Should You Be Watching Donald Glover’s Atlanta?

With September swinging round, we’re on the very precipice of the new television season, and it all begins with Atlanta. Written by and starring Atlanta native comedian Donald Glover, the series has received some seriously good buzz in the run up to its premiere. Glover plays Earn, a down on his look young black man in Atlanta with a young daughter.

Glover’s largest previous claims to fame were as Troy Barnes in NBC sitcom Community and as his rapper alter-ego, Childish Gambino. It’s an eclectic mix and Atlanta will only add to Gloever’s career diversity. This is not safe, gag first network comedy here. This is FX, and you’re expected to think while you laugh. So pay attention.

What’s it all about?

Earn needs to turn his life around, because right now it’s not so hot. He lives with Van, the his friend and mother of his child, though the pair aren’t exactly an official couple. Also, she needs him to pay his side of the rent and he just can’t catch a break as a salesman.

But wait. Earn’s cousin is making in roads on the Atlanta rap scene as Paper Boi, and guess who decides he’d make the perfect manager for the up and coming artist?

Who Are the People In it?

While Glover might rap under the name Childish Gambino in real life, Earn is most definitely more the manager type. He’s a screw up Princeton drop out wasting obvious talent, but Glover infuses his character with relentless likeability and occasional goofiness. Every time life throws him lemons he reacts with puppy faced sadness.

There’s also his best friend and baby mama Van, who loves him but is growing weary of his flakiness. His parents, taking a realist approach, won’t even let him back in their house. So when Earn shows up at his cousin’s house offering managerial services Paper Boi (aka Alfred) isn’t buying it. He knows about chancers leeching on to his talent, and he’s not ready to trust Earn. Besides, he’s already got the mellow and philosophical Darius to advise him.

Is it good?

Most of what Glover puts his name to turns out to be gold – whether as an actor, stand up comic or rapper – and Atlanta doesn’t look any different. The show is peppered with small observations which skirt the boundary between wry and melancholic, revealing a comedy as much about heart as it is about jokes.

Glover has stated the show is intended as a snapshot of what it’s like to be young and black in America, and this definitely comes across. If you’re looking for an Entourage style story of a star’s journey to the top, something like Ballers might be more your speed. Atlanta welcomes you to the ground level of the music industry. In this world you slip your mixtape under a door with 500 dollars to get it played on the local station.

Episode one only gives us the genesis of a story. But in half an hour Atlanta manages to pack heart, soul and struggle into it’s comedy without really sacrificing its laughs.

Best Quote

Darius: “I like Flo Rida. Moms need to enjoy rap too.”