Meet the Wurgels and the Sparkses, two well-educated middle-class families who, through the marvels of modern makeup, switch races on the new FX network reality show, "Black. White." Heightening the drama, these two families are required to live in the same house, and tensions flare.
Though the show could easily have slipped into the realm of reality television rubbish as a ridiculous farce laden with stereotypes of both races, "Black. White." uses these stereotypes to take a serious stab at race relations in America.
The Wurgels have come to this project ready to learn what the daily life of an African American is like. As he repeatedly mentions, Bruno Wurgel, father of teenage Rose and husband of Carmen, really anticipates someone calling him the "n-word," and his planned reaction is to calmly respond and reason with the vocal bigot.
What Bruno doesn't seem to realize and what Brian Sparks, father of teenage Nick and husband of Rene, continues to make clear, is that racism exists, but Bruno will not find it in the shouting of offensive racial slurs.
Racism is more subtle now; it's in the slow service, the suspicious, watchful stares of storeowners, and unfair hiring processes.
But Bruno, made up as a black man, does not seem to experience any of these things, and at the end of this pilot episode still expects to use his words to talk down the vociferously racist idiot that he still envisions encountering.
Whether black or white, Bruno is annoying and arrogant, and it's a wonder either race accepts him.
Brian, on the other hand, immediately notices differences in the way he's treated as a white man.
His first activity, stereotypical as it may be, is a trip to the driving range where he takes up golf.
At the pro shop (where he introduces himself very originally as Brian White), Brian enters looking to find a pair of shoes and is shocked to have the salesman slip the shoe onto his foot for him.
In his 40 years as a shoe shopper, no one had ever done that, but now, equipped with his new exterior, Brian says, "the possibilities are endless."
Again playing off of a stereotype, Rose's first activity as a black girl is a trip to South Central Los Angeles where she exclaims, in a tragically white girl fashion, "People are talking to me like I'm a sista!"
But, despite her inability to sound the part, Rose is perhaps the family member most excited to learn about and understand a new culture, and ironically, the one who happens to look most convincing as an African American. She is also the only person to express concern about the show being a mere exploitation of stereotypes.
In an effort to gain further understanding of what it means to be a young, black American, Rose attends a slam poetry class in which she says her favorite artists are The Cranberries and recites an original poem with little to no rhythm before many skeptical eyes.
But at least she tries. Nick's discomfort in the white makeup is palpable and painful as he sits through an etiquette class. Nick also admits to his indifference about the experiment.
Perhaps an indication of a generational difference in race relations, Nick says of his peers' attitude toward interracial tolerance: "As long as you're cool with us, we're cool with you."
But racism seems to be thriving in older age brackets. Brian and Rene sat in on a focus group of all white people in which one panelist admitted - with much apprehension and remorse - to feeling like he has to wash his hands after shaking the hand of a black person.
An even worse incident occurs when a white patron of a bar in a primarily white neighborhood gives Brian advice on where to live. Without any provocation, this man cites this, his hometown, as one of the few places where other races haven't yet settled.
He goes on to say, "If you're looking for a safe place to raise your kids, this is it," the obvious implication being that if other races, religions or creeds seeped into his pristine town, the level of security would surely plummet.
The moral of episode one of "Black. White." is an important one: Some 52 years after the official end of segregation, we're still living in a divided society.
As much as we may congratulate ourselves for valuing equality above all else, one need not dig deeply to find striking notions of bigotry and discrimination.
