User reviews

The series is predicated on Jay Pharoah's struggle for success, but it's difficult to root for him when he doesn't seem particularly deserving of it, on a personal or professional level.

He has an unhealthy relationship with his ex, Sadie (Cleopatra Coleman), in which he would prefer she not see anyone else while he is free to date. He berates his agent, is negligent toward the son he and Sadie share and constantly self-sabotages in meetings with directors and producers. On top of that he is fixated on race and makes sure to make every non-black character he comes in contact with well aware of his polarized views.

Pros:

Utkarsh Ambudkar who plays Malcolm, the Indian talent agent is excellent and would have been a more likable lead than Jay Pharoah.

The Hollywood/Los Angeles sights and scenes are more interesting than the script.

Cons:

There seems to be a lot of anti-white rhetoric and stereotypes. It frankly makes it uncomfortable to watch. It is blatant and one sided.

The writing is weak and many of the jokes and scenes are recycled from the 90's. An example is the scene in the pilot where the white guy mistakes Jay Pharoah for the valet at a restaurant and hands him his keys. (Stolen from Curb Your Enthusiasm).

I am not sure how this show got the green light? The show just isn't funny and injecting A list celebrities like Jamie Fox towards the end of the 1st episode just looks like you are trying to make up for something.

White Famous cheapens itself with cheap laugh lines and poorly written jokes. And it proudly sells out: There is a parade of celebrity cameos, and a parade of nameless females introduced butt-first.

White Famous wants to cast Jamie Foxx as a north star of stardom for young Floyd (Jay Pharoah). But his presence makes the whole show feel ego-strokish. Actually, everything here feels ego-strokish. Both episodes I've seen turn on the same essential plot point, Faced with the possibility of making a difficult decision to achieve success, the young star refuses to make the decision, and then achieves success anyway.

After two episodes I am done. I gave it a chance, but Jay Pharoah as the lead is too unlikable to follow and the constant infusion of celebrities just feels like pandering.

Showtime -- how your fortunes have fallen. Once upon a time, The Sopranos, Sex and the City... now -- White Famous. Lets take a few characters from Californication (which ended far too long after it's expiration date) and stick them in a terribly written, annoying show about a comedian who basically hates everything and has no respect for anyone. I never found the lead appealing or cared about him as the protagonist. I would sooner have watched a show about his Indian agent who is like the brown Ari Gold. At least he has likability on his side. I see the average rating is 5.5.. sounds inflated to me.

zzzzz....so Jay pharaoh and jamie fox, a couple of black celebs who hate being black (in real life and on the show) and who love LOVE to **** on whites with really dumb descriptions of "whitey."

the problem is like Insecure, the dumb white tropes about racism is hardly realistic while being typically unfunny and unwatchable.

I was hoping we would never have to deal with another angry at the white world Issa Rae persona or type ...but I guess this will be another one...until it's finally cancelled.

Very deliberate jokes about whites and dumb, profane BANAL jokes in general. And for your viewing pleasure: dark skinned, unattractive black guys chasing more attractive, light skinned women.....did I mention the horrible, unfunny script? The hook for the producers are is: "well, in case the 'comedy' doesn't work out, let's add hella ass and Jamie's nut sack...YUP that'll work."

The major issue I had with White Famous, and this is a biggie, is that I didn't really find it funny. Even if you go into the show without the expectation that you'll be laughing out loud every minute, I think most will find that it doesn't bring the laughs (or just basic, feel-good enjoyment) the way a comedy really should. With the notable exceptions of Jay Pharoah's Denzel Washington impression and someone mistakenly saying "Blafrican-American" a couple of times right after he's professed to never use the word "black" to refer to people, I never had an honest moment of hilarity from the show.

There's even an extended cameo from Jamie Foxx, which was clearly supposed to be so crazy that you'd LOL non-stop, but I just found it sort of embarrassing for all involved. Where I was expecting Curb Your Enthusiasm levels of cringe-worthy laughs, I generally just got cringes.

I stop watching episode one after the random unappealing sex scene. It made me feel uncomfortable as a woman that the producers were ok with introducing a female character in this manner.