Thursday, February 18, 2016

Bordertown's Alcaraz and Arellano Speak

The L.A. Times' Morrison interviews two scribes from Fox's latest prime-time animated half hour.

Patt Morrison: Is "Bordertown" intended to be “South Park at Sea Level,” or what?

Arellano: It’s “All in the Family” in the desert, mixed in with a bit of “Bob’s Burgers” in Aztlan. Really what we’re trying to do is a satire not just of Mexican and American relations but also a satire of the American Southwest. So while the rest of the country will see a show that deals with what happens when Mexicans – Latinos, but Mexican specifically -- become the majority in a town, those of us in the Southwest will love all the visuals, the visual cues, that say this is very much a Southwestern show. The mega-churches, the obsession with high school football. Even our beloved Santa Ana winds will make a full cameo in a upcoming episode that’s going to be our version of “Treehouse of Horror” ...

I've watched multiple episodes of the show, and I'm amazed that Fox (Fox!) would dive into this kind of comedy.

The initial thirteen half-hourss of BT were written long before Donald Trump dove into the Republican primaries and made illegal immigration with its "rapists and drug lords" the center of political discourse. (Bordertown has its share of drug lords, if not rapists).

So events and personalities have overtaken the show, and what impact they'll have on the rest of the season will be interesting to see.

(BT has Seth McFarlane as one of its executive producers, so its edgy humor is sort of a given. Whether the show is picked up for an additional thirteen episodes remains an open question.)

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