Hacker Cinema
Martin
1992 · TV series · 22 min episodes · 5 seasons
Created by Martin Lawrence, John Bowman, Topper Carew
Sassy sitcom centering on radio and television personality Martin Payne. Series focuses on his romantic relationship with girlfriend Gina, her best friend Pam and escapades with best friends Tommy and Cole.
1 positive2 neutralfrom 3 commenters
Where to watch
No streaming data for this title.
3 comments on Hacker News
Subjectively-- many of the best "black" shows in the 90s were in the Traditional Sitcom category-- Fresh Prince, Martin, Family Matters, Steve Harvey show, etc.. Even though they touched on black issues, 80% of the shows' content was "typical American experience".
Perhaps the niche-ification of streamed content has resulted in Black shows that don't feel relevant to non-black people. And since the majority don't feel it's applicable to them, they lose the algorithm game.
Just a guess, I don't have any real evidence to back this up. But if that's the problem, it seems like it would be solved by this startup.
This is a good idea; I had the same one, it seems like an underserved market. I too miss the era of '80s and '90s black American sitcoms.
I think some recognizable shows will be needed for this to take off though. "Original Content" is a hard sell; that's why Netflix started with a AAA show like "House of Cards" to establish credibility. It's only after that they started diluting the Netflix Originals brand by buying up every half baked show out there.
Here are some I thought of:
- Roc (rare sitcom where laugh track comedy is mixed with heavy drama)
- Everybody Hates Chris
- Martin
- Girlfriends (CW)
- My Wife & Kids
Some people look for any excuse to be outraged. But I think people are more curious than outraged. I don't have any opinion about the existence this company but it did make me think. For example:
> When I grew up in the 90s, it seemed like black people had a relatively high number of TV shows to choose from like "Martin", "Living Single," and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". It felt good. I felt represented. Unfortunately, it turns out the 90s were an aberration
I also grew up watching shows like these, and being a white person watching a black family didn't feel strange or incongruous at all.
Something I've already wondered is, what if that aspect of the 90s wasn't an aberration, but a feature from a time when there were fewer channels and diversity was concentrated in the fewer places everyone watched, due to how content was structured?
And is it unfortunate that relegating "black" content to its own service gives it a "niche" status that it doesn't deserve? Am I missing out on good content because signing up for any new streaming service is a high bar and something I don't do?
Will the bigger streaming services drop the content offered by this one, so that the largest audiences lose the opportunity to see this content?
Was having fewer channels actually in a way anti-monoculture?