and Anika's accents sounded so forced that I thought they watched Halle Berry in "X-men" and elaborated on her shaky Kenyan accent. And the accents weren't the only things that were held at gunpoint. Anika's acting was so over the top. It was like an African-themed drag queen contestant on a new RuPaul show.

But my biggest issue regarding the No. 1 Ladies is that is boring. Very, utterly, painfully boring. I respect anyone who takes on a task as arduous as adaptive screenplay writing, but the premier episode could have been cut by 45 minutes and it would have been a much better show. I don't believe in rushing things just to satisfy short attention spans, but I also don't believe in drawing out an episode to approximately one hour and 45 minutes.

Did I like the show? Not really. Should you watch the show? Yes, just to make up your own mind. But I will tell you now, if you were looking for the next great HBO minority-driven show, this is not it. This show and these ladies are not my No. 1.

Green: not just for envy.

Greetings all.

I haven't written in a while, mostly because I only want to write about something notable, funny, ironic, etc. that I've been fortunate enough to witness. But so few times in my writing--and in my life--do I take the time out to simply kick back and enjoy the day. Even rarer are the times that are I take the opportunity to reflect of such a display of awesomeness. And today, March 10, 2009, was a flippin' awesome.

I didn't win anything. I didn't magically lose weight. I didn't even have sex with eleven international movie actresses like I do every other day. Today (technically yesterday; woop woop for the night owls) was slightly above ordinary, accented with sprigs of delight. Here's why...

*I was off today. Enough said.

*I got to sleep in even later than I normally do, and Ike and Tina next door didn't even wake me with any early morning domestic shenanigans. Nor did anyone's over-audible vehicular music festival rattle my walls.

*The weather was perfect. After venturing to http://thefuckingweather.com, I learned it was 81 degrees and that it was "fucking hot...yet not hot enough to warrant wearing a Speedo." All day long, I marveled at the clear blue sky, basked in the radiant sun, and then cut the shit and turned on my car's AC.

*I had on a completely new fit. Since it was the first clear, warm, beautiful day in a while that I've been fortunate enough to witness, I decided I should dress to celebrate Spring's slightly early arrival. My grandma kicks ass and buys me clothes when she can manage to do so. But don't tell my mom or aunts because "they don't need to know." I put on the denim shorts accented with green threads she bought me during winter and the green shirt she got me some years ago but i never wore because I was afraid of how that much green would look on me. But naysayers be damn, today was the day.

*I (along with some co-workers) helped out a friend who REALLY needed it. I'm not ballin' by any means, but when I have a little bit to give to someone who is in desperate need, I try to help. Seeing her so elated by other people's generocity put a spring in my step. Now I see why Oprah gives aways cars and humpback whales on her shows.

*I did my laundry...Everyone needs clean underroos.

*I got lined up. The dude at the barbershop edged me up nicely and gave me a great goatee. It's just too fucking bad that these simple proceedures took almost one hour because he got too involved in a barbershop debate about rap music, its artists and their influences. Nonetheless, the whisker grooming makes me look better, so I felt better. If only I had those green Chuck Taylors.

*I ate dinner with a friend and had a good conversation while doing so. And earlier in the day, I talked to my newly married friend who just returned from his honeymoon in Spain. Needless to say, he's a happy man.

*I saw The Watchmen. The movie was average at best, but, since I hadn't been to a full-price movie in quite a while, and I vowwed to see this movie ever since watching its trailer before The Dark Knight, I had my face in the place at 9:05...

*Three hours later, I am home enjoying a Whataburger "medium" chocolate milkshake that I am pretty sure started out as vanilla and made the ever-so-obvious transition into chocolate.

And now I'm chillaxin at my house watching one of my newly-favorite movies, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. Still wearing my green.