On the way cool side, it’s Black History Month once again. On the not so cool side, it’s time for February Ratings Sweeps. And there’s a show that premiered last week on Disney XD but I gave a second chance to.
Ratings Sweeps are the thrice-yearly periods in which advertising rates are set for the networks based on the number of eyeballs pulled in. The reason we parents care is that when nets want eyeballs, they use sex and violence because sex and violence attracts eyeballs. Which means we need to be somewhat more vigilant than normal.
I’m in the Band
Safety Rating: No sex, no violence, males acting like idiots.
Friendly Rating: What’s friendly about males acting like idiots?
Quality Rating: There are worse shows on.
Disney XD, at 7 p.m.
Talk about wish fulfillment. The show is about young Tripp, who not only gets to play lead guitar for his favorite band, Iron Weasel, he talks his mom into letting the guys live with them.
The show has its moments, but not many of them. The sad thing is that the only person more stupid than the band members in a recent episode was the dumb blond at school that Tripp wanted to date. Worse yet, the whole show has a forced feel to it – as if the behavior of the characters is imposed on them rather than coming from any real place. Which means it doesn’t work.
I’m also getting rather fed up with the whole “dumb is funny” thing overall. It isn’t. It’s almost like poking fun at things people can’t easily change about themselves, such as being fat or short or of another race. People can choose to learn more, and there’s a lot to be said for poking fun at the choice to remain ignorant. But when a character clearly doesn’t have the mental capacity in the first place, then it’s bordering on mean. Or worse, boring.
Anne Louise Bannon
Your Family Viewer
