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TV Media Weekly | Nov. 26 - Dec. 2, 2016 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media T here's no denying that the TV trope of rudderless 20-somethings looking for love in the big city is a well-worn one. Hardly a pre- miere season goes by without a new batch of fresh-faced young adults gettin' by with a little help from their friends as they struggle with floundering love lives, dead-end jobs and dreams not yet recognized. The format is familiar and often does well, but it needs something special to make it great. Issa Rae ("Exhale") is special, and she's made something great. That something is "Inse- cure," a freshman comedy wise- ly picked up by HBO, which Rae not only co-created and stars in, but writes and executive pro- duces as well. Co-created by veteran comedian Larry Wilmore ("The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore"), the series premiered last month, and no one can seem to find a bad thing to say about it. A new episode of "In- secure" airs Sunday, Nov. 27, on HBO. As Rae would be quick to tell you, there aren't a lot of shows on TV right now that portray the everyday lives and experiences of black women, and "Insecure" is an answer to that dearth. The series follows Issa Dee, a fiction- alized version of Rae, and her chronically single best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji, "Love That Girl") as the two contend with their own flaws and foibles, con- quests and colleagues while navigating young adulthood in Los Angeles. The self-described "aggres- sively passive" Issa has her share of daily annoyances, from her loving yet lackadaisical boy- friend, Lawrence (Jay Ellis, "The Game"), to her well-meaning and slightly irritating coworker, Frieda (Lisa Joyce, "Ricki and the Flash," 2015) — just one of Is- sa's many white colleagues who treat her like the token black employee. The show gives a fun- ny and genuine look at how the non-confrontational Issa deals with life's daily vexations, be it with Rae's magnificent deadpan or her angry rapping to the bathroom mirror. Rae may not be a huge name yet, but she's well on her way to becoming one. The 31-year-old Stanford graduate started mak- ing music videos and writing plays when she was still a col- lege student, but it was her third attempt at a web series, "Awk- ward Black Girl," that finally be- gan to earn her some recogni- tion. Before the series took off, she was working here and there and, lacking real direction, con- sidered furthering her education into either business or law school, but timing, as they say, is everything . The comedic series premiered in 2011 and has since racked up more than 20 million views online and won a coveted Shorty award for Best Web Show in 2013. According to Rae, she found there weren't many black wom- en she could relate to in Holly- wood, and she wanted to depict average black people leading average lives. The content is based on her own experiences as an awkward person (hence the title), as she felt it would be entertaining to show the various uncomfortable situations one often falls into when dealing with others. (Turns out, she was right.) From "Awkward Black Girl" came "Insecure," which is based on (and an expansion of) the wildly successful web series, and is everything Rae set out to achieve. "I wanted to just make black people relatable," she told "Good Morning America." "Race is addressed, but [the show is] also [about] relation- ship issues, and there's also this story of just friendship — two black girls being friends, turning 30 and ushering themselves and each other through that kind of transitional period." She spoke more on this point at this year's Television Critics Association press tour: "This isn't a show exclusively about, like, the struggle of being black," she pointed out. "It's just regular black people living life." All of this is evident in the first episode, which is truly fan- tastic as pilots go. Everything that happens is, in and of itself, pretty mundane, and the sort of things we and those around us are going through at any given time: Issa questions her rela- tionship, her BFF bemoans her love life (or lack thereof), Issa thinks about her old flame, she's irked by her coworkers — unre- markable stuff. Yet it's all laid down in such a funny way that you can't help but laugh, no matter who you are. The critics certainly agree. The pilot has been lauded on all fronts, and the episodes that fol- low are gleaning similar praise. The fledgling season has a rating of 100 percent on Rotten Toma- toes, based on 46 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. Fellow ratings aggregator website Metacritic gives it a score of 84 out of 100, based on 33 critics, denoting "universal acclaim." For those wondering whether only black viewers will find the material funny: definitely not. The humor is universal, and most of the situations we see Issa in are ones with which any- one can empathize. "We're just trying to convey that people of color are relatable," Rae said at the TCA session. "This is not a hood story. This is about regular people living life." The former YouTube sensation is certainly well on her way. Watch a new episode of "Inse- cure" when it airs Sunday, Nov. 27, on HBO. Lisa Joyce in a scene from "Insecure" Catch some Rae Issa Rae's 'Insecure' proves successful on HBO 2 | Cover story A/Grindstone Charlie's B/Norris Insurance 1 x 4" 455-2700 3833 S. LaFountain • Kokomo, IN 46902 www.norrisinsurance.com • Home • Auto • Business • Life Call for a FREE Quote! Serving You For Over 50 Years Bill Neher

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