Jerrod Carmichael offers up TV’s most authentic reality show
In 1973, PBS aired “An American Family,” a docuse- ries that shattered the image of picture-perfect life in the suburbs. Early seasons of MTV’s “The Real World” showed that young adults had more on their minds than scoring Mariah Carey tickets.
But over the past 20 years, reality TV has become a sub- stitute for sitcoms, a home for washed-up stars, bone- headed beauties and social- ites promoting their brands. “The Real World” became a science lab to see how bad fragile people will behave after eight shots of booze.
“Jerrod Carmichael Real- ity Show” is something else entirely. Over the course of eight episodes, we wa ch the Emmy-winning comedian as he chastises his parents for not fully embracing his homosexuality, cheats on his boyfriends with a rotating door of Grindr dates and alienates friends.
Some of the scenes are so dramatic that you may suspect they are fake. But I doubt Carmichael would allow himself to often look like a jerk if he wasn’t truly committed to being real.
Like he did in his excel- lent NBC sitcom “The Jer- rod Carmichael Show” and various stand-up specials, the comic treats the screen like a confessional booth, as if the only time he can truly be honest with himself is when the cameras are roll- ing. It may not be the health- iest form of therapy, but it does make for an enlightening viewing experience. Streaming on Max.
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