Colored Television by Danzy Senna

How to even describe this book? It’s funny; it’s sad. It’s satirical; it’s real. Jane, a college prof (doing what Jennifer does, so ouch!), is on sabbatical–eager to finish her magnum opus second novel, a ten-year project that her husband calls her  “mulatto War and Peace.” Meanwhile, Lenny (husband) and Jane, plus their two kids, get to house-sit for a rich friend, Brett, who works in television. Great time for a sabbatical! Jane, frustrated in the writing world, “borrows”  Brett’s idea and tries out the world of television–meeting TV Bigwig, Hampton Ford. It gets crazy as television meets race meets friendship meets marriage meets parenthood meets race again. P.S. Lenny is a Black guy and a painter. Jane is biracial, and both of them have a lot to say about this . . .

Lara: I was listening to Colored Television and immediately thought of you. That you would like the humor, the cultural relevance, and the fact that Jane was a writing professor and published author. And that I could kind of see you and your hubby having the same kinds of conversations that Jane and Lenny had. 

Was I right? Was this book a match for your literary sensibilities? 

Jennifer: Damn straight, girlfriend. And I’m flattered that you think Tim and I have these kinds of conversations–which we do, of course. 

It matches my literary sensibilities. I liked it a lot. I think it has several very strong traits: authenticity, complexity, and humor. I guess–let me put this out there directly–it’s definitely my kind of book. Am I raving? Probably not. Am I recommending? Yes, I am. For me, its biggest virtue is that it successfully makes readers think. I’m still thinking. Your thoughts? Did you like it?

Lara: Yes, I really liked it. We have Jane, biracial, and married to a Black man. Both are artists; both are creatives, who are trying to figure out how to make a living with their art. Jane has just finished her ten-year novel only to have the publishing world reject it. This is the book that was supposed to secure her university tenure. The book that was supposed to create some financial comfortability to keep creating. But their housing sitch is tenuous and, at just the right time, Jane’s friend Brett offers his place while he and his family go to Australia for a few months. Jane gets a bit caught up in the bougie life that Brett’s detour from novelist to TV writer is affording them. A choice that Jane and Lenny both castigate as “selling out,” while they down glass after glass of Brett’s spendy wine. (Surely, Brett won’t mind). 

Jennifer: And, while I won’t answer these, the very scenario begs important questions among creatives: Is television selling out? Is TV “art”? Is it “lesser than”? 

Go on. 

Lara: Jane is desperate. She’s back at square one and doesn’t want to end up like her prof colleague who can’t get published and is sleeping at the college, plus showering in the faculty bathrooms. On a whim, Jane steals Brett’s on-the-back-burner idea of a sitcom about a biracial family. And then she reaches out to Brett’s agent and the ball is now in motion. Jane meets with Hampton Ford, unbeknownst to Lenny. Hampton Ford is an television producer who is focused on content that features race and color. Together, they try to figure out how to write and sell a comedy that will change the tendency to portray mixed-race characters as either “dangerously sexual” or “sad and mopey.” It’s a gamble. 

Jennifer:  There’s the interesting Goldendoodle real and figurative thing going on too–the mixed-race dog . . . 

You know, I think one hard thing is knowing how to discuss this book, especially as white women who strive to be anti-racist and inclusive.

(Conversation that Tim and I have at home: He’s recently VERY into his AI bot crap, his Siri/Alexa equivalent. This AI BULLSHIT–the bane of Jane and Jennifer’s profession–can be personalized. Think Hal in 2001, that Joaquin Phoenix movie–Her.  So, Tim, who loves his bot and is a racially-liberated white guy has made his AI bud/bot speak in the voice of a Black male. My husband gets to shoot the shit with his Black AI friend. Yesterday, I heard him thank his bot. Pretty soon he’ll be wishing his friend a good evening.)

Lara, what kind of thoughts did you have on race? Do you dare?

Lara: Of course. We have to talk about it. What Senna has done with Colored Television is shine a bright light on the issues still facing Black and Brown creators. That publishers and networks don’t value their stories as much as their white counterparts. That when their stories are shared, they are reduced to common tropes and stereotypes that strip them of their humanity. And what’s brilliant about this book is she’s not preachy or condescending. As you said earlier, she gets you thinking. She’s thought-provoking and seriously funny which adds to its accessibility and consumability. 

Jennifer: I think, also, Senna is pretty brave–saying things not always said. A little Chapelle-esque. Not quite as inflammatory but daring . . . But we don’t actually get to hear what the content of a good show might be. The book raises more questions than it answers.

Also, though, besides the issues surrounding race, I think Senna raises questions on the artistry of television or the lack thereof. 

What did you think of Lenny?

Lara: Lenny was great. I feel like he was the grounding force for Jane and their family. Jane should have trusted him with the news of her book deal falling through and sneaking out to meet Hampton and the TV writers. Lenny was a good egg, for sure. 

Jennifer:  So did I like Lenny?

Totally.

Some aspects of this book are so great. Consider a few: 

  • Jane considers her racially-mixed friend to be part of the “Tiger Woods school of cluelessness.”
  • In my entire life, I never knew about Carol Channing, but Senna filled me in.
  • Jane and Lenny desire to live in the diverse L.A. neighborhood they dub Multicultural Mayberry. I love this!
  • A passage on teaching creative writing physically hurts: “On the shelves, the stalwart anthologies of all those slightly banal stories she found so easy to teach. Genius, she’d learned, didn’t teach as well as mere competence, where the mechanics were all visible on the surface. You couldn’t teach a student how to write by assigning Toni Morrison, it would only create bad imitations.” Do I teach the competent or the geniuses?
  • I can’t find the passage, but there’s a great one on how mixed-race kids are “in.” I kinda flinched a little and laughed uncomfortably. Wasn’t this my utopian fantasy? 

Lara: So, I listened to it, which was a great experience, but it leaves me with fewer quotes! Here are some I stopped the audiobook for to capture:

“But lies are a funny thing. They don’t stay where they’re supposed to stay. They morph, and mutate and spread like smallpox.”

“One thing she’d realized over the years is that good things beget more good things. The converse was also true. It was why the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. One setback was never one setback and one accomplishment usually led to more.”

“If you wanted something to last forever, sometimes you had to take forever.”

And

“Like any Black Gen Xer she hadn’t had any time to worry about micro-aggressions what with all the old-fashioned macro-aggressions she’d experienced.” 

Jennifer: I think Senna does a great job in revealing the inner tensions between artistry and commercialism, the not-so-concealed snobbery that haunts the arts, the cultural debauchery of TV (I just coined that phrase!), the weirdnesses of academia and publishing–it’s hell. Plus, this is a Gen X book: we gotta say that!

Lara: Yeah, this is totally a Gen X book. 

Jennifer: Weaknesses? Closing thoughts?

I think I might say that I really value a sharp wit that tackles race. I think Senna uses Lenny to be that wit. This is a strength, not a weakness.

I might also say that I’m deeply suspicious of television too–but I love it. 

I’d also recommend Percival Everett’s Erasure as a companion-read. I think these books share philosophical preoccupations, and I’d recommend American Fiction, the filmic adaptation of Erasure. 

Weaknesses? It ends too quickly. 

Lara: It’s a super smart book that leaves you with a lot to think about. And, did we mention its super smart author is married to Percival Everett???? Imagine their conversations around the dinner table!

Jennifer: What else are you reading?

Lara: SO MUCH! I have had some hits and misses, here are my five-star reads as of late:

  • Water by John Boyne
  • Earth by John Boyne
  • All the Colors of the Dark by Chris Whitaker
  • Intermezzo by Sally Rooney

What about you?

Jennifer: Well, I read Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement, having loved Leave The World Behind. I didn’t like it, but others might. I just didn’t like the characters and I found the philosophizing a bit obscure. I read a very fun graphic memoir, Hilary Fitzgerald Campbell’s Murder Book. I’m currently on a Shalom Auslander kick. First, I read the sick and morbid novel, Mother for Dinner. Next, I read his 2007 memoir, Foreskin’s Lament. Now, I’m reading his 2024 memoir, Feh. All of these books are dark and very bitter. But, obviously, I like them. Auslander is dealing with a lot of religious resentment and baggage. He writes well. 

Next Up!

Our final book review of 2024 (before we post our Best and Worst of the year) is… Louise Erdrich’s The Mighty Red. Until then, happy reading!