How do you critique a show you can’t even bring yourself to watch? I don’t know, but I’m gonna give it a go…
2 Broke Girls ©2011 CBS Broadcasting, Inc.
On November 28, 2011, I sat on the sofa happily typing away on my laptop with the TV show 2 Broke Girls playing in the background. I was not paying attention, it was on because the kids were asleep and I wanted something “funny” on and this show is carried by two women and I’m all about supporting shows with female leads and I’d never seen it and maybe it would be good, but really I was on the computer so I wasn’t paying any attention UNTIL I heard the word, “PUTA” issue from the mouth of an unfortunately stereotypically-unimaginative interpretation of a Latina character and the world stopped spinning on its axis and came to a screeching halt. I swear I almost fell off the sofa and my jaw most definitely hit the keys on my laptop.
I looked at my husband and said, “HOLY CRAP! They just said puta. Did you hear that?!”
He hadn’t really been paying attention to the show and more importantly he doesn’t speak Spanish so he just shrugged his shoulders.
I said, “That’s a BAD word!”
Still no indignant response from him and I needed some validation that this wasn’t like when they said “bitch” for the first time on Moonlighting. Oh no, puta is way worse than bitch. If this were an S.A.T. test puta would be to bitch like cunt is to pussy. Please keep in mind that this is quite possibly the first time I have ever written the “c” word, but just in case you don’t speak Spanish I want you to understand that puta does not come trippingly off the tongue when cursing for fun.
How on earth did that word get on TV? How is that acceptable? Was I overreacting? Thankfully, I had my laptop… so I went to my go-to group of Latinas on Facebook and wrote:
Desconocida Mamirez (that’s me on FB): They just said, “Puta” on the TV show 2 Broke Girls! Are they allowed to say that? I’ve never even heard that on Spanish [language] TV. I’d think that would fall under profanity. Weird.
And I waited…two minutes later…the conversation started flowing:
Latina who shall remain nameless: My husband almost choked on his dinner. We were watching it earlier. Not only am I amazed at all the Spanish quasi-curse words I’ve been hearing on English-speaking channels lately, but in this scenario, they have the Latina portrayed as a ghetto hobag and if you caught her Spanish, she says to the white girl that she’s going to cut her! WTF! I won’t be watching that kind of trash anymore.
Another Amiga:I cannot stand that show.
Latina who shall remain nameless: Honestly, I can’t either but there’s nothing else on at that time so if I get home at the time it’s on and we’re eating, I’m only half-watching. But my husband was so surprised that you could say puta on TV that he really nearly choked. I guess when the powers that be who regulate language on TV don’t understand all the language being said… well, you know the rest.
Otra Amiga Latina: the word in Spanish is a lot stronger than the English translations equate to. We can say “Bit_h, Sl_t, Who_re, Prostiute” on TV so thats why I guess they think its ok. A gringo once thought it was funny to say i was acting like a “Puta” to say I was being bitchy. I tore him apart bit by bit as I let him know it was not ok to hurl “puta” around bc of how offensive it is. He learned. Writers on the TV networks should learn too…heres an article from the hollywood reporter on the racism & sexism (they mention the puta episode) in the show: The Sorry State of ‘2 Broke Girls’: Racism and Lame Sex Jokes.
Okay, so I wasn’t over-reacting, puta is still the same bad word that I always thought it was and I can not believe that it made it on to a CBS prime time show. Ugh! I might even be able to overlook the foulness of it if the show were good, but it’s not. It’s trite, poorly written, wannabe-humor relying on sexism and racism. What a waste of time, energy, and talent. Puta madre!
Wow. And I thought it was just a horrible show with bad acting; didn’t know it was also racist and offensive. Glad to know my first impression was dead on. I wonder why the network thinks this is a good idea…
once again. Art (TV) depicts real life. It is still humorous to make fun of minorities: Black, Latina, gay, etc. WHY???? I, too, am TIRED of seeing my beautiful brown Latina sisters portrayed as hoochies. Doesnt anyone realize the depth and range of the Latina? Obviously they’ve never lived near Hispanic culture.
Sidebar: I’m tired of the Black sisters being portrayed as loud mouthed bossy bitches too.
side sidebar: my son learned that word when he was young (born in Texas) and thought it was funny to throw it around. I, too, like Otra Amiga Latina, ripped him a new one.
The first time I heard that word was at a professional soccer game. I asked a Cuban friend of mine what it meant (fans were yelling it at opposing team players.) The look on her face was priceless. I learned very quickly that it wasn’t a mild curse word.
I saw the show a coupla times and only because its on after my favorite show. I tried to give it a go but every single time I saw it – they were making some sorta stereotypical racist joke or something horrible. Its like they are trying to insult everyone on that show.
I stopped watching after the 3rd show.
Lots of things seem to be slipping by the average TV addicted audience. I remember when there were censors in the early days of television. Guess they all got fired.
My husband was telling me how shows do it. They present the worst possible thing that they know the networks would veto and some other bad stuff. And the networks forget about the other bad stuff and say no to the worst possible thing. So tons of stuff gets by. Does that make sense?
I didn’t see this show, and I had never seen or heard the word. Now I know.
oh and the main writer? Whitney cummings? Started making jokes about people with mental illnesses. Definitely not watching that show or her other one Whitney anymore.
i KNEW there was a reason i never watched that show or whitney! *rme* xoxoxoxoxo
happy new year, sugar!
Never seen that show before…probably never will…wow…wow!
I personally do not care for any swearing on TV. I find it unnecessary. What are we teaching our kids? I knew what the word ‘Puta’ meant from having spanish friends just like I know a few choice words in german. I think it is offensive and I will not be watching a show that supports bad language.
