If you thought that all of television's best stereotypes would dry up after the cancellation of My Generation, you were wrong. This week's programming was chock full of oversimplified characters for America's easy viewing digestion. But which were actually funny? Let's take a look -- first stop, the trailer park!
1. Trailer Trash (Weeds)
Oh, Weeds, even your most loyal fans will gently concede that you jumped the shark sometime back around the time Nancy Botwin burnt down her house and fled Agrestic. But now that you've married a corrupt Mexican mayor, dabbled in human trafficking and successfully raised a murderer, there is not much else to do but travel the country in a sex fetishist's RV, hoping to outwit the Feds...again. OK, so the part about choosing a sex RV for your family vehicle is kind of original (and it's not like the viewers did not not enjoy seeing Mary-Louise Parker thumb through niche porn mags), but the part about her hiding out in a stereotypical trailer park this week, that's another story.
When Nancy Botwin and Co. pulled into the trailer park (in their defense, Andy had told them that they were going "deep underground in an off-grid paradise"), they were greeted by a friendly, leathery-skinned woman, wearing a bright yellow visor and gripping a plastic cup, who called herself "Sugar Pop." Throughout the episode, Nancy, Andy and Silas met a few other impoverished residents of the trailer city. There was the old black man selling used appliances from his "front yard." There was the undereducated derelict wearing a wife beater whom Andy baptized in an inflatable pool. And then there was the wife that started banging on Nancy's RV door after finding out that her husband -- and the father of her small children -- had bent Nancy over a local bar and indulged her in some very adulterous behavior in between plastic baskets of fried food.
2. Jersey Trash: Animated Edition (South Park)
We've already covered the sienna-hued cast of Jersey Shore once this year in the stereotype bunker, but there's always room for another variation on the fist-pumping, grease-hoarding segment of society. Isn't that right, South Park's brilliant parody of the Jersey stereotype? Like untrained animals, the Jersey residents alternated between humping and punching each other from the Sizzler to Stan's house. They wore gaudy graphic T's, gelled their hair straight up and partied with little respect for those around them.
3. The Sensitive Gay Man (Modern Family)
Stereotypes are not always bad in television. They can be funny! Take Modern Family's very conscious use of the "sensitive gay" stereotype this week. After Mitchell enlists Claire to tell sensitive Cameron that maybe tight bike shorts are not the best look for him, he runs out of the room because he hears the "baby crying." Cue a door slam and heavy sobs from Modern Family's Emmy winner. Later, when Claire calls the house and asks Mitchell if Cameron is crying, Mitchell asks, "Oh yes, 'cause that's what all gay men do. We all dissolve into..." as Cameron's wails emerge from the bedroom.
Way to spin that stereotype into comedy gold, Modern Family and South Park. Better luck next time, Weeds.