Critics say that BET’s ‘We Got to Do Better’ still hasn't for the cable network

By Andrew Guy Jr.
The Houston Chronicle
(July 26, 2007) Apparently, BET has got to do better.

That's the reaction of some critics to We Got To Do Better, the cable network's controversial new show that premiered Wednesday night, one day after its title was changed from Hot Ghetto Mess.

Gina McCauley, the Austin woman who led a fight against the show and convinced a major advertiser to pull sponsorship and another to distance itself, said she had expected something better based on the way Black Entertainment Television defended the program.

"I was expecting something thought-provoking or really original or avant-garde," she said. "But this wasn't revolutionary or groundbreaking. I just don't understand why they risked so much for something so awful."

Hosted by comedian Charlie Murphy, the show featured video clips of African-Americans — and a few whites — doing various silly antics. The clips were interspersed with man-on-the-street type interviews that posed such questions as "What's the unemployment rate among African-Americans?" and "Who is Barack Obama?"

McCauley and others slammed what they said was the show's shallow approach to serious topics.

"It's a provocative idea, it's an interesting idea; it just wasn't executed well at all," said Serbino Sandifer-Walker, a jmedia-studies professor at Texas Southern University who has done research on media images of African-Americans. "To me, it's modern-day exploitation. It's Amos 'n' Andy, all over again. It's Stepin Fetchit."

Associated Press writer Nekesa Mumbi Moody dismissed the show as simply bad entertainment, concluding: "Once again, BET has got to do better — but it may not know how."

BET has been the subject of criticism for years over low-brow programming and this summer created new programs in an attempt to change its image.

"We can't totally give up on them," Sandifer-Walker added. "I think if they rallied a group of talented people to get in there, they can turn (the show) around.

"What I love about all of this is that this show has initiated an Internet dialogue, and a general dialogue, about the images of African-Americans."

The television program is based on the Web site www.hotghettomess.com


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