Tackling tough topics
The Carmichael Show — a comedy that’s been reverently described as Norman Lear-like for its grasp on the cultural zeitgeist — is back Wednesday with Season 3. And though the show has already tackled tinderbox topics like religion, guns, death, birth control, Black Lives Matter and Islamophobia, one of the show’s stars says one episode will be particularly provocative.
Titled Cynthia’s Birthday, it features Jerrod (Jerrod Carmichael), giving his mom (Loretta Devine), a book to mark a milestone. Instead, the incident triggers a conversation about literacy in the African-American community.
“I was a little upset about them saying black people don’t read, because I have always read. I love to read,” Devine told Los Angeles Daily News.
Later in the episode, one of Jerrod’s Caucasian friends affectionately uses the Nword to refer to him, which spawns a heated debate.
“It’s a conversation I was having with a lot of my friends, just about who should use (the N-word), and when it’s appropriate,” explained Carmichael, who’s also a co-creator and co-writer for the show.
Added Devine: “People are going to be shocked when they see the episode. I just hope the NAACP doesn’t come and get us.”
The season premieres with back-to-back episodes dealing with sexual consent and what it means to support the troops. The Carmichael Show airs on NBC.
CONSTANT CRAVING
PBS’s Food — Delicious Science wraps Wednesday with an episode that visits the Philippines, San Francisco, Mexico and Bulgaria to explore why we lust for certain foods. Co-host James Wong told Bon Appetit how something called backwards smelling makes us crave stinky cheese.
“The sulphur-like, stinky-sock-smelling, volatile aroma molecules from stinky cheese stimulate a unique combination of receptors to help us identify the smell,” he said.
“But when you eat it, something magical happens: The aroma compounds are released in your mouth and they waft up the back of your nose. They’re detected by the same smell detectors, but weirdly your brain perceives them as very different than if you lean forward and sniff them up the front of your nose.”
FOR LOVE OF COUNTRY
Dan Aykroyd narrates History’s three-part documentary The World Without Canada, beginning Wednesday.
What would happen if our wheat, oil and water disappeared? Or our inventions, like insulin and the alkaline battery, remained un-invented? The miniseries posits nothing short of global meltdown.