Bored To Death = Televised Stuff White People Like?

Is it just me or is the HBO show Bored to Death basically one long shout-out of the list of things on Stuff White People Like?  I almost spat out my anti-oxidant rich can of Ito En green tea when I was watching last Sunday’s episode where the Jonathan Ames character played by Jason Schwartzman finds a bottle of Kombucha left behind by a couple of Park Slope lesbian scam artists and comments on how it’s “really expensive” and how the words on the labels are written so convincingly.  Kombucha!  It’s just too spot-on!

The show is practically a visual smörgasbord of everything listed in Christian Lander’s blog-turned-book.  A fake version of the Park Slop Food Co-op has already made an appearance (#48), along with references to vegan sperm (#32), difficult breakups (#70), modern furniture (#79), having gay friends (#88), book deals (#92), making out on yoga mats (#15) and of course, a copious amount of weed (#33), which is practically a character in the show.  A few things from the show that Lander should consider adding to his list are therapy, graphic novels and of course, kombucha!

I actually do quite like the show, mainly because it’s fun to recognize all the locations shot around my borough, but even my white boyfriend — I know, we’re such a cliché! (#11) –  said it was kind of eerie how given that the majority of Brooklyn is non-white (64%), there is rarely an even slightly tan person on the show!  I guess there was Romany Malco as a gay escort in that one episode…but c’mon, even he seems like he walked off the list of white obsessions!  I guess it all comes full circle when you think about the fact that #10 on the list of Stuff White People Like is Wes Anderson Movies, and we all know who routinely stars in those.  It’s apparently been picked up for a second season, so I guess we can look forward to more Amesian self-referential humor!