'Whoopi' Ignites Furor (Anti-smoking goons upset with Goldberg & NBC)

Los Angeles Times ^ | 8.4.03

[mhking]

The first scene in NBC's new fall sitcom "Whoopi" begins with the star, Whoopi Goldberg, puffing on a cigarette, ignoring a nearby "No Smoking" sign.

"You know, secondhand smoke kills," says an irritated guest of the hotel Goldberg's character owns.

"So do I," she shoots back, glaring at the guest.

Scheduled to premiere Sept. 23, the show is designed to be a Norman Lear-like commentary on American society, in the same vein as the groundbreaking "All in the Family." That show was built around bigoted jokes that boomeranged on Archie Bunker, while "Whoopi," featuring a relationship in which her brother is dating a white woman, takes a swipe at everything from fears about terrorism, Arab American stereotypes, kids who talk in exaggerated street slang to mispronunciations by President Bush.

But the topic that's catching fire is Goldberg's smoking.

It is "extraordinary when you have an interracial couple in the show, and the thing that people are freaking about is that I'm smoking," Goldberg said recently. "I love it."

[GSWarrior]

Any bets on which will crash and burn first?

Roseanne will be the first casualty.

[billhilly]

Whichever one crashes and burns first does not matter to me.....as long as it is not Whoopi. As a former smoker and a Whoopi fan, I think it is a hoot. All in the family was funny too.

[rockfish59]

Some 'Archie-isms'

'Chinkie Puncture' (acupuncture)

'Floorplay' (foreplay)

[Just another Joe]

Some parents screw the kids up so badly

That's where the extended family should step in.
Case in point, my cousin has a son that just turned sixteen. She and her husband of 15 years divorced when he was 14.
He started to go down the wrong road, playing both of his parents against each other at the same time among other things. The parents were just going to let it go. Neither one wanted to be the bad guy and set some limits. They both wanted him to live with them and so didn't want to do anything to upset him.
I invited him to spend a week, during the summer, with my family.
While he was here I sat down with him about three times and we just talked. I explained to him that I thought he was going down the wrong road, the reasons why I thought that, why he shouldn't try to play his parents against each other (bad idea all around if you ever want your divorced parents to talk to each other ever again), and numerous other topics.
He is now sixteen, holding down a part time job, drives a mustang that he bought for himself, a member of the high school basketball team, still a little rambunctious (but what 16 year old male isn't) but all in all a pretty good kid.

He credits that week with me as the turning point.
No one had ever sat down with him and treated him as an equal. Maybe not an adult, but a potential equal. Talked with him, pointed out where certain behaviours were going to lead, consequences of certain actions, etc.

This is what family, extended or not, should be about.
Family takes care of family.

[honeygrl]

"Nicole Kidman lit up during a press conference - Cannes, IIRC. "

And the Smoke Gnatzies went nuts over that too.

[honeygrl]

"I'm going to check this show out. I'll probably check Roseanne's show too, because until the last season, her show with John Goodman had some great moments. I'll skip Ellen. "

I liked Roseanne too until whatever season that was where they won the lotto. Yet another comedy turned wannabe Drama at that point. I hate it when they attempt to add drama to a comedy sitcom. Always ruins it.

[honeygrl]

I wish more families would realize that. My hubby has a brother with kids from a previous marraige that are just hell on wheels. I tried 3-4 times to talk them into sending them to visit us for a few months one at a time, but they won't do it. And they are royally screwing the kids up. When they get too much for them to handle, they send them to gramma as punishment (which is NOT fair to the gramma at all) and she gets a 2wks hellish visit with them and it makes them hate her and the parents more.

[TheSpottedOwl]

Oh yeah, it went to hell when they hit the lottery. It was like she was purposely sinking her own show.

[Just another Joe]

When they get too much for them to handle

Not an option. When they're too much for me to handle either they, or me, will be in jail.

[honeygrl]

"Not an option. When they're too much for me to handle either they, or me, will be in jail. "

That's one of the big problems they have with the kids. Whenever they attempt some futile punishment, the kids call the cops. But, if you saw how the real mom and real dad treat each other, how the step mom wants to be their "friend" and figure into it that the step dad is a shrink, it's not so surprising that they are screwed. I've spent a couple weeks with both of them and I know the girl will grow out of it but the boy I'm not so sure of. He has a LOT of anger issues and likes to blame everyone else for his problems. Everything is his dad's fault, or the drugs fault, or his mom's fault, etc. I think the only way they could salvage him at this point would be military school.

[Conspiracy Guy]

Nicole less Tom = Yes
Whoopi = No

[Toot-Toot]

Some people may agree and some wont.But the truth of the matter is she is speaking for alot of us smokers who feel that this ban on smokeing is going alittle to far..I'm not so sure thats its the smokeing part that hits home or if its just another thing that the goverment is getting into our personal lives.What ever happened to being able to have a choice..........

[jonalvy44]

be sure to spread the word...Tune out NBC tonite. Say NO to this offensive show. Send the networks a message.

email: whoopi@nbc.com

Visit www.pabaah.com for our actiona alert on this!

[mhking]

Say NO to this offensive show.

From all the negative reviews, I'm sure it'll be lucky to last three weeks (and only that long because of it being one of the few new programs on the air tonight - people are tired of reruns).

[Gabz]

I plan on watching - if for no other reason than it torques the anti-smkoer gnatzies she she won't cave into them!!!!