‘Showcase’ sends up black pop culture
It’s Juneteenth, time for “Sherman’s Showcase: Black History Month Spectacular” (10 p.m., AMC, 11 p.m., IFC, TV-MA). This rapid-fire sketch showcase sends up black pop culture of the past century. Creator Bashir Salahuddin also stars as Sherman, who presides over the proceedings like Don Cornelius of “Soul Train” fame.
For reasons too obvious to elaborate, I’ll be the first to admit that I did not get all of the jokes and references. But what I could comprehend, I found remarkably funny, self-deprecating and sharp. John Legend appears as himself and submits to a humiliating interview by the host, who is clearly wearing Google glasses and scanning a search engine for all of his questions and background information. Legend retaliates with search engine glasses of his own, only to stumble upon a broken link. He quickly saves himself with quick thinking, riffing and the spinning of a long, absurd tale linking the 1960 lunch counter boycotts to the phrase “404 Service Unavailable.”
There’s a musical number about kente cloth, sung in 1990s “house music” style that celebrates the fabric as the black man’s plaid. A TV spoof about a black superhero, “First Man,” mashes up the 1950s production values of “Superman” with the scientific mythology of the Marvel “Black Panther” movie. A panel discussion among black movie vampires is a recurring bit.
This special appears to have been on the shelf for some time. While there is at least one attempt to explain why the special is in June and not February, Sherman gives away the game. While interviewing Legend, he appears to be distracted by the score of a Detroit Tigers game. Who could anticipate that baseball would still be missing in action in late June?
› It’s not unusual for different programs on different networks to approach similar subject matter in their own particular style. It’s rare they do so in the same week. On Wednesday, PBS aired “Prehistoric Road Trip,” featuring Emily Graslie, a young YouTube star and paleontology enthusiast as she visited digs all over the northern plains.
Tonight, “Dino Hunters” (9 p.m., Discovery, TV-PG) follows cattle ranchers from Montana, Wyoming and South Dakota whose lives and professional directions took a detour when prehistoric bones were discovered beneath their grazing lands.
Every episode of “Dino Hunters” follows a different discovery while at the same time exploring how the men reconcile their cowboy lifestyle and upbringing with their new scientific pursuit. Every discovery involves a ticking clock — a race to complete an excavation before harsh winter descends and subjects prehistoric fossils to erosion and brutal conditions.
Both series use animation to illustrate conditions as they existed tens of millions of years ago. “Road Trip” clearly reflects PBS’ attempts to attract a younger, YouTube audience. “Dino” continues Discovery’s long celebration of the rugged male who carves out a rough living far from the office.
› Hulu begins streaming “Taste the Nation With Padma Lakshmi.” The author and TV personality attempts to capture the pulse of the nation through food, from burritos in the border city of El Paso to traditions of Chinese food in San Francisco, cooking traditions of South Carolina’s Gullah people and Los Angeles’ flourishing Persian food culture.