The Buffalo News from Buffalo, New York • 27

The Buffalo News Wednesday March 8 2006 C7 Television COMMENTARY IXs "Black White "has the best of intentions The documentary series (10 tonight basic cable) is the kind of series either going to love or come close to hating Produced by RJ Cutler War Ice Cube and Matt Alvarez the six part series follows the experi ences of two families the Wurgels of Santa Monica and the Sparks of Atlanta who walk a mile in each shoes With the help of make up ef fects artist Brian Sipe the white Wurgel family is made up to ap pear black and the black family is made up to appear white The makeup which took several hours to apply daily is more convincing on some than others though everyone seems to in the real world The families go shopping for cars shoes and clothes they at tend poetry etiquette and dialect classes and share and debate their experiences acting as the opposite race It an unique idea Long time Night fans may remember Eddie Murphy made up as white in a skit about the benefits of being white The value is directly in proportion to the ability to re late to the real life participants chosen Unfortunately where is an equal opportunity offender Both families are led by strong personalities and points of views that restrict the education al value The household heads seem to like each other which may make it more difficult for viewers to embrace them and accept the valuable lessons and messages Bruno Marcotulli the head of the Wurgel family is arrogant and judgmental Though the pro gram and material make you believe he is Carmen hus band reports have surfaced that they are not married and he is her long time partner That distortion makes you wonder if there are any others Car men has been with Bruno long enough to realize he is unlikely to change his view that people treat people the way they do without regard to race Marcotulli believes that Brian Sparks 41 feels prejudice is every where because he is looking for it attitude troubles Brian who is just as adamant that preju dice can be detected practically everywhere even when trying on shoes if you at all sensitive to it There are also some sparks be tween their wives Carmen is so cluelessly insensitive that she cre ates problems even when she thinks she is being nice She realize how politically in correct some of her statements are Her attitude rubs Renee Sparks who admittedly finds it difficult to let things go the wrong way The only likable sub jects are the children daughter Rose is a bright sensitive white woman who is open to going where the experience takes her in a poetry class of creative young African Americans Nick Sparks 17 comes across as a sweet high school dropout who seem to be a deep thinker He share his par belief that racism is eveiy where He even get upset when the word is said by mem bers of his white etiquette class who feel he made saying it accept able after he revealed he is black attitude dis turbs his parents who feel he un derstands the black experience Rose and Nick clearly demonstrate that when it comes to the race issue there is a generation gap It gives hope that future genera tions shall overcome their innate preju dices and insensitivities and be more open minded and less judg mental than their parents It is hard to judge some of the illustrations of preju dice An encounter with an igno rant prejudiced customer at a bar in an overwhelmingly white area unfairly gives viewers the percep tion that he speaks for the entire community when he could be the dumbest person in the room Still there are some raw pow erful confrontational moments in the first four hours of that make for in volving TV The series isn't as strong as several programs that Ted Koppel did on race when he anchored But even if the lessons from it are obvious they can never be repeated too of ten In the end just overcome its casting and the feeling the filmmakers were look ing more for confrontation than enlightenment It surprising to learn that the two families keep in touch much since filming end ed though Brian Sparks said there was definitely tension sometimes and I say we were best of friends" said Rose Wurgel At least mission to use the families to get America talk ing about race is accomplished Alan Pergament WNYO will end 10 pm newscast As expected WB 49 (WNYO TV) will be exiting the 10 pm news business effective at the end of the month Nick Magnini the general manager of WNYO and ox affili ate WUTV told his staff Monday of the decision to shutter the newscast which started on the Sinclair Broadcasting station about a year and a half ago The closing means 14 full time HARDWOOD LOORING I99Cifl I Exotics Bellawood Prefinished Bamboo lumber hardwood flooring OR LESS! 3801 HARLEM RD BUALO 716 833 6777 and four part time workers will be out of jobs in four weeks Sev erance packages are being negoti ated said Magnini Corris WB 49 news di rector and his team did a terrific said Magnini was no re flection on the WB 49 became the second sta tion to drop its 10 pm newscast Channel 2 had previously closed the 10 pm newscast that it sup plied to a PAX station Like that newscast WB 49 was unable to compete with the 10 pm news on WNLO TV the sister station of WTVB TV WB rating increased dur ing the just concluded ebruary sweeps from a year ago but its 14 rating was less than one third the 47 rating for the 10 pm news on WNLO Magnini confirmed he has talked with Channel 2 and Chan nel 7 officials about supplying Channel 49 with a newscast at 10 pm But he added those discus sions were independent of the de cision to shut down own news operation Channel 49 be called WB 49 next fall because the WB will no longer exist WNYO will be affiliated in the fall with a new network started by News Corp the parent of ox Alan Pergament A BUALO NEWS SPON SORED CONTEST MIS Za Vffl AU MATCHING NUMBERS WEEK 1244 7 7 7 fEl 9 20 40 59 69 Weekly Jackpot of $200! 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