Month: July 2020

A 90’s gem that still resonates

I remember back in middle school my father sat me and my brother down one night and introduced us to a show that would have a huge impact on my life. It was called Roc. The premise was about a proud and humble garbage man Roc Emerson who had an adoring beautiful nurse wife Eleanor, his elderly opinionated father who lives with him and his ne’er do well, gambling, saxophone playing hustler brother Joey. The show dealt with heavy topics like drugs, gang violence, miscarriages, gay weddings, Aids, impotence, racism, tokenism, infidelity, sexual harassment, ageism and the 1992 presidential election all while making you laugh and care about the characters that became like another family to me and i’m sure many others as well. Unfortunately the show only went three seasons from 1991 to 1994 and some say it was because of poor ratings(though it was doing very well in black households) while others say that it was cancelled because the show dealt with such hard hitting issues at a time where tv shows weren’t doing it anymore. Regardless of the reason it was cancelled Roc left a great legacy of laughter, family values and black excellence and pride. The character of Roc Emerson was in many ways a pre Barack Obama and had the power to move you with various speeches on the show. So if you’ve somehow never seen this wonderful show I recommend you check out the video I placed above and enjoy!

I will freely admit that i’m somewhat of a cynical person but I also happen to be a optimistic and hopeful person. I can be both. The world is on fire right now with the pandemic and all the racial tension, the fractured relationship between the police and the people, all the mess on the news etc. Look, it’s just not good to dwell in all the negative stuff. You won’t be living much longer if you do so what I do when things get too heavy and too dark other than praying to God and writing nothing gets my mind off of this stuff than watching classic tv shows and movies, especially comedies. METV, Antenna Tv, Get Tv, Hallmark Mysteries and Movies, Tv Land, AMC, TCM etc. have been my friends these last several months as well as the youtube channel Film Rise which provides full episodes of classic eighties shows i’ve been enjoying. So I write this to tell you to find what makes you happy, your happy place whether it be painting, yoga, cooking, baking, basketball, football, running, reading, working out, eating, gardening, video games, movies and tv etc.Just get out of that negative head space. Remember, people: Things won’t get better if we don’t take care of ourselves first.

An experimental film script I wrote in college. I haven’t read in a little while but i remember how much fun I had playing with the mockumentary format. Have fun reading it as much as I had writing it.

And yes it’s copywritten with the WGA lol