Social media takes center stage in new 'Carmichael Show' episode
"Joe Carmichael is killing it on Facebook."
So says Joe Carmichael, beaming.
He has 52 friends, a captive audience and he'll never run out of opinions to type into his status updates.
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The only one not so pleased with this development is Joe's wife, Cynthia, particularly when Joe starts communicating with former flame, now a Chili's waitress who woos him with free appetizers. That may or may not be a double entendre.
What unravels is a fascinating exploration of the affect social media has on couples from two different generations -- Cynthia and Joe's and Jerrod and girlfriend Maxine's.
"It's actually one of the few situations where youth has more experience and knows how to deal with it better than older people," creator Jerrod Carmichael says. "So it's just an interesting maturity shift, if you will."
As with most episodes of this show, none of the feuding parties are necessarily wrong in their positions -- well, except maybe Cynthia, who at one point begins cyber-bullying Joe's ex -- and the show manages to find the comedy in thoughtful discussions and debates. In one moment, for example, Jerrod ponders whether Maxine's online existence is too socially conscious. Joe cracks: "I can only read your posts on Sunday -- that's when I'm already feeling judged."
Maxine, meanwhile, wonders if Jerrod's contrarian approach reflects badly upon her. Their storyline evolves into a debate about how one presents themselves on the Internet.
You can watch a clip from the episode below.
"Social media is supposed to be autonomous -- 'It's me. It's my identity. I'm curating what I want to put out there.' But the truth is, if you're in a relationship, it affects the other person," showrunner Danielle Sanchez-Witzel explains. "We just wanted to look at what is social media doing to relationships and us as people -- getting swept up into the importance of likes and feedback."
Tackling tough -- and sometimes polarizing -- subjects has become a hallmark of the family comedy, now well into its second season. Earlier this season, an episode delved into the issue of Islamophobia when Joe and Cynthia react poorly after realizing their new neighbors were Muslim. The episode remains Amber Stevens West's favorite.
"That episode in particular I find to be the most important right now and most relevant right now," she says.
What was almost most stunning about the episode -- and all of them, for that matter -- is that the writers are never afraid of giving their characters what could be considered unpopular points of view or dialogue that could be considered in poor taste.
"We're so fortunate that we have good actors on this show where we know we can give them very specific points of view to their characters and as long as it's coming from a real place with their character, they can say almost anything and you can still love them," Sanchez-Witzel says. "There are certainly things on paper that may look offensive ... but if you know Joe, if you know Cynthia, you know it's not coming from a place of malice. It's coming from a place that's real to them."
This makes tackling tough issues easier -- all points of view can be shared, considered or taken down by a joke.
"We just try to make sure that no one is saying something just to say it because this is something we want to say about the world or an interesting observation; they're only saying it if we believe their characters would say it and really think that," she adds.
For Carmichael, the process has proved to be therapeutic.
"Stand up ... has kind of replaced therapy for me. It's just me getting out these thoughts and feelings, and it's the same thing with this show," he says. "I'm able to have a lot of arguments that I have in my head play out amongst a few people."
For Sanchez-Witzel, watching the conversations unfold after the episodes air has been "gratifying."
"Ultimately we're trying to entertain people. That's what our job is as people who are making a television comedy but we're trying to entertain people in a way that starts a conversation that feels real," she says.
The Carmichael Show airs Sundays on NBC.
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Sandra Gonzalez was a Senior Television Reporter at Mashable. A Texas native, she spent almost four years in New York City before leaving the land of superstorms for Los Angeles, where she was introduced to these terrifying things called "rolling earthquakes."Previously, she was with Entertainment Weekly, where she wrote about every show that could fit into her perfectly crafted TV schedule and anything ever touched by Shonda Rhimes.You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @theSandraG
