The show,which began on the F/X channel and then was moved to it's secondary station FXX,was in the midst of a second season and really hitting it's stride when the plug was pulled and as someone who's been watching since episode one, this was a real disappointment.
W.Kamau Bell's brand of topical humor and snarky social justice,which was laced with good natured energy, made this show instantly watchable. His style of comedy reminds me of George Carlin and Chris Rock(who is the executive producer of TBWWKB) and could be rightfully seen as a new generation edition to the standards set by The Daily Show and The Colbert Report. For those of you who haven't seen Totally Biased,let me offer you some video samples:
CHEERIOS LOVE: One of the internet controversies that Bell took to heart was the kerfuffle over the charming Cheerios ad with the biracial family. As it reflected his own family(as well as many others out there), finding out the tastelessness of the responses to such a delightful commercial did leave a sour aftertaste that was eased with his snarky sweet take on the whole thing:
MAN ON THE STREET STRUT: A regular segment on Totally Biased had man on the street interviews, covering such topics relevant to NYC as stop and frisk,the Barney's shopping arrests and this look at how women really feel about being "cat called" while walking out in public:
CRANKY CITIZEN DWAYNE: Many of the writers on Totally Biased had special segments of their own such as Janine Brito, Hari Kondabolu, Guy Branum and Frank Coniff but most fans would agree that any bit with Dwayne Kennedy was one to watch for.
He started off with "Cranky Moments",which took on the success of The Butler and the name of the youngest Oscar nominee and then morphed into "Citizen Dwayne", who visited a Civil War re-enactment and a Redskins bar to suggest new names for the team. His entertaining outrage was one of the highlights of the show and hopefully, we'll see more of him on TV soon somewhere:
There were so many great things about Totally Biased that I will miss,like the debate segments where folks actually had reasonable conversations about religion and politics and interviews with both famous and not well known in the mainstream people as well as comedy performances by rising stars.
Whether it's early demise was due to ratings,the loss of part of it's audience from the switch in channels or it's very competitive time slot, Totally Biased should have been given more of a chance to develop and grow. Networks are very,very fickle these days but clearly this show had an audience willing to follow it and was a smart and savvy section of satire to boot. I am sure that this won't be the last we see of W.Kamau Bell and company yet with any luck, the wait for his return won't be long:
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