Diametrically opposed sentiments reign when watching Netflix’s new “Pop the Balloon Stay.” On one hand, it’s dope that husband and spouse staff Arlette Amuli and Bolia “BM” Matundu nabbed an unpublicized but possible substantial bag when Netflix picked up the rights for its model of their Black-famous YouTube present “Pop The Balloon or Discover Love,” which nets thousands and thousands of views per episode. Small Black enterprise come ups are at all times the transfer.
Then again, the primary episode of “Stay,” which aired Thursday night (April 10), is so irrepressibly terrible, I gained’t know clarify it to the aliens after they come. It was so horrible, the one purpose I turned it again on after shutting it off after the primary 12 minutes is to write down this piece intelligently.
The present is a fusillade of f***kery that manages to do all the pieces, in every single place flawed, unexpectedly. The issues begin with superstar host Yvonne Orji, who is supposed to deliver her irreverent, virginal humor to the proceedings, however most of her “jokes” land like a fart in church. In distinction, Amuli is pleased permitting her contestants to ship the character on her “PTB,” limiting her aptitude to a cute lil’ mic twirl and that shimmy she does when she lands a match.
Then, there’s the solid of singles, who’re all well-dressed and vary from decently to preternaturally engaging. A big facet of O.G. “PTB’s” appeal is that a number of of its contestants appear like they both rolled away from bed to return to the present or their mates needs to be arrested for permitting them to go on digicam dressed as they’re. And so they rattling positive don’t all appear like they’d modeling contracts in some unspecified time in the future.
There’s additionally the jocular tone of the entire proceedings — as if nobody is actually there to discover a boo and it’s all for play-play. The a number of actuality TV stars smash the entire rattling factor: The primary single man is a jackwagon named Johnny Bananas who was on MTV’s “The Actual World” and who goes out of his strategy to be probably the most inauthentic human being subsequent to the man whose job it’s to take care of President Donald Trump’s hair.
So many different facets of “Stay” simply don’t hit. The post-round “confessionals.” The stay viewers and Orji responding to each single balloon pop. The vibe that everybody is there for publicity — which, in equity, is a staple of the O.G. “PTB,” the place 85 % of the contributors are “entrepreneurs.”
“Stay” is one more instance of an authentically Black product getting within the palms of oldsters with cash who bastardize and gentrify it to a pulp. It’s like what would occur if “Verzuz,” the beloved pandemic-era music competitors which featured Black artists in each episode, pitted Taylor Swift in opposition to Katy Perry.
In reality, the racial dynamics on “Stay” are cringy out the gate: One of many non-Black girls pops on Bananas and says, “My bodily kind is Black,” to which he, a white boy, responds, “I’m Black from the waist up.” And there’s the blondest girl on the panel “rapping” and gyrating whereas insisting she grew up in Michigan listening to…Chingy. (So, “Proper Thurr” on repeat her complete childhood?) Additionally, the spirit of Dr. Umar Johnson flowed via me each time a white girl popped on a Black male single.
We merely don’t have to fret about this shit on Amuli’s “Pop the Balloon.”
Arguably, the O.G. “Pop The Balloon” isn’t truly good for Black people in the way it lays naked the interminable, drained 50-50, “what-do-you-bring-to-the-table”-head ass conversations — that’s a dialogue for a distinct rant. However there’s one thing charming in regards to the low finances, considerably ratchet nature of Amuli’s model: The entire thing appears like its shot on a Samsung Galaxy cellphone and paid for with a couple of orders of Zaxby’s, and we find it irresistible.
Happily, Amuli will proceed her Wednesday YouTube present, hopefully sustaining the stripped-down, all Black vibe with which we fell in love. As a result of my guess is, with the seemingly common early disdain for “Pop The Balloon Stay,” it’s gonna go the route of the “Good Occasions” Netflix “remake” very rattling quickly.