"Given the nebulous nature of the whispering about 'Please, Baby, Please,' it probably isn't surprising that the actual episode is less a landmark piece of television and more a perfectly so-so and serviceable illustration of the Streisand Effect, by which attempt to censor something only results in generating more publicity around the thing," Daniel Fienberg says of the political episode that ABC shelved in February 2018, which was released on Hulu Monday at creator Barris' request. "After watching the 22-minute episode, I find two things immediately clear: First, there was absolutely no reason for ABC to raise a stink about the episode much less not to air it," adds Fienberg. "And second, that doesn't mean that (then-ABC Entertainment president Channing) Dungey's assessment of the episode's quality was in any way incorrect. 'Please, Baby, Please' is not a very good episode of Black-ish, nor is it a horrible episode. It feels like exactly what it is, namely the product of a smart and talented writer being frustrated about the state of the world, without knowing exactly what to say on the subject, or how to say it (but still arriving at a point of uncertain optimism that's not without resonance). Maybe viewers turn to shows like Black-ish to help process chaos. Barris has certainly succeeded in offering a prism through which to engage with disheartening bedlam in the past; maybe in this episode, he just wanted to capture the enduring necessity of simple hopefulness amid societal unease...Unlike Very Special Episodes like 'Hope' and 'Juneteenth,' Please, Baby, Please' makes little effort to utilize humor. There are punchlines about how Clippers fans understand oppression and about how Pops used to slip whiskey into Dre's milk when he wouldn't sleep, but generally it's a straightforward, fairly serious-minded bottle episode dedicated mostly to news footage and some tremendous needle-drops starting with 'Change Is Gonna Come.' If 'Hope' distilled Barris' quandary explaining police violence to older children, this episode is intentionally simple and reductive, leading to a conclusive statement — 'Nobody knows exactly what the future will bring, but what we do know is there are more of us who help than those of us who hurt' — that I'm not sure Barris or Dre even believe."
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TOPICS: Black-ish, ABC, Hulu, Kenya Barris, Trump Presidency