B/W TV

Television teaches (sometimes) that a black father or a white father can know best. It doesn't seem able to teach that they can know best together.

"The Bill Engvall Show," a family sit-com, debuts in similarity and contrast to the recently deceased "Bernie Mac Show." The separate but equal path is one the two have been on for a while. Engvist was one of the stars of the "Blue Collar Comedy" tour featuring four white "genteel redneck" comedians and nearly completely white audiences. Mac (Mcullough) was a star of the "Original Kings of Comedy Tour," and Spike Lee's movie, that showcased four black comedians and an equally homogeneous, if alternatively pigmented, audience.

** What kind of funhouse mirror does comedy hold up to culture? **