Why Ali G should have stayed off TV — salon.com

The cable TV story of the year has been FXX’s exploding ratings on the back of “The Simpsons,” the comedy that’s endlessly rewatchable thanks to the fact that its characters never age. “The word timeless is overused, but in this case it’s appropriate,” an FXX executive told the New York Times. No matter how overused the word is, it’s impossible to imagine anyone applying it to the work of Sacha Baron Cohen, who broke out stateside some ten years ago; his Ali G character returns to TV with FXX’s “Ali G Rezurection” tonight. It will be a rebroadcast of the 2000-2004 British comedy “Da Ali G Show” with new in-character commentary from Baron Cohen, and it’s an unwelcome blast from the past.

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