Post-Simpsons and King of the Hill, FOX realized that there's a market in adult-skewed animated sitcoms that could combine the cultural satire of blue collar America already prevalent in live-action primetime with the big, outlandish humor of the cartoon world. Using good-looking stop-motion animation (an artform that should really be more popular than it actually is) instead of the traditional hand-drawn of its colleagues, The PJs came on the air at the same time as Family Guy, but transports the convention from the suburbs to a stand-in for the famous Brewster-Douglas public housing in Detroit. In case you weren’t able to suss it out, the title is slang for the projects.
Created by Eddie Murphy with The Daily Show’s “black correspondent” Larry Wilmore and comedy writer Steve Tompkins, it portray a humorously exaggerated take on the everyday lifestyle of poor African-Americans. The exaggeration cuts both ways. The PJs falls into that magic vent between honesty and stereotype; it portrays black culture—or more accurately, low-income urban culture—in such a manner that half of the target audience saw a reflection of themselves while the other half cried minstrel.
An example of this is evident in the first episode of the set, which concerns the housing superintendent voiced by Eddie Murphy trying to replace the front door. Every time he does, it’s always getting trashed by the unmannered tenants. So he finds a door that he thinks is necessary for the place—an expensive one that can withstand gunshots. The next day, he finds out that someone stole it. This is something that has a basis in truth for the condition in which the series portrays, but it's can understandably be contentious for some week in and week out.
You can see their point, too, weirdly enough because The PJs never goes far enough. Whereas something like The Boondocks would portray the most embarrassing aspects of African-American culture to its breaking point, but then offers context and introspection on what they just dealt with, cementing its position as cultural satire, The PJs never dared to be as bold, merely coasting on typical situational comedies that’s peppered here and there with urban flavoring: each episode’s name and/or premise usually parodies either a Spike Lee (who ironically hates this show) or gangland film, or an R&B group. As social commentary, it’s toothless; and as a sitcom, it relies too much on stereotyping the projects. Where else do you go after you’ve exhausted them all?
Mostly, it’s just a generic comedy show, one that allows Murphy to play it fast and broad, a template of what he’d later become after the turn of the millennium.
"The PJ's: Season One" is on sale May 3, 2011 and is not rated. Animation, Comedy. Written by Eddie Murphy, Steve Tompkins, Larry Wilmore. Starring Eddie Murphy, Janet Dubois, Loretta Devine, Pepe Serna.
