How will the #MeToo movement alter TV?

[Blue_Adept]

I've been rewatching the first season of Brooklyn 99 the last couple of days as I was looking to find something silly to watch amid back pain issues. It'd been a bit since I saw this particular season but it's so rife with workplace sexual comedy that in the current atmosphere it almost felt shocking - even though it's essentially the norm for ~any~ workplace comedy since forever.

Thoughts on how what's going on will alter these kinds of comedies, or if they'll be able to exist if they become targets?

[Phentex]

1. I just watched Top Chef and thought the same thing...

in this environment, this stuff isn't funny anymore.

[Blue_Adept]

2. I've had a lot of 80's movies on lately and it's certainly telling

Some of it creates the culture we live in, some is reflective. A lot of it goes back quite a few decades, it's not new. But it'll be interesting to see how entertainment changes with this in the mainstream.

[Phentex]

3. This is why I'm not too worried about backlash...

if nothing else, the topic has people thinking "Is this acceptable?"

[Collimator]

4. The thing about Brooklyn 99. . .

. . . Is that it is--at heart--an inclusive and diversity-affirming show. Sure there is humor that touches on sex, because sex is part of being human. No one on the show is allowed to get away with using their power to make someone else feel uncomfortable. Certainly not to any serious degree.

Terry Crews' character is lusted after in a fashion by the Gina character, and we know that the actor himself has spoken out about being sexually assaulted by a power-player in the entertainment industry. If Crews himself doesn't feel that the humor is out of line, I do not see why anyone else would be up in arms about it.

Another point about Brooklyn 99 is that they address serious issues like workplace sexual harassment, police profiling of black people and LBGTQ rights with intelligent sensitivity. Also, the show's humor approach is so zany that things which would clearly be objectionable in any real context don't really offend because they wouldn't happen in real life.

And yet, the amped up scenarios have that tiny grain of truth that makes them relatable. Many of us may have a co-worker like Charles who makes a huge fuss over food. But would an employee really get away with spending 20 minutes to demonstrate how to make the perfect sandwich and use a kitchen blow torch in an actual real world workplace?

The difference between the absurdity of the humor in the show and what would be allowed in real life is clear enough that no one should get worked up because some of the humor touches on sex.