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.
