BET harnessing standup power

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on July 24th, 2007

Paul Mooney, Warren Hutcherson, Charlie Murphy and D.L. Hughley are among the comedians who will figure heavily in the fall lineup of Black Entertainment Television (BET).

Mooney will star in Judge Mooney “as the outrageously funny judge who lays down the law with his own brand of humor.”

Hughley will host a reality show, S.O.B., that will “use hidden cameras to test the value systems of people.”

The executive producers of Somebodies are listed as Pete Aronson and Warren Hutcherson, who were executive producers on The Bernie Mac Show.

But the most eagerly anticipated debut, tomorrow night at 10:30 PM EDT, is that of Hot Ghetto Mess— we know, we know, it’s been retitled We Got To Do Better, but we like HGM better… and besides, that’s what people are going to call it anyway– a show based on the website hotghettomess.com and hosted by Charlie Murphy. Folks are backpedaling away from this like it’s a turd in a swimming pool.

Initial reports say that Home Depot and State Farm pulled their ads from the show. Then further press releases from Home Depot and State Farm said that they had never bought ads on the show, they merely pulled their ads from the BET site, so as to avoid the appearance of ever having endorsed the show in the first place! Two layers of insulation! This must really be something!

We’re popping some popcorn.

The aforementioned website, started by a 34-year-old D.C. attorney contains some jarring images, some heavy quotes and a message that is too hot to handle for many. (It needs some work, though– maybe some extra server power and better architecture as it is slow to load some things and the layout’s a bit confusing.) What isn’t confusing, however, is the mission. We’ll be interested to see if the TV show clearly reinforces the website’s message.

Check out the PR Newswire release straight from BET for details and showtimes.

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