The new network TV season is upon us. I’ve been on the lookout for anything promising among the new series, and I think I’ve found one.
It’s a half-hour PG comedy called “The Mayor,” airing Tuesday nights on ABC. And if the pilot is any indication of the type of show it’s going to be (which, theoretically, a pilot should be), then I’m excited to see the rest of it.
Premise
It’s about a struggling rapper who decides to run for mayor of his California town in order to gain publicity for his rapping career. And since he has a legitimate understanding of the needs of his community, he ends up winning the election even though he hadn’t intended to.
I think it’s a fairly unique concept, even though his winning the election in this first episode is pretty predictable (and that info is not a spoiler, since you’ll probably find it in the description of the show online). But I think that predictability is okay, because the show seems to be about what this guy does with his unexpected new power and responsibility.
High Points
It’s funny. As it should be, but sometimes in network comedies the jokes are kind of flat. Not so here. It is the right mix of randomness with dumb-person-humor with smart-person-humor. And, even more delightfully, a lot of the humor comes from the rapper’s no-nonsense mom (played by Yvette Nicole Brown, who played Shirley on “Community”) giving him clever advice and a swift kick in the buns when he needs it.
In fact, it seems that this show is really about a guy learning how to be responsible. Why have we not seen a show like this before?? I, for one, am rather excited to see where it goes, especially since so far it presents this message in a clever and funny way.
Moral Issues
In this first episode, things are really quite clean. A little mild language is about it, though they do also make use of a live-television-like mouth and sound bleep for what we’re to assume was a bad profanity. But seeing as how it’s indistinguishable what’s actually being said, I don’t really think it’s an issue – rather, a clever way to be both realistic and family-friendly at the same time, in my opinion.
Over All
I’m going to hold my breath for this one. Such a promising start, in this first episode. I very much hope it stays this clean, this funny, and this positive in its themes. Because if it does, it will be a pretty rare treat in today’s TV landscape.