– Much-anticipated webisodes hit FAILSHOW.com July 1st –

Multi-platinum recording artist T-Pain worked his trademark vocals for the series premiere of “FAIL,” a fresh, new take on the black sitcom set for world premiere Friday, July 1, 2011, at 7 p.m. EST. The new show, executive produced by James Bland of BET “Lens on Talent” fame, and Vanessa Baden from Nickelodeon’s “Gullah Gullah Island” and “Keenan and Kel,” will be launched on FAILSHOW.com and feature the new T-Pain track during the title sequence. Before recording the song, T-Pain agreed to support the sitcom about college life after hearing a fervent pitch from the producers.
“Getting him was a stretch, but we are beyond excited and so grateful that a superstar like T-Pain took an interest in our show,” commented Bland, co-president of Hometeam Entertainment, LLC, the production firm he runs with Baden. “Our watchers will go crazy when they hear it – it’s going to blow their minds!”
The anticipated premiere episode of “FAIL” opens with a 15-second snippet of the track, which watchers can hear in its entirety when the music video hits later this month. The show has already garnered a loyal following through the posting of unique video shorts introducing the cast of characters. Each “FAIL Friday” for the past few weeks, viewers met one of six unlikely friends in a study group that doubles as a platform for foolish misadventures and tough college lessons.
“Each one sports an electric personality just like any group of modern young adults,” shared Baden on her cast. “Everyone who has experienced college life will fall out laughing – we kept it real, showing outrageous student life in and, far more importantly, outside the classroom.”
The sitcom follows the six study-mates that mostly end up getting caught in the many distractions their college affords. From the absent-minded jock and sheltered daddy’s girl to the money-crazed gold digger, smooth-talking ladies’ man and “wanna-be thug,” the show packs big laughs into five-minute episodes airing biweekly on FAILSHOW.com.
Formerly with Sony Screen Gems, Bland, a Florida native and recent round-one winner of the national Shadow and Act Black Filmmaker Showcase, based the show on his experiences while a student at Florida A&M University, a historically black university in T-Pain’s hometown of Tallahassee. “FAIL” was conceived by Baden and him after getting fed up with the lack of opportunities for blacks in mainstream television. They join Denzel Washington, Will Smith and others that have taken to the Internet as a self-produced outlet for their work.
“We kept looking for auditions that just weren’t there,” continued Bland. “Writers aren’t creating enough roles for young black actors, so we created a medium for ourselves. We just want to add a new flavor to the market and we know ‘FAIL’ is it!”
Viewers can go to FAILSHOW.com to meet the characters before Friday’s premiere at 7 p.m. EST. You can also connect with the cast and fans at facebook.com/THEFAILSHOW, where producers post behind the scenes footage and photos, twitter.com/THEFAILSHOW or youtube.com/FAILSHOWsitcom. For more information on the show, cast and crew, email [email protected].
The Failure of Bill Maher's Teachable Moment
“Denying racism is the new racism.” - Bill Maher
Last Friday night’s episode of "Real Time with Bill Maher" was the host’s first since he dropped the ’n-bomb’ during an interview with Nebraska Senator Ben Sasse and caused major outrage. The highly-anticipated post-faux-pas episode featuring Ice Cube, Dr. Micheal Eric Dyson and Symone Sanders did not help Maher’s image. The episode seemed more like a public relations stunt rather than a sincere apology and dialog.
Rather than Dr. Michael Eric Dyson taking Maher to the woodshed as I’d read several times on social media and Ice Cube schooling Bill Maher, the host was defensive, arrogant and tone deaf. It is difficult for rich, white liberals to come to terms with the racist reality of their patronizing, condescending actions when dealing with black people. It doesn't help when black folks fail to recognize the historic relationship dynamics of relationships between blacks and whites in America. Since Maher was publicly given a pass by several black celebs who are his "friends," a valuable lesson for Maher and others was definitely not learned.
Maher said he grew up in New Jersey in the 50’s and 60’s and race wasn’t even an issue. Really? C’mon, Bill. New Jersey is not Alabama. Really? There was no racism and no racial incidents in northern states? Maher went on to try to marginalize and excuse his use of the racial slur by saying that it only happened once, it’s not like he made a career of it. Hello. Bill Maher needs some real black friends to school him. Yes, he does. He some folks who are not looking to profit from appearing on his show to really break things down for him. No. No. No. No. No. Bill Maher, you do not get a pass even if you only dropped the 'n-bomb' once. [insert eye-roll]
Regardless of how “down” Maher thinks he is, how much money he contributed to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and how many black women he has dated, he does not get a pass. Maher’s arrogance was showing when Ice Cube said Maher sometimes sounds like a redneck trucker. Maher had obviously had enough of black folks lecturing him as he tried to shut down and dismiss Ice Cube’s comments.
Ice Cube posed the most important question during the show when he asked why Maher felt so familiar and so comfortable that he felt he could even use that word. That question was never truly explored in any depth. I, like many other black people, noticed how easily the n-bomb rolled off Maher’s tongue. Yes, we did.
Whether it's Maher or Dog the Bounty Hunter or Don Imus or Michael Richards or Donald Trump, only black people are expected to accept racial insults followed by apologies from someone of another ethnic group. Continuously apologizing for the same civil rights violations is not acceptable. Black people are expected to just move on. Really? I don’t think so.
Let me close with this quote by Joe Madison for you to think on:
#wakeUP #STAYwoke
Posted on Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 11:40 AM in Commentary, Entertainment, Racism, Television | Permalink | Comments (0)
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