CBS' "The Neighborhood" Returns with a Powerful Episode About Racial Injustice

quotOur show is naturally built to address certain issues the season premiere being the best examplequot series creator and executive producer Jim Reynolds pictured below told MediaVillage in an exclusive interview quotWe felt that we had a responsibility to make this episode Our show isamp160specifically and uniquely positioned to say something about this important matter It would be remiss for us not to take this onquotquotIt just felt really important as far as coming back after this long hiatus to talk about something that is really at the heart of the American psyche which is this kind of police and social injusticequot Cedric the Entertainer who stars as Butler family patriarch Calvin and is also an executive producer on the show said in a separate conversationquotWhat I felt was George Floyd and Breonna Taylor made people realize how we are all the same how we all recognize the humanity in everybodyquot he continued quotIt was very important for us to come back and approach it talk about it The show is based off differences in people in cultures and races and yet as we have gone through our seasons there is a unity there and a recognition of that unity a recognition of people who see eye to eye over the simplest of things Raising kids Having a child Being married Stress at work We39re happy to have a platform where we can talk about real things like thatquotquotWe recognize that we are a situation comedy and as such one of the greatest services we can provide and the value we can bring to our audience is to give them a place to come in these hard times and sit back for 30 minutes spend some time with characters they love and laugh and kind of forget their problems as much as they can during that small window of timequot Reynolds explained quotWe39re so inundated with so many issues that we39re confronting as a country and as a planet I think it39s an honor to provide a bit of safe harbor Not to say we would ever dodge an issue but first and foremost we want to be there for our audiencequotOne particular scene in the episode is a perfect example of shifting between dark drama and bright comedy In it Malcolm39s mother Tina Tichina Arnold above left is preparing a meal with neighbor and good friend Gemma Johnson Beth Behrs above right and talking about how worried she is about Malcolm and for both of her boys39 safety every time they leave the house Gemma who also has a son listens intently while slicing vegetables and at one point is so overcome with emotion she starts to cryGemma blames her tears on the fact that she39s chopping an onionTina reminds her that she39s cutting a potatoquotThat39s the thing that we all identify withquot Cedric exclaimed quotIt39s the human aspect of a story Not necessarily when you take yourself out of it but when you look at it and put yourself in it right Any mother would cry We wanted to put the spotlight on the humanity of the momentquotquotOur goal with that scene was to really hit the common ground between mothers regardless of racequot Reynolds noted quotThe idea and the pain of being a Black mother in this country always worried about your children39s safety any time they leave the house I think that39s one of the things that white people white mothers don39t really understand They don39t have to live with that And it39s such a privilege to not It39s very easy as a result of that privilege to not really consider the human side of that what that would feel like The goal of that scene was to illustrate that and also hopefully to drive that point home to our viewers who don39t have that experience on a daytoday basis who don39t have to consider what that must be like what that weight isquotComedy is such a great teaching tool in many ways because if you can make people laugh it39s a good way to get their guards downquot he added quotIt39s a way to make them feel safe Once you create that space for them it becomes a much easier space to listenquotTwo characters who have done a lot of listening to each other are Calvin and his neighbor Dave Johnson Max Greenfield pictured above center with Cedric Arnold Behrs and at right Marcel Spears as Marty Butler Calvin didn39t care for Dave at the start of the series when Dave Gemma and their son Grover moved into Calvin39s predominantly Black neighborhood but he has grown increasingly fond of him since thenquotAt the beginning Calvin saw Dave as a representation of change he didn39t want to seequot Reynolds explained quotAs he39s gotten to know Dave more they39ve become good friends Calvin is kind of a brusque character by nature The great thing about Dave is that he can see past that He loves Calvin Dave39s such a brighteyed idealist in so many ways which again is a privilege of his background That he can take those punches from Calvin because underneath he feels love there There39s a safety for Calvin because there39s that love there too He can tell Dave exactly what he thinks because he knows at the end of the day that they are friendsquotOf course racial injustice isn39t the only allconsuming issue of the day There is also the pandemic among other challenges Now that The Neighborhood has factored the former into its season three storytelling might it follow the lead of other sitcoms such as NBC39s Superstore and ABC39s The Conners and blackish and work COVID19 into its narrative in the weeks aheadquotI was always of a strong opinion that I did not want to address the pandemicquot Reynolds explained quotWe wanted to give people relief from something that is so impossible to avoid from the news from personal stories from the dark cloud of fear that is following them everywhere It would be very hard to place our show in that situation without compounding what people are going through alreadyquotI took a page from Friendsquot he continued quotIt was well into the run of the show when 911 happened and Friends chose not to incorporate it into their storyline The show because it was on so long and was well into its run had been flagging a little bit but it came back very strong I think a big part of that was because people wanted to escape They didn39t want to think about it more than they already were They wanted somewhere they could reliably go and laugh and feel better about the worldquotPeople would like to return to some version of normalcyquot Reynolds concluded quotTo be able to do that in our television show is a giftquotThe Neighborhoodamp160is telecast Monday at 8 pm on CBSClick the social buttons above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this content are exclusively the views of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated writers

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CBS' "The Neighborhood" Returns with a Powerful Episode About Racial Injustice

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Ed Martin

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CBS' "The Neighborhood" Returns with a Powerful Episode About Racial Injustice

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