Episode one dealt partly with a racism scandal hitting an Atlanta professional basketball team. And now “On the Carpet,” which was written well advance of Adrian Peterson’s suspension for child abuse, covers a professional athlete’s mother admitting to striking her son as a child. But 60 solid minutes into the show, I’ll give Survivor’s Remorse the benefit of the doubt. Mike O’Malley and his writers are just keen observers of American culture and pretty good at their jobs. “On the Carpet” was indeed written before Adrian Peterson was just a runningback and not a defendant, but it has the feel of being written concurrently. The episode deals with the issue of corporal punishment so delicately that one could be forgiven for assuming it was just a particularly well done “very special episode.” This aspect of the episode could have been a disaster and probably should have been. There’s really no way to win when a comedy accidentally wades into the hornet’s nest of “Today’s Hot Topic ™” Still “On the Carpet” succeeds in addressing this sensitive plot point due to the most interesting and charming aspect of its pilot: family. Family has clearly always meant the most to Cam. His “entourage” is even exclusively made up of members of his family. And Cassie’s media tone-deaf interview and subsequent refusal to apologize means that the most important thing to Cam is now directly interfering with his meal ticket: his brand. Cassie, for her part remains stuck in her ways, as most headstrong women her age likely would be (and are as evidenced by some of the reactions to the Peterson story). Still, she comes to realize that her ultimate motivation is what’s best for her family. And what’s best for her family is to cry in front of a camera, and wait to meet Oprah. Due to the episode’s conception being well before corporal punishment was on the cultural docket, the tone of “On the Carpet” is a lot looser and funnier than it could have been. It’s also a credit to the cast that the performances are a lot less stiff than the pilot and the humor is much improved. Erica Ash as M-Chuck and Mike Epps as Uncle Julius in particular graduate from “comic-relief-in-name-only” to just flat out comic relief. Uncle Julius’ courting of an admitted “fame whore” is just good comedy. RonReaco Lee also establishes Reggie as a breakout character. As the “straight man” of the ensemble he somehow makes the guy putting out proverbial fires more interesting than the characters setting them. Lee also does the impossible in making a character who has never seen Star Wars sympathetic. Survivor’s Remorse still isn’t uproariously funny but “On the Carpet” inches the show closer to the culturally relevant, effortlessly entertaining version of itself it could one day be. Let’s just hope the warlocks in the writers’ room don’t pen an episode about a nuclear war or apocalypse as whatever they write at this point seems bound to come true. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
