Barbershop

It's an uncomfortable feeling, watching talented actors (the awesome Barry Shabaka and others) and writers (John Ridley, the man who wrote the awesome Three Kings) strain and strain for a joke and never entirely land one. Dismayingly two-dimensional characters, tired routines (guy coaching guy about how to talk sexy to a girl, somebody walks in and thinks it's a romantic/sexual moment between the guys, ha ha ha), strained plotting--something about a woman being hounded by a broadly drawn completely non-real anti-abortion activist and a broadly drawn completely non-real pro-choice activist--an old fashioned nudge-nudge wink-wink attitude to sex--a ridiculously caricatured would-be politician with a fake expensive watch--all adding up to a mish-mosh of wannabe. Where will it all go? Will the innate talent of all these players make it work as the series progresses? Will this be the old quality-challenged Showtime or the new?

First off, let me say that I thought the two Barbershop movies were fairly amusing and enjoyable movies. At the same time, I don't consider them great films that simply must be seen.

Barbershop the series is a whole different level. Trust me when I say this show is not some trite and corny UPN-type series. It is pure comedy in the mold of Arrested Development or Curb Your Enthusiasm, with a little Def Comedy Jam thrown in. Hectic, witty, and blunt, the show tackles issues from relationships to politics to family with the delivery of a stand-up comic.

Omar Gooding far exceeds Ice Cube as the sarcastic centerpiece and many of the other characters have been upgraded as well. In fact, it seems that each character (with the exception of Cedric the Entertainer's) has not only been replaced by a funnier and better looking counterpart, but the actors are much more skilled as well. There is an abundance of eye candy for both sexes. As far as acting, Toni Trucks nails Terri as the demanding, yet vulnerable female presence in the shop. Leslie Elliard's spastic, hopelessly ambitious Jimmy provides the most audible laughs.

Watch a couple episodes expecting a lot of silliness, intelligence, and sexiness and enjoy yourself.

Think Arrested Development but with political satire. Think Blazing Saddles. B-Shop the series is quick, smart and damn funny - and its especially good to see a comedy that mostly features a cast of color delivering some jokes that require a little thought Any show that can move among comedic dirty talk, anger issues, abortion and urban female sexuality in a half hour is doing more than most comedies can pull of in three weeks of airing. The performances are great all around, particularly Omar Gooding and Toni Trucks who are both filling in difficult roles. With respect to Cube and Eve, those to make the characters their own. The show has style, and like The Simpons, it has enough jokes that on multiple viewings you can catch the ones you missed the first time around. With the movies winding down - THANKFULLY - the franchise is actually reinvigorated, and I can't wait to see where B- Shop the series is going.

I can't believe a lot of the complaints I see about this show here. I guess for some people, the idea of a show that's extremely witty and sexy, with an interesting set of characters about whom the perceptive viewer instantly cares a great deal, is just not enough. Maybe it doesn't fit with preconceived notions of the proper attitudes, but--in part for that very reason--*Barbershop* is the bomb!

After a long day of work, I sat down in front of the tube to find something relaxing and entertaining--something intelligent but not tedious, funny but never infantile. And then I found this, a show that manages to pull off the witty sex-talk that *Sex in the City* supposedly offered, even though to me *that* show always rang false. Whereas SitS seemed to try too hard, this one just flows effortlessly, with an effervescence that springs from strong writing and acting.

I've seen many shows that attempt to create a world like that of *Barbershop*, with its ensemble cast, its spiciness, its clever dialogue, its sardonic treatment of timely themes and its heartfelt approach to universal ones--and usually the result is a tired-looking mishmash designed (however inexpertly) to fool viewers into believing that they're watching something worthwhile. But this one actually achieves what so many others have failed to do. Maybe I'm supposed to be irritated or offended, but I'm too busy enjoying Omar Gooding (a fabulous actor who I loved in *Playmakers*), the great Phil Lamarr of *Mad TV* fame, and a number of other gifted performers.

I don't understand what happened but the writers just completely dropped the ball this show feels so out of touch from its source material. Everything is lacking the dialog, the plots and the character all feel underdeveloped and poorly written. This show prioritized being politically correct over comedy and plot it's supposed to be a black show yet it rarely ever deals with black issues directly. The writers were hell bent on making this a far more racially neutral show with the forced inclusion of various other races and far boarder topics and issues such as homophobia, martial strife's, sexuality etc.

The problem here is all of this comes at the cost of the core writing and characterization that this series is known for, every character from the movies act's and behaviors drastically different.

This Calvin is a push over that is unsure of himself and is constantly battling for respect in his own shop with the addition of Romadal he's constantly disrespected and undermined.

This Eddie is a out of touch alcoholic weirdo who's entire character gets minimized down to he's questionable sexuality all for the sake of forced inclusivity.

This Terri is a insanely annoying orphan that's somehow even more stereotypical and offensive than her movie counterpart. She is the worst character on the show and somehow gets the vast majority of screen time. Most these characters can be minimized down to unfunny one liners or mantras but the bulk of this character lines is literally constantly repeating herself so prepare to hear "my shit is pure" over and over again.

Romadal is a original character created for this show who had plenty of comedic potential that is never realized. The vast majority of his lines are literally one word b****, over and over just like Terri the writing is so bad I seriously question the age and intelligence of anyone recommending this garbage.

I'm not going to go any further examining all the characters because the vast majority of them are all this bad those above are just the ones that stuck out or disappointed me the most this is legitimately one of the worst shows I've ever seen.