Totally Biased with W. Kamau Bell

Totally Biased w/ W. Kamau Bell is amazingly refreshing. Where The Daily Show was once the most refreshing thing in the world to me, in being way more critical than the average news program, after a while it becomes rather painfully clear that TDS is very much part of white TV, so to speak. This is especially evident when compared side-to-side with Totally Biased, which has the politically critical attitude of TDS, but adds a "racially" critical dimension still very much needed in today's TV landscape. It holds a contentious position and I think its focus on "racial" issues makes it more prone to criticism than a show like TDS, which generally fits nicely into the white liberal paradigm, but it's difficult to overstate the importance of radical shows that truly question the status quo. What other show would have provided such scathing reviews of all-around praised white movies like Django and Lincoln,for instance? One point of criticism is that Totally Biased is still pretty much a dude show (if we talk about "white TV" we should also talk about how male-dominated TV is), but I don't think it is trying to be a feminist show, and I don't think it's fair to condemn a show that is already so radical in a different, equally important way for not going *all* the way. (NB: it spends a lot more attention on gender issues than TDS!) The 5.3 rating for Totally Biased is a travesty and only proves how hard it is for the (white) mainstream to deal with truly radical content. Totally Biased being canceled would be horrible, and I would go one step further and say it should be expanded. Let's have a "daily" counterbalance to TDS; let's have a regular news/cultural satire show that goes beyond white issues.

This show is terrible.

Each episode begins with Mr. Bell mumbling through his monologue as he snipes and gripes about the daily news headlines. Unfortunately, his jokes are stale and lack any passion or thoughtfulness. For example, in tonight's episode, Mr. Bell stated how Portland, Maine has become the first east coast city to legalize pot. What followed was nothing more than boring ramblings about how the show should be taped in Maine. Further, Bell said that he and the entire audience are driving up to Maine tonight. Yes, Mr. Bell, we get it, you like to smoke pot.

My real issues with this show do not stem from its liberal agenda, but from terrible joke telling. Mr. Bell needs to attend Chicago's second city and learn a thing or two about showmanship. Stop giggling like a school girl over poor jokes, Stop turning around to look behind you when you're in front of an audience. Stop trying to offend people when you're only offending the reputation of late night comedy shows. I would much rather watch Totally Biased with Kevin Hart.

Furthermore, I feel FXX does a disservice to 'Mr.Bell. While 4/5 nights his show is on it does very poor, that one night of the week, Wednesday, his show actually has decent ratings. However, most of these viewers were watching FXX to see Always Sunny and The League. I feel the demographics and target audiences for the previously stated TV shows do no mirror Totally Biased. It should be of no surprise Totally Biased has received poor ratings. It doesn't help when 70% of the viewers were already expected to dislike the show.

All in all, don't watch this show, read a book.

First of all, regardless of the weak personalities making awkward special interests group speeches, the low quality (and often incongruent) laugh track makes very difficult to consider this a credible production. If television reflects our culture then I can only hope the viewers of this show are a small and isolated group. The episode I viewed this evening included a man introduced as a comedian. He apparently read a TelePrompTer and paused seconds before each laugh track audio. His jokes were a litany of comparisons between 7 years of working at McDonalds with 7 years in the US military during the Vietnam war. The biggest surprise was a few incidents in which the audience in the studio groaned along with the laugh track.

It's difficult to imagine anyone but know it all hipsters thinking there is anything worthwhile about this program. A recent episode spent almost the entire running time bashing the movies Lincoln and Django Unchained complete with a "hilarious" appearance Frederick Douglas in a silly wig. It gets two stars for the total number of times anything amusing or actually insightful was broadcast from this show. Of course that is based on personal experience. Maybe there are more occasional bits of worthwhile content, but it doesn't seem worth watching anymore of this show in hopes of discovering any. That's like looking through a pile of excrement hoping to find a nickel. But hey, if self congratulatory monologues laced with superficially short interviews conducted by a host surrounded by a room full sycophants is your thing, then by all means tune in. This makes a perfect companion piece to an episode of Maher's self love.

This show isn't perfect, a few bits during the season were not 'top-notch' - but only a few. Overall a hilarious, well written and very well hosted show. The rather low rating score showing on IMDb is likely due to some people's dislike of the political bent of the show.

I could understand some people not feeling it deserving a 9 or a 10 rating, but if it were not for the left-leaning political bent of Kamau, I am certain few people would be rating this below a 6.

Seriously, give the show a chance, it is funny, insightful and on the top shelf of current televised comedy.

Thank you FX for continuing the season and I look forward to the next one!