Network fall TV lineup lacking minority leads


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Papibear
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Joined: 13 Jan 2006
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Posted: Sat Aug 05, 2006 1:34 pm Post subject: Network fall TV lineup lacking minority leads

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This was the cover story of the weekly entertainment guide of the most recent issue of the Waterloo Courier of Waterloo, Iowa:



Network fall TV lineup lacking minority leads

By JENS MANUEL KROGSTAD, Courier Staff Writer

WATERLOO --- Where art thou Cosby, Fresh Prince and Bernie Mac?

Three generations of black sitcoms and, for the first time since the four major networks have all existed, nothing to take their place. Of all the shows on this fall's television lineup on the major networks --- CBS, ABC, NBC and Fox --- none feature black leads on sitcoms. In fact, the only minority lead character is on ABC's "George Lopez."

For those pining for some diversity to go with their laughs, the best bet is to tune in to Black Entertainment Network (BET) for classic programming or the new network, CW (a combination of UPN and WB), for current shows.

The NAACP called this development 'unconscionable' in its annual television report released this summer. It also lamented five canceled UPN shows --- "Love, Inc.," "One on One," "Half & Half," "Cuts" and "Eve" --- that didn't make the transition to the CW, further eroding the black presence on television.

Shayla Stevenson, a African American fifth-grade teacher at Walter Cunningham School for Excellence, was similarly unforgiving in her assessment of the networks.

"To me it seems like a way to get rid of the black face. I think that it's taking away all the black role models, the people they see on TV," she said.

Stevenson's kids used to watch "The Bernie Mac Show," but now keep their TV tuned in to cable channels like ABC Family, which features "That's So Raven."

Cassandra Hart, a black second-grade teacher at Lowell Elementary, said having African American leads is important, especially for children.

"When a child sees an image of themselves, they think, 'Maybe I can do that. Maybe I could be a writer/producer or TV star,'" she said. "There's no reason in 2006 there can't be a family show with minorities on it."

It's not a complete television blackout, though. The creator, writer and producer of ABC's Emmy-nominated drama, "Grey's Anatomy," is Shonda Rhimes, a black female. Her cast, along with that of ABC's "Lost," is one of the most diverse on television, featuring Caucasian, African American and Asian actors in the ensemble.

Despite fewer shows with black leads on the CW, the network will devote its entire Sunday night programming block to shows featuring black families, including UPN favorites "Everybody Hates Chris," "All of Us" and "Girlfriends." As the NAACP reported noted, minority representation remains strong on network dramas and television's monster reality TV hit, Fox's "American Idol."

Jeff Stein, professor of electronic media at Wartburg College, said a variety of factors play into the dearth of black faces this fall, including the natural cycle of television shows and the gradual decline of sitcoms.

Shows typically run 3 or 4 years, he said, not the nearly decade-long run of "The Cosby Show." With such high turnover, development and production of future shows don't always coincide with other programs' cancellation. That results in peaks as well as the current valley, he said.

Stein said when compared to past years, diversity on television is as high as ever. Reality TV shows are the sitcoms of 20 years ago in terms of popularity, and they consistently feature diverse casts.

"People are flocking towards reality shows, and they are a lot cheaper to make. And if the audience wants reality shows and they cost less to produce, then they're going to give them that," he said.

"American Idol," the reality show king, crowned Reuben Studdard its chanteuse champion in the show's second season, and Fantasia Barrino in the third. This year, Paris Bennett and Mandisa, two black females, made the show's final round of 12 contestants.

Dramas are another genre in which minorities are strongly represented, especially in ensemble casts. NBC's "Law & Order" franchise, CBS' "The Unit," Fox's "House" and ABC's "Desperate Housewives" are just a few of the shows with prominent black characters.

Overall, Stein said one down year in minority representation on TV sitcoms doesn't represent a trend. That's not to say there isn't room for improvement: Of the 15 sitcoms airing this fall, not one features a black lead.

"Not good," he said.

Contact Jens Manuel Krogstad at (319) 291-1580 or jens.krogstad@wcfcourier.com.

Graycap23 said:

Absurd!

it would be extremely behoovey of BET right now to put some real PUNCH into the quality of their original entertainment. get strong writers, great actors, brilliant production people - put stuff out there with comedic punch to rival comedy central and interest factor that could rival HBO's and showtime's series for being provocative and inventive. the talent's out there. they just need to get off their butts and take some risks. then let's see how many black faces are on prime time tv the following year.

man i don't know i havent been following tv lineup lately. all i know is that when a good black show comes on that everybody likes, they start fuckin with the time slot 'til nobody knows when it comes on and then eventually it gets canceled, goes into reruns and or ends up on UPN or WPWR channel 50. and true it would be nice if BET did that and start some type of real competition for the minority audience but it would also be nice if the prime-time, non-cable channels got off their asses and made a point of doing this also. they have a tendency to start and yet not finish what they started. Look what happened to 'Bernie mac'. its not always hilarious but it was positive and good for the whole family, and people did watch when it would come on every sunday at 7pm i believe at first. when the hell does that come on now? and where? lets not even talk about 'everybody hates chris'

brownsugar said:

see, this is what frustrates me about the television industry (the entire media, for that matter). we have a "mainstream" media that (arguably) offers "quality" programming, but doesn't make the mark with regards to being inclusive. then we have media that represents certain audiences - BET, lifetime, whatever that gay channel's called, etc. - where the quality is sketchy, but at least these little satellites of representation exist.

what bothers me is, if there are these outlets for people to create the programming they think should be out there, why isn't it happening? why shouldn't BET be a leader in smart, edgy, funny, insightful entertainment spotlighting great talent?

also, i think back on the '70s, when there was a LOT of diversity on television and it was fun. i think we got so hypersensitive to issues of race that we forgot it could be a subject which could be funny and entertaining. look at a show like "welcome back kotter". that show was all ABOUT ethnicity and it was fun! kotter was jewish, washington was black, barbarino was italian, epstein was puerto rican...AND jewish...and it worked! it was silly, light entertainment where all of these identities were 100% what they were. and there were a lot of shows like that in the '70s. when did we get so serious about race? and what about shows with lower-class families, be they black, white or whatever? the last one i can think of was "roseanne".

when will black men on SNL be able to play characters other than oprah or star jones?

Damn. THAT one fucked me all up. Good one.

why depend solely on television to have role models?

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

I don't think any of us are saying that they depend "solely" on TV but visual media is the strongest influence on images that people see and perceive of one another. If a Black kid ONLY sees Black actors as drug dealers and thugs then that same Black kid may feel that that might be the only route he can take, especially those in households where the parenting isn't that great and stable, which is also part of the problem.

Surprