"Arrested Development" Makes ->-bleeped-<- Joke In New Ad

http://www.queerty.com/arrested-development-makes-->-bleeped-<--joke-in-new-ad-20130421/

The hysterically funny Arrested Development, which returns to Netflix in May, is relying on transphobic humor in a new promotional item posted to Facebook. It's an unfortunate misstep from a usually sharp show that often toes the line of political correctness. Writer Zinnia Jones examines the issue with the promo:

"It's kind of not funny at all. It's the sort of lazy humor that every comedy, given enough time, will arrive at eventually – like a Godwin's Law of transphobia. These low-effort attempts at comedy are made under the assumption that the mere idea of men in dresses, or trans people, is inherently laughable. Treating both as though they were the same is just the icing on the cake."

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Arrested development of good taste

by Zinnia   

http://freethoughtblogs.com/zinniajones/2013/04/arrested-development-of-good-taste/

(Warning for casual transmisogyny.)

I've watched Arrested Development a couple times. It's not really my cup of tea, but Heather enjoys it, and I can certainly see why people might like it. Now that it's returning on Netflix for another season, I might have given it another chance. And then someone who runs their Facebook page had the great idea of posting this:

(Text: "Who's your favorite granny ->-bleeped-<-?")

For those not in the know, when cis people use the word "->-bleeped-<-", they're typically not referring to us in a kind or affectionate way. It's vastly more likely to be used as a cheap insult, a threat, a porn keyword, or as seen in this case, a joke unto itself.

And that's literally the entire joke here: ->-bleeped-<-s! Ha ha, isn't that funny?

They had a really terrible one-episode storyline, I think in the second or third season, where one of the characters was set up on a blind date and the joke was that his date was a trans woman.  It was very much "man in a dress", I think the actor even had a five-o-clock shadow.  I stopped watching the show partly because of that, and partly because almost 100% of the roles for non-white characters hinge on racial gags as well. 

It's too bad, because the rest of the show was pretty hilarious, but stuff like that cropped up so much it killed any enjoyment I could've gotten from watching it.  It's like, I dunno, eating a delicious bowl of cereal where 1 out of 100 pieces has a dead bug hidden in it.  The rest of it can be really fabulous, but that doesn't mean the overall experience is worth it.