As he championed "the new journalism" in the late sixties, Tom Wolfe suggested no one ever would write anything truly compelling"”fact or fiction"”about the suburbs; he asserted, "There is no life there." During the New Depression, however, the suburbs have gone ghetto, suddenly teeming with life and depravity; and television writers are producing all kinds of compelling stuff about what they have discovered beyond the white picket fences. Witness Showtime's smash-hit "Weeds," the life and times of a "proper" suburban widow keeping-up appearances while she deals more dope than a six-pack of Mexican cartels. As in "The Office," the basic premise for "Weeds" is an import from Great Britain, adapted from the British film Saving Grace which showed a widow and her gardener conspiring to maintain the widow's lifestyle by supplying the locals with their favorite herbal refreshment. Critics frequently compare "Weeds" with American Beauty for its exploitation of the idea "Normal is the face we wear to cover how f***ed-up we are." By contrast with "Desperate Housewives," Nancy Botwin, our entrepreneurial heroine, has far more good reason for desperation than her difficulty achieving orgasm; she has a house, a mortgage, two sons, and a reputation. Since Bonfire of the Vanities tanked and "Weeds" flourished, Tom Wolfe may have to consider the distinct possibility that there is no life in Manhattan.

Georgia Chamberlain knows she can act. In fact she is the most confident person around and considered to be one of those "larger than life" kinda people. Georgia Chamberlain is ably played by Raven-Symone (That's so Raven, Sunny With a Chance) who was actually born in Georgia. She has moved to New York to pursue her dreams which include becoming an actress. Her best friend Jo Pye is played by Majandra Delfino (Men of a Certain Age, Life As We Know It), who is more the science "geek" type. The two women are trying to make it in the "big city" and we've seen that story idea before but this time around the women seem tougher and even more determined to make it! Georgia's Aunt Honey (Loretta Devine from Grey's Anatomy, For Colored Girls) is somewhat of a nymphomaniac and loves to brag about her exploits to the young women and also doles out advice while listening to their problems. This is actually light hearted fun television in a family format.

Ben Epstein and his partner Cam Calderon are struggling to Make it in America and learning the hard way how tough that can be, especially in the fashion industry. As they go about striving to make a name for their selves it becomes obvious they have a whole lot to learn. The pair of twenty somethings get help from a friend, Domingo who is well connected and also from Rene, a cousin of Cam's. Rene has aspirations of selling an energy drink that is called Rasta-Monsta but takes time to assist cousin Cam and his friend. Both Ben and Cam have big dreams and high hopes but the competition out there is brutal and unforgiving. How can they scramble their way from obscurity to become "known" in the fashion industry? Ben Epstein is played by Bryan Greenberg (Friends With Benefits, The Good Guys), Victor Rasuk (ER, Life is Hot in Cracktown) plays the part of Cam Calderon, and Luis Guzman (Boogie Nights, Traffic) is Rene Calderon the cousin of Cam's who tries to make his own name under the bright lights of the big city. This TV show is fun and fast paced!

Unprisoned is a new TV show that was created by Tracy McMillan and stars Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo. It's a comedy series that premiered in 2023 and is produced by Onyx Collective, with Hulu being the distributor in the United States. The story revolves around the Alexander family, with Kerry Washington playing Paige Alexander, Delroy Lindo playing her father, Edwin Alexander, and Jordyn McIntosh playing a younger version of Paige.

For all the right reasons, "Community" has become one of the mainstays in NBC's comedy line-up. During its first season, "Community" focused on attorney Jeff Winger, disbarred after the accreditation committee discovered his undergraduate degree was from Colombia the country, not the university. Determined to win reinstatement in his old profession, Winger enrolls in community college, forming a Spanish-class study group which includes, among others, a cynical divorcee and a mid-life millionaire who made his money in moist towelettes. "Community" bravely exploits the ethnic and economic diversity in the study group, showing its gifts as an equal opportunity satirizer. The writers also have courage to wring big laughs from realistic representation of life and attitudes in "junior college." During the second season, "Community" had large and loyal enough following to encourage writers' development of plots centered on characters other than Winger, and they developed some of their best material by focusing on the dynamics of the group itself. Every member of "Community's" all-star ensemble cast has impeccable comedy or small-screen credentials: Chevy Chase's resume, of course, reads simply "legend." Joel McHale, Gillian Jacobs, Yvette Nicole Brown, and the rest of the cast bring a combined gazillion years of small-screen experience into the mix, and they have imprinted their distinctive styles on their roles. Similarly, all the partners in the production team boast high-powered Hollywood pedigrees and trophy cases full of Emmys. If "Community" had gone dark after the first thirteen episodes, television sets all over North America would have gone straight to test-patterns, because NBC writers and producers would have abandoned all hope for traditional sit-coms' futures.

When you have not gotten enough of your favorite movie star, comedian, or rock star and their shows, you can always find out more than you might care to learn on the television program The Soup. Originally called Talk Soup, this daily half hour hosted by Joel McHale brings us clips from TV shows and movies along with tidbits and gossip regarding all those "beautiful" people we love to watch on the big or small screen or perhaps listen to their music. There is something very intriguing about what goes on behind the scenes of our favorite programs and how the celebrities spend their days that most of us love to follow and learn more about them. Even the infamous likes of O J Simpson and the latest to win her case, Casey Anthony, make for interesting following if only to see what they'll do next. Who marries whom and who gets divorced are among the attractions on The Soup and we get to learn it all while watching this sometimes interesting and often entertaining program.