Return of the Boondocks
When growing up, like all normal kids I loved to read the newspaper. By the newspaper I actually mean the comic strips section. This section included things like The Phantom, Spiderman, Archie, Garfield, Zits, For better or Worse, Curtis and of course The Boondocks.
Originally written and drawn by Aaron McGruder "The Boondocks" comic strip ran from 1996 to 2006 gaining popularity over the years. The controversial strip was a satirical view of African American culture and American politics as seen through the eyes of young, black radical Huey Freeman.
The television & film rights for the strip were sold to Sony Pictures Entertainment and The Boondocks animated TV series premiered on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim in 2005. It's been going for 3 seasons so far (with years between seasons) and will have one final 4th season to be released next month.
The series was nominated for Outstanding Comedy Series at the 37th NAACP Image Awards in 2006 and placed on the top 25 animated series for adults by IGN. Even Time magazine had to name The Boondocks as one of the 10 of the Most Controversial Cartoons of All Time back in 2010.
Personally I've found that too few people know about this great series. This is probably down in part to it being an animation and most people thinking that animations are "just for kids". To an extent they are, but there are some that have been exclusively created with adults in mind and you would not want to show them to your kids (unless you were a very cool parent). I would say The Boondocks is definitely a show with adults in mind (even if I grew up reading it as a strip) and a show I would recommend everyone to watch.
Regina King does the voices for brothers Huey and Riley Freeman two of the main characters in the series and also my personal favourites. These two brothers would give Cartman and co from South Park a run for their money. Both brothers use language that would make any mother blush (if you don't like the use of the n word I would not watch) and are known for having some epic fights.
South Park is probably the closest popular show on TV but I would say as a result of McGruder's love of anime like Samurai Champaloo it's closer to that style than it is to American animations.
What I hope to see in Season 4
With Season 4 just around the corner I am hoping to see some social and political commentary from the last 4 years, which was when the previous series ended.
My biggest hope is that it returns to the genius of previous episodes such as season 2's "The Hunger Strike" and "The Uncle Ruckus Reality Show" (which were both heavily critical of BET) and the Season 3 episode "Pause" (which infuriated Tyler Perry because of his depiction in it) because that is the series at it's best and I want the show to go out with the bang that it deserves.
If you haven't already I suggest you check it out.
I was inspired to write this post after earlier this week reading that the series would be returning. As it was a show that's based on something from my childhood and does the core material proud I couldn't help but write about it.
I hope you enjoyed it. I had to write it quickly this morning so I could spend the day/weekend at a film festival.
Hopefully my next post will be all about that!
This time I will end with something that sums up how I felt when I heard The Boondocks were getting a final season.
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