Fiction Press: More from "Out Da Box"

I said in an earlier post that I wouldn’t repost anything that I put onto my Fiction Press site. However, I will link to the things on that site. First up, it’s three skits from “Out Da Box.” The three skits, “The New DJ Mixtape,” “The Bill Collector,” and “The WB’s New Lineup” all were performed the same year as the very first skit I wrote, “Begot’s Ice Cream Shop.” Here’s the background on these skits:

“The Bill Collector”: In my household, getting phone calls from bill collectors was a common occurrence. We always screened our calls whether by letting the answering machine get the phone before we answered or by looking at the caller ID once we got it. So, I thought that those various experiences we’ve had (combined with some funny new ones) would make a good skit. This is probably one of the best skits I’ve written, and it’s one of my personal favorites. When this was performed, the bill collector was played by a man instead of the woman I originally wrote it as. It still worked out well.

“The New DJ Mixtape”: This came about simply because of downloading. You see, back in the glory days of file sharing before file sharers and companies were sued, I would look for hip-hop songs to download. It seemed like whenever I would download a song, it would be a version that came from a mixtape. If you’ve ever listened to a mixtape, then you know the drill. A song plays and the DJ shouts over the track the name of the song and the artist. Also, the DJ would scream his name and occasionally yell during the song (like when it would get good) to keep other DJs from stealing the song. This type of thing annoyed the crap out of me. So, naturally I took that rage and created a skit where the DJ on a mixtape says weird things and interacts with the listeners. Oh, and the DJ’s name in the skit is a combination of DJ Clue and Funkmaster Flex.


“The WB’s New Lineup”: I don’t really know how I came up with this skit (which is outdated as of now), but there are some things I noticed upon finishing it. I guess you could say it’s a response to the tactic that “new” networks use to gather ratings. When they were in their infancy, both FOX and WB courted black viewers. Statistically, black people watch more TV than any other racial group. In addition, after The Cosby Show ended, there really weren’t any black-themed shows on the big networks. Courting black viewers let the networks build their viewership. However, back in 1995 (I don’t remember for certain), FOX “whitewashed” their lineup, canceling several black shows including In Living Color, Roc, and The Sinbad Show (which only lasted one season). The WB did the same thing gradually, as they canceled Sister, Sister, The Parent Hood, The Wayans Brothers (which didn’t get a final episode), The Steve Harvey Show, and For Your Love. Today, both networks have sparse black offerings as UPN picks up where they left off. My skit is basically the reverse of what happened at FOX and The WB. All the white shows are canceled and replaced with black shows instead.

Here are the links for these skits:

"The Bill Collector": http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=1477839
"The New DJ Mixtape": http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=1477839&chapter=2
"The WB's New Lineup": http://www.fictionpress.com/read.php?storyid=1477839&chapter=3

You can leave any comments at that site or on this post.