Can We Be Broke On TV, Too?

With the fall television season now in full swing, The Huffington Post compiled a list of recession-ready shows the major networks hope will lure you to the telly. Suggested Reading Three Friends Were Headed To A Beyoncรฉ Concert, But One Dies On the Way. Guess What The Other Two Did Next? Our Fave Moments From…

With the fall television season now in full swing, The Huffington Post compiled a list of recession-ready shows the major networks hope will lure you to the telly.

Video will return here when scrolled back into view
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?
Trump’s Tariffs Might Stick Around. What Should We Buy Now?

Among them include new shows like ABCโ€™s โ€œHank,โ€ starring Kelsey Grammer, who plays Hank, a newly laid off and broke Wall Street CEO who returns to his small hometown to reconnect with his family.

Iโ€™m a fan of Grammerโ€™s based on โ€œFrasier,โ€ but I vote no on this. Really, Kelsey? The time you spent shooting this couldโ€™ve been better spent at the CW headquarters convincing the network to give โ€œGirlfriendsโ€ a proper send-off.

Writers couldโ€™ve easily written up a timely story about Joan Clayton living in an apartment in Pasadena after the J-Spot went out of business.

In any event, there are other shows out there hoping to earn your interest by appealing to the plight of commoner.

Among them include HBOโ€™sโ€œHung,โ€ which chronicles the story of a high school basketball coach that becomes a male prostitute in an effort to keep his head above water (feel free to start singing the โ€œGood Timesโ€ theme song now). If youโ€™re into confessions of a call boy, run to your neighborโ€™s house โ€“ since they can still afford HBO โ€“ and catch up on the episodes via On Demand.

Another teacher turned criminal themed series you can check out is AMCโ€™s โ€œBreaking Bad.โ€ In that series a high school chemistry teacher is forced to take a second job to support his family. But, once he finds out he has terminal lung cancer, he starts his own meth lab to cover their financial future โ€” because you know, 401Ks arenโ€™t worth squat anymore and who can afford life insurance these days?

Iโ€™m sure if youโ€™re capable of deductive reasoning you can guess each of these shows are missing one thing: melanin.

Thereโ€™s absolutely nothing wrong with any of these shows (particularly the latter two), but Black people are broke, too. Shoot, depending on who youโ€™re asking, our recession started before everyone elseโ€™s. Canโ€™t we get our own recession friendly show?

And before you even go there, โ€œThe Real Housewives of Atlantaโ€ doesnโ€™t count. They all act like we canโ€™t tell theyโ€™re living caviar dreams on a catfish budget.

Never mind reports that two cast members have faced foreclosures and another is getting slapped with lawsuits from bill collectors; they want us all to believe they live off their money trees.

Despite their lives being as real as Tyra Banksโ€™ hair before this weeks season premiere of her talk show, โ€œThe Real Housewives of Atlantaโ€ is a ratings winner โ€“ proving people of any hue can enjoy a show set in the one of the blackest cities in the country.

There has to be some destitute Cosby series script floating around somewhere.

Iโ€™m all for sure shows that speak to the state of the economy, but come on Hollywood, let us tell a tale, too.

Michael Arceneauxย hails from Houston, lives in Harlem and praises Beyoncรฉโ€™s name wherever he goes. Follow him onย Twitter.

Straight From The Root

Sign up for our free daily newsletter.