White Flight, Not Done Right. A Look at Comedy Central’s Newest Digital Series

white flight comedy central

Comedy Central has been embracing the lack of attention span in its core demographic while simultaneously giving newer faces a chance to create some groundbreaking comedy with web series. Web series are a great way to explore comedy premises, without breaking the bank to do it, and CC seems to love this concept. The CC web series is a farm team, essentially. They can test the waters with the concept and the characters and learn if the creators of the concept understand the writing and structure of a series. Simultaneously, CC gets fresh content for their site regularly, and up and coming comedians get an audience. However, like all farm teams, they can’t all make it to the majors.

While series like Delco Proper and Broken People seem to be created by folks who understand the web series format, CC Studio’s newest digital series White Flight fails miserably. White Flight takes us to the year 2042, at the exact moment when white people are no longer a majority in the US. The solution devised by the “Dan Company” ( it gets a little Truman Show-like here, with “Dan” popping up at his leisure to deliver messages to his people) is to ship all white folks to Canada, with the exception of a few white “emissaries” left behind to answer any and all questions the remaining non-whites may have. Yup, white guys should have all the answers. There is no chemistry from the cast, and while the concept had great potential to put white folks in situations to understand what it is like to be a minority, it just gives shitty white racist jokes to people of color. Episode two features a family mocking the way Greg , the white guy (our protagonist) speaks. I get that Greg is the white guy left behind who is supposed to know all the answers, and ironically he doesn’t know anything, so we get to see the white guy as buffoon, but White Flight still misses the mark.

Full disclosure, I didn’t get past the second episode. But in my defense, it was ten minutes long. C’mon guys, it’s ten minutes long. If you like the concept that much, drop the dough on a pilot. I can’t even blame the creators for the length, because how the hell do you talk about a topic like race relations in <5 minutes?  Don’t get me wrong, I believe in the possible hilarity of this issue, I wrote a blog about it years ago, but it must be done right. True to it’s name, White Flight caused this white person to get as far away as possible from this web series.

Watch Episode One for yourself below you can check out the entire series at cc.com.

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Kristen Becker is a dyke comic tour de force.  The creator, fearless leader, and host of Dykes of Hazard, Becker's brazen attitude and keen eye for irony leaves audiences— both gay and straight— cheering for more. Becker has opened for national comedy acts like Doug Stanhope, Josh Blue (winner of Last Comic Standing), and singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, and has become one of queer comedy’s most popular comedians. She has been featured in Pride events across the US and Canada. 
Kristen Becker
Kristen Becker
Kristen Becker is a dyke comic tour de force.  The creator, fearless leader, and host of Dykes of Hazard, Becker's brazen attitude and keen eye for irony leaves audiences— both gay and straight— cheering for more. Becker has opened for national comedy acts like Doug Stanhope, Josh Blue (winner of Last Comic Standing), and singer/songwriter Ani DiFranco, and has become one of queer comedy’s most popular comedians. She has been featured in Pride events across the US and Canada.