We Lost A Gem

Friday was a bleak day for television folks. The Carmichael Show star/creator/visionary Jerrod Carmichael released a statement saying he would be leaving the low rated yet critically acclaimed sitcom. Within an hour NBC officially cancelled the show.

Now, many people have taken social media in the past few days blaming Jerrod for the show’s demise – and that is completely WRONG – he simply was reacting to a myriad of terrible decisions and a blatantly obvious lack of interest in the show from NBC.

Don’t believe me? Read on.

The Carmichael Show initially premiered on August 26, 2015. Yes it was a summer show. No idea why, since not a lot of people watch television – let alone sitcoms – in summer. But fine.

Season 2 actually premiered as a proper mid-season replacement in March of 2016. Fine. Great. You gave it a better chance to gain an audience. But you know what NBC didn’t do? ADVERTISE THE FUCKING SHOW! A few shitty crawlers during your other low rated, and underappreciated comedies does not a marketing campaign make.

And here were are in Season 3 which premiered in May. And not even Sweeps Period May – FUCKING MAY 31st! Only a few weeks ago NBC decided to yank an episode that saw Jerrod being caught up in a mall shooting off the air, in response to the shooting at a baseball game in DC, and Jerrod was none too pleased about that. I know, networks often reschedule episodes after major news events to avoid being considered insensitive, and Jerrod has no right to complain – but technically he wasn’t. He was more angered at NBC seemingly doing the wimpy thing and not airing it instead of keeping it on the schedule and continuing the conversation. Jerrod makes statements in his stand up routines, and his sitcom isn’t any different.

On top of all these this – NBC repeatedly left the show in cancellation limbo, and by repeatedly I mean every damn season. Until Jerrod walked away there was still no word from ANYONE if The Carmichael Show would return. And in June. FUCKING JUNE. I don’t care if the show was going to be on the fall schedule or the mid season season schedule – MAKE A DAMN DECISION. You owe that to the cast and the crew, who unlike the NBC execs, worked hard to get this show made.

So after all that – oh and did I mention that the show wasn’t even submitted for ANY Emmy Awards? – ask yourself again who was to blame for The Carmichael Show‘s demise. It sure as hell wasn’t Jerrod, or anyone else involved at show level. It was NBC. All NBC.

Blame game aside though, everyone is on the losing end of this shit storm. The Carmichael Show was by far one of the best sitcoms to air in the last decade – perhaps even more. It was funny, it was thoughtful and it was fierce. As an audience member you spent 22 minutes laughing, but then were left with a window to start conversations, or keep them going.

And once again if I hear one fucking person say network television is a wasteland – I’m going to lose my fucking mind and then direct them to this very short lived gem.

Thank you Jerrod and crew for making a show that restores my faith in the television industry. I wish you could have stuck around longer.

And NBC – eat me!