‘TV IS KILLING IT RIGHT NOW’
Superior Donuts part of ‘woke’ trend reflecting cultural diversity on the small screen
Superior Donuts Season 2 debuts Monday, Global/CBS
Can all that ails this world — the social unrest, the blatant injustice, the creepy Elf on the Shelf trend — be solved with a simple fried dough confectionary? Maybe not the Elf on the Shelf (that thing ’s just insidious), but the other two are at least drawn under the microscope in the TV comedy Superior Donuts, returning Monday on Global and CBS for its second season.
Set at the titular Chicago bakery, Superior Donuts centres on longtime owner Arthur Przybyszewski (Judd Hirsch) and his 20-something employee Franco Wicks (Jermaine Fowler). Arthur’s the old-fashioned plain to Franco’s millennial pink beetroot sourdough with lemon-thyme glaze.
The interaction between the two — optimistic go-getter millennial versus crusty set-in-his-ways baby boomer — echoes the stereotypical views of their respective generations. And their city, currently much-discussed in the news, lends itself to issues of a grander scale.
“We get to talk about the neighbourhood, police brutality, gentrification and racism. These issues are very important, but you gotta know where these characters are coming from,” says Fowler, who hopes that the characters’ backstories will come to the fore in the new batch of episodes.
“To me that’s important in everyday life, people just listening to each other. People opening up and just accepting that people are different. That way, when someone says something you don’t agree with, then you can at least understand where they’re coming from. And for me, that’s the message of the show.”
As a co-writer on the series, Fowler says millennials are finding their voices across the television spectrum. In the Superior Donuts writers’ room, for example, the vets are receptive to the newbies, and vice versa.
“I’m 29 — I’m technically a millennial, and we’re the next wave. That’s just how it’s going to be. But the cool thing about that is that we have generation X to help guide us. On our show, we have a few millennials in the writers’ room,” he says.
“But to help us with the structure of the show, we have the somewhat older generation to help us with their experience. Everyone has to be open-minded to ideas. Everyone has to learn from each other.”
Elsewhere, shows from those in their 20s to mid-30s have been garnering almost as much critical acclaim as Bryan Cranston at his most Walter White.
Atlanta, created by 34-year-old Donald Glover, earned two Emmys for its first season. Insecure, with 32-year-old co-creator Issa Rae, was nominated for a Golden Globe after one season. And Master of None, from 34-year-old creators Aziz Ansari and Alan Yang, has won three Emmys over two seasons.
Incidentally, Glover, Rae and Ansari all also star in their series. And they all come from minority backgrounds. It’s part of a trend some have described as Woke TV.
“People want to watch TV that’s relative to the life they’re living. And a lot of people in America, they don’t hang around six friends in a bar. They don’t have these closeknit families.
“They have these very tumultuous households, which is why shows like Mom, Atlanta, Insecure and even Master of None are doing well,” says Fowler, who also finds an audience for his viewpoint in standup comedy.
“People want to watch shows that mirror their lives. So when I say Woke TV, I mean TV that is more broad, for everybody. You’re going to get your TV shows for your normal, common person, but not everyone is like everyone else, and TV is doing a good job of leaning on that. This is the renaissance of television right now that I’m loving. TV is killing it right now.”