Colored Television

That night, Jane gets a text from Hampton asking her if she can come to his office immediately to talk about ideas for the show. Lenny is asleep, so Jane gets dressed up and goes to the office without telling him where she is going. When she arrives, Hampton, Topher, and Layla notice she is dressed up, and she says she has been on a date with her husband. Jane notices Layla’s eyes are puffy, like she hasn’t slept or has been crying. Topher and Layla share ideas for the show, but Hampton tells them their ideas are “dumb.” Then, Jane shares her ideas, such as an episode where a white documentarian who says he is making a movie about Kyle Bunch, the father in the show who works as a successful cartoon artist, comes to stay with the family. At the end of the episode, it turns out that the white man isn’t a documentarian, just a fraud. Hampton says he doesn’t like her ideas either.

Hampton has all of them take “perkies” (some kind of amphetamine). Hampton and Jane work through the night on an episode about the Bunch family adopting a Labradoodle to make them seem less threatening. Around 5:15 am, Jane says she has to leave. Hampton praises her work and hugs her. As she leaves, she runs into Topher, who tells her that even though making television can be terrible, it can also be “magic.” Jane feels excited as she drives home.

When she gets home, Jane makes a large breakfast for the family. Lenny asks her where she was all night. Jane says she was working on her novel. Lenny asks her why she wasn’t in the studio. Jane tells him that she was working with Hampton at the production office. Lenny is suspicious that Hampton is “trying to do the nasty with [her]” (160), but Jane reassures him that they are just colleagues. Lenny notices that Jane is talking quickly and using his name an unusual amount. He reminds her that they have an “excursion” planned that evening, which Jane has completely forgotten about. That afternoon, Jane feels terrible, and she texts Layla to ask if that is normal after taking “the pill.” Layla responds she doesn’t know because she “keep[s] taking them” (162).

Jane remembers that they had agreed with the therapist, who they had since stopped seeing, that they would each plan a date for the other based on the other’s interests, not their own. Jane had planned a date for Lenny that involved an overnight camping trip at Joshua Tree National Park. Jane hates camping and ended up spending the night in the car. That night, it was Lenny’s turn to plan a date for Jane. Jane packs for the night. She reaches for Brett’s wife’s clothing that she had been wearing but then reminds herself to wear her own. She hopes she can soon replace her wardrobe with better clothing.

Lenny and Jane drive to the Beverly Hills Hotel while listening to A Prairie Home Companion on National Public Radio. As they drive, Jane gets a text from Brett asking, “Are you even alive?” (169). Jane has been ignoring his calls and messages. She tells Lenny that Brett is “exhausting.” Jane thanks Lenny for planning the evening. While Lenny checks them in, Jane thinks about how singer Whitney Houston was found dead in the bathtub in the hotel in 2012 and how sad she had been when she learned the news.

When they get into their room, Lenny and Jane have sex. Afterward, Jane makes herself a Bloody Mary and thinks about a trip they took to Santa Barbara together when Jane was pregnant with Ruby. On that trip, Lenny had told her about his dreams of raising their children all over the world. Jane had not shared with Lenny about her dream of finally having “solid ground.” Jane reflects on how, once they had money, their family would be stable, and Lenny could focus on his art.

That night at dinner, Lenny tells Jane he admires how she is a true artist with the persistence to finish her projects. The next morning, Jane wakes up to find that Lenny has read her messages. He confronts her about her lies regarding her novel. She says she is working on it, just using a different “process.” Hampton has messaged her, saying the Labradoodle episode idea doesn’t work. Lenny acts “distant” with her on the drive home.

When they get home, Lenny immediately returns to his studio to work. Jane takes care of the kids for the day. That evening, Hampton calls Jane. He wants to “free-associate” and talk about ideas with her. He tells her in a scattered, frenetic way about his afternoon at a birthday party he had taken his young daughter to for one of the “one of those half-baked Kardashians” in Calabasas (184). He wanted to take her there so she would make Black friends. While there, Kanye West took him to where the other Black fathers were hanging out, and Hampton smoked something called “Hoodoo.” While stoned at the party, Hampton realized that all the kids there were “mixed nuts.” He noticed that his red-headed daughter was the only child at the party who didn’t look like it could be his. He felt paranoid at the realization and decided to leave. On the phone with Jane, Hampton speculates about the futures of biracial children of celebrities like Stormi Webster, Kylie Jenner and Travis Scott’s daughter. Hampton wants Jane to use this material to craft an episode.

After they hang up, Lenny comes into her studio. He tells her he has something to show her. He leads her into his studio and shows her his finished paintings for his solo show in Tokyo. Jane thinks they are “unsellable” and that Lenny looks “like a madman” (189).

Jane goes to Hampton’s office and pitches him her idea for the Kardashian children’s birthday-based episode. He seems disappointed in her idea. She gets up to leave, but he apologizes for being grouchy. He asks if she wants to get dinner with him. She agrees. On the way, they listen to the kind of music Jane likes, and Lenny hates, 80s R&B and soul. Brett texts Jane, “Some friend you are” (194), and she doesn’t reply. They go to a “tacky-looking Italian restaurant” (193), which has a long line of expensive cars waiting for valet parking. Despite the long line, Hampton and Jane walk right in and are seated immediately. Hampton is impressed that Jane orders pasta and wine, unlike the other women in the restaurant who have ordered meat and water. While they wait for their food, Hampton tells Jane that he is tired because of the pressure from Bruce Borland. If they don’t sell a show soon, the network will lose interest and make a white show instead. Jane confesses to Hampton that a publisher turned down her book, and it won’t be coming out. Hampton makes her promise that she will “do something” with her book.

Then, Jane tells Hampton about the white man, Colton, whom she dated before meeting Lenny. She had felt pressure to pretend to like the things he liked, such as porridge “with beans and seeds in it” (197). One day, she had snapped and spent the afternoon sitting on a large, comfy couch in a Restoration Hardware showroom. She decided then that she hated New York, and she wanted to live somewhere that she could make a home for herself with “big furniture.” The following week, she met Lenny.

Hampton drives Jane home from the restaurant. Along the way, Hampton has to stop to recharge his car and take a nap in the driver’s seat. While he naps, Jane looks up Hampton’s enormous home online.

When Jane gets home, she sees that the house is a mess, and Lenny bought fast food for the kids. She feels guilty. She goes to Ruby’s room and sees the American Girl Addy doll under Ruby’s bed.