Whoopi Goldberg challenges stereotypes in her TV sitcom 'Whoopi'

Jet, Oct 27, 2003

Whoopi Goldberg smokes, drinks booze out of bottles, makes racist remarks and challenges all kinds of stereotypes in her new NBC sitcom "Whoopi."

In the series where she also serves as executive producer, Goldberg is former musical diva Mavis Rae, a one-hit wonder who now owns and runs a small New York hotel.

More than a decade ago, Mavis had a huge hit song, Don't Hide Love. After realizing her initial success was just one big fluke, she used her earnings to buy the Lamont Hotel in Manhattan. Mavis runs the hotel the way she lives her life-bold and brassy.

She is assisted by her humorous Middle Eastern handyman Nasim (Omid Djalili, who appeared in Spy Game and The Mummy).

Living at the hotel with Mavis is her brother Courtney (Wren T. Brown), a man who is the polar opposite of his sister. Mavis is loud and liberal while Courtney is conservative and ultra preppy. Topping it all off, Courtney has a White girlfriend, Rita, (Elizabeth Regen), who is "down" with Black lingo and is considered Blacker than her boyfriend.

Goldberg told JET that she returned to television because "they're not writing parts for me. And why not be active in doing stuff that's still interesting to me? And this was handed to me on a silver platter with no restrictions and no hassles. I have the ability to do the show that I wanted to do. There are no problems."

And to get her to come aboard, she said she had to have certain freedoms. "They (Carsey/Werner, the team that also produced "The Cosby Show") know that I would never do anything that was offensive. I can say things you might not like, but it's never cruel or mean."

Even before it began airing, "Whoopi" was compared to the politically incorrect "All in the Family," the phenomenally successful series that featured the likable-but-ignorant blue-collar bigot Archie Bunker (Carroll O'Connor) taking potshots at any and everything.

Goldberg said she is just playing a woman who is like a relative most people have in their family.

"She's older, she smokes, she drinks straight out of the bottle. Straight up! You know folks do that," she pointed out. "People still smoke and drink. She's of a certain age. She's not 'Sex in the City.' So, we call it the 'No Sex in the City.' The dating scene and all that. She is more people we know than not. I like her a lot. It was a good opportunity. I told them, 'If you want me to do a show, here's what I'm interested in.' So, I created a couple of characters. They asked: 'Where is she?' I said, 'She's in a hotel. This is how she got it and this is what she did before and this is what she does now."

This is the type of show that She said people will either get right away or they won't. "People know who I am. If they're tuning in, they know they're not going to get the average run-of-the-mill thing. I think it will start slowly and it will build."

The show's Omid Djalili is the first Persian actor to play such a prominent role in a sitcom. Initially, the producers wanted the handyman to be Russian.

"But, two of the writers saw Omid's comedy routine and they said, 'This is the guy.' And they sent me a tape and I said, 'Hell yeah.'"

Goldberg received numerous questions from reporters when the show previewed last summer about the way not only the handyman, but also her brother and his girlfriend were portrayed.

"It's not like we made these things up," she said, expressing frustration. "These White people in the suburbs are rinsing Black children. People don't want to admit it. See, we're admitting it for them." She was referring to the fact that most rap and hip-hop music is sold to White children who Black slang and style of dress.

Goldberg previously spent five seasons on "Star Trek: The Next Generation." She also co-starred with Jean Stapleton on "Baghdad Cafe," hosted her own late-night talk show and, for the last four years, starred in and produced the popular "Hollywood Squares." She also is executive producer of the current cable drama "Strong Medicine."

With her many hit movies, Goldberg freely admits that she did not pull in that much money from the megahits Color Purple or Sister Act. She did, however, get what she called" a piece" of her Academy Award-winning movie Ghost. That movie pulled in more than $150 million at the U.S. box office.

Unlike many sitcoms, "Whoopi" is shot entirely in New York. Goldberg said she would only do it that way. "New York is my home," she said. "Why should I change my life again and come back out here (L.A.). 'Cosby' was shot in New York because that's where he was. I hated it out here. I'm a New Yorker. I grew up there:"

If the show generates tremendous controversy, she won't back down. I really don't care about controversy. I've never walked on eggshells."

Goldberg is optimistic that NBC will give the show a chance to find its audience (it airs Tuesdays at 8:00 p.m., EST), But, she wonders if critics will torpedo her efforts.

"Critics have been unduly sh--ty to me about television," she announced. "I just want to put that out because it does carry weight when you write, 'Oh, I thought this was a big piece of dung.' It does carry weight. When I used to do the Oscars, we hadn't even shot it and it was already the worst show. I hadn't even gone into the theater, hadn't even found a dress, hadn't even signed a contract. But already, it was going to be a sh--ty show. That's what I'm talking about."