I’ve never seen this show (don’t watch much telly) – but I just finished reading the link you posted. Very good review, highlighting the poor writing for this show you watched.
I decided, long ago, to reduce my TV diet of shows like this. What I do, is pop in (for background, while typing) one of my favourite classics! (or a good thriller, depending on what I’m in the mood for). Seldom do I watch this kind of TV because I find what they deem “humour” often makes me gag!
Thanks for enlightening us on what CBS “thinks” we need to see – and really don’t!
Jenny @ PEARSON REPORT
never watched the show and probably never will. It is not like I monitor trends in media but of the past years I noticed a lot more offensive words being used by comedians (shock value??) that didn’t make sense to me. Bad TV – now that’s a trend
Wow! Just wow! I’ve only heard that word said under the most malicious terms and even that way has been rare. I don’t even think I’ve ever said it. I’m not sure how you feel about this but it’s even worse to me than puto. I’ve heard many men throw that around but never the girl version.
I recorded that show for a few times and couldn’t stand it. So contrived and written in cliches – not clever at all.
I even know that is is bad word. However, in my classroom, the word “stupid” always gets gasps by my latino students. They swear up and down, but “stupid” freaks them out! Luckily, they’ve never said “puta”
Oh, I won’t remain nameless…to anyone watching the show who think that’s funny just note, you call a Latina a P you better get ready to get punched dead straight in the face. SMH.
Here’s the thing. When people know what they are saying and writing isn’t funny, they resort to crap like this. I was a stand up for years, trust me I’d know b/c I fell into that trap. The problem is they recycle the same writers over and over and over again and yes, eventually they run out of stuff to say and often the writers are often men, even on a show with two female leads, created, mind you, by a woman.
‘ijo, Mami, now I’m riled up. Have not seen TBG’s but after reading the HR link I have to wonder if there is any group ‘boycott’ (you know I’m a 70’s girl) on this show. I went over to National Hispanic Media Coalition
http://nhmc.org/ourissues. They are running a campaign against Jose Luis Sin Censura and “The John and Ken Show,” for defamatory language that targets Latinos, women, and racist language. Maybe a campaign against CBS?
I had no idea what that word meant – thanks!
Obviously the censors do not speak Spanish!
What do I know though, I year n for the days of Lassie and the Waltons again. Ya know, show a family could enjoy together.
God bless and have a marvelous New Year Sweetie!
BTW: I’ve never watched the show and will not ever after this!
Not being Latino myself, nor even having the ability to speak Spanish (except for my favorite FOOD words) I wouldn’t have KNOWN that p_ _ _ was a bad word. But, I believe you and am so glad you enlightened me and I will NEVER watch that show.
I don’t like smut in ANY language.
no, you weren’t over reacting at all.
Puchiga is okay in Honduras. The other P word is NEVER acceptable. Never, ever, ever. I cannot imagine that it was on network television!
It’s unbelievable the things you can say about women and do to women on television.
I tried to watch this show and couldn’t get past the opening scene. So stupid and sexist.
I’ve seen a few shows with bad words that they thought no one would get. Even worse, when my daughter was little there was a dance routine to a song (in Spanish) about getting it on in the shower!
I have only watched the show once I hate it! I’m shocked they wouldn’t check their facts of proper usage before using!
First of all, I think in this case your use of the C word is necessary to drive home the severity of this word for your non-Spanish speaking readers. And really, judging from what you and the others explained on your Facebook post, it requires more than the ability to speak; one needs to understand the culture for the foreign language that one is learning/using. Some LAZY writer probably just “googled” it English to Spanish translation for BITCH and out popped the P word. Sigh. But I am grateful that I read everyone of your posts so I now know not to use the P word.
Now about stereotypes of people of colors on these sitcoms… You probably don’t want to get me started…
Persevere.
I love you and particularly love it when you get started “about stereotypes of people of colors”, not just on sitcoms.
I’ve always found it ridiculous that TV shows would actually overpay undertalented writers to do their scripts. We see that all the time. They truly do not understand the nuances of language and always hire non-native speakers of the language to write the dialogs. Perhaps that is why Television is the Idiot Box. Errgh. I can empathise with your feelings, totally! One might think they’d be extra careful while using cuss words from another language and worry about offending people. But when someone has lead in their head, they cannot be anything other than toxic.
Wow! I watched that show but I don’t even know if I heard it but I think I just didn’t understand what a BAD word that is. That is ridiculous and to try to slide it in because it is in Spanish makes it almost worse.
I really did not know. Again, I am left with “wow!”
Traci
If the word carries that much ‘bad’ then it should definitely not be used. I wonder if maybe it was used as the ‘attention grabber’ that shows are trying to use for ratings. The F bomb is pretty bad in most circles… i wonder if it would be like using that. The sad part is that those words are used at all. You can converse without them and get along fine.
My SIL lives in Norther CA and most of the people in her town are Hispanic.
Her little girl goes to pre school and is the only white girl. She started cursing at her mom in Spanish! At first my SIL was shocked, then sort of amused, then realized how BAD these words were and was shocked again. It’s just strange what people let pass on TV these days.
Fascinating. Having watched movies with stereotypical (and offensive) latino characters, I have heard puta thrown around for some time. I knew that it was a rough equivalent of “bitch,” but I didn’t know the severity.
I’ve heard it in movies too, but never on prime time network TV. It really shocked me and it’s not that I don’t have a potty mouth because I do, but there’s a time and a place.
couldn’t get over the bad acting. The writing is okay, the premises is good.