Rant #2,210: Comedy Is Not Funny

First, the nation mourns the deaths of John McCain and Neil Simon.

I think McCain was misunderstood, a Republican who really was more of a maverick than anything else, only having a party affiliation because he had to.

He rubbed some people the wrong way, and people rubbed him the wrong way too.

Simon wrote some of the best plays of the post World War II generation, populist plays that did not sneer at the middle class, but celebrated that class.

Both men will be missed.

And now for today's main theme of this blog ...

No, comedy is not pretty, it is not funny anymore, it is boring, and downright insulting.

The latest insult related to comedy is that ABC has green lighted a new version of the classic TV show "Bewitched" that demonstrates that not only isn't comedy funny anymore, but certain areas of out society believe that comedy needs to always be a bit politicized, too.

If you remember the original "Bewitched," ABC hang its hat on that show and gained respectability--and ratings--with this sitcom, which ran from 1964-1972.

It starred Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha, a suburban housewife who just happened to be a witch--a real good witch, not a bad one--and being that she had these powers, they seemed to always turn up, in one fashion or another, to upset the daily life of her "normal" husband, Darrin (or was it Darwin?), played by Dick York and later, Dick Sargent.

The show's revolving cast of secondary characters--including Agnes Moorhead, who played Samantha's conniving mother, Endora--made it one of the most endearing sitcoms ever, and it was the first ABC show to capture the fancy of the viewing public, giving some type of TV cred to the then-fledgling network.

Anyway, a new version of the show has been OK'd by ABC, and I would say that the premise of the new show is insulting, and a bit racist as well.

In the new show, created by the people behind "Black-Ish," including Kenya Barris and Yamara Taylor, the new "Bewtiched" will once again revolve around Samantha, who is now not only a witch but a black woman, a single mom and a woman with a career, who marries Darrin, once again a mere mortal, who just happens to be white and a bit of a slacker.

According to news reports, not only will the show once again highlight the difficulties experienced by a mere mortal married to a witch, but "also, the timely and important issues of societal inequality, too."

Yup, it is payback time, and you just know the white guy is going to get the butt-end of the magic wand on this one.

Look, it is heinous to begin with that ABC, and all the networks, are continually going back and resurrecting past hit series into modern formats, with varying degrees of success.

"Hawaii 5-0" lives on in name and theme song only, as the show has absolutely nothing to do with the original, while a show like "The Odd Couple," Neil Simon's classic stage play/movie/TV show, pretty much bombed as it was brought up to supposed modern sensibilities.

But when the show has an agenda like the new "Bewitched" appears to have, you really have to wonder why it is actually being redone in the first place.

If anything, the original series was nothing but a half hour chunk of whimsy, well written, well acted, and funny and clever as it could be. It reflected mid to late 1960s principles about upper middle class people, and if nothing else, satirized that growing part of the population, what with Darrin's hyper drive related to his work always overshadowed by Samantha's witchy powers.

What is the new show going to focus on? The relationship between the police and the black community? Donald Trump?

I mean, is this funny? Is this even clever? What is the point of this show, other than to try to level the playing field--or even take it over--between blacks and whites?

A show like this does nothing but fester the racial flames, and does it in such a negative way that you really have to wonder what is on ABC's mind by having a show like this on the schedule.

Yes, it is the PC world we live in, where past indiscretions by whites are disparaged, while new indiscretions by other racial groups are applauded as "Progress," with a capital P.

And more to the point, is this really funny? Is this something that the general public is actually going to laugh with?

Looking at the reboot just by the media reports, one can hope that this dies a quick death before it actually hits the small screen, as did the black reboot of "The Munsters," which served absolutely no purpose and never was dumped on the viewing public.

One can only hope that the new series suffers the same quick death as did the "Bewitched" movie, one of the worst of all of the "TV series to major motion picture" travesties of them all, a film starring Nicole Kidman which took the audience to be stupid, and even though it got OK reviews, the public really got it, and rejected the movie outright because it made them, the ones paying money to see this, appear to be saps.

One can only hope that this new version of the classic series never makes it out of pre-production, and those involved can move on to better projects, and that the network can see the utter blasphemy that they are allowing to pollute their broadcast schedules, and revert back to some semblance of "funny" that always found its way into their sitcoms.

Enough is enough. Comedy really needs to be funny again.