Dear White People Season 1 Review

     Back in 2014, director Justin Simien released the satirical comedy-drama "Dear White People." Praised upon its release, many called it the year's best indie film. Fast forward to mid-2016, it was announced that Netflix had acquired the rights to a show based off the movie. After that the show went under the radar for a while, until its first teaser anyways. In early 2017 Netflix released a 30 second teaser to promote the show; but what has become standard practice soon turned into a complete and utter sh*t show. The teaser was quickly called racist against white people and received a massive amount of criticism and hate. Some were so upset by the trailer that they even canceled their Netflix subscriptions. Now in all honesty, it's a bad trailer. You see the central character (a black woman who hosts a radio show) talking towards all of her white listeners that blackface is not acceptable. A reasonable enough request, but the way the trailer is cut together paints a picture that all white people are racist. I consider myself to have thick skin, and while I don't think it was a great trailer I was by no means offended like some where. So while many cried foul I was indifferent. I don't think you should judge a show by its trailer, and from what I heard it was not a good representation of the movie (which is a satire that openly criticizes everyone, including the black community). So I decided to wait for the finished product and see what it was really like. Turns out it may be one of the year's best new shows.

     Winchester University is a prestigious Ivy League college that prides itself on being forward thinking and inclusive, but many of small number of black students on campus disagree with that position. While there are some disagreements on campus over how the world is run, up until the school's satirical newspaper decides to through a black-face party in protest of local radio host, Samantha White's, radio show titled Dear White People. After that, sh*t hits the fan. Following several students around campus, what follows is an amalgamation of modern day life for people of color; and one white guy.

     When that first teaser trailer dropped a while back, I was unsure. I had heard great things about the movie but the teaser looked like it was going to be a too heavy handed for its own good. To my surprise, it's become one of my favorite Netflix original shows. First off I have to commend how well written this show is. The scripts are fantastic, filled with great dialog and memorable lines spoken by interesting and colorful characters (all of which are played by talented actors who give excellent performances). The show is intelligent; it's satire that criticizes just about everyone. It does a great job integrating relevant social comedy into an otherwise very funny show. Due to the show's interesting and original premise, it manages to always be entertaining; I don't think I walked away from this first season thinking any given episode was bad. Despite that, the show has a few flaws. While a clever satire, I couldn't help but feel that the show becomes too self-indulgent at times. What could have been clever, but subdued themes, were too on the nose. The problem is that many of the issues discussed in this show, while still timely and relevant, where more in the forefront when the movie came out. Since the release of the movie we've seen countless shows and movies address many of the topics and issues brought up in this show. And it's less subtle and clever than a few of those other properties. So while it may have a few issues, I walked away from this series in love. Not only is it one of the best movies to TV adaptations I've ever seen, I think it may be one of Netflix's best original comedies to date. If you are easily offended in any way shape or form, this show probably isn't for you. But if you're in the market for good television, the first season of "Dear White People" is fantastic.

Pros: Well written scripts, interesting and colorful characters, great acting from the entire cast, intelligent satire that criticizes all, original premise, very funny, always entertaining, relevant social commentary, one of Netflix's best comedies to date, fantastic movie to TV adaptation.

Cons: Feels a bit too self-indulgent at times, a little too on the nose at times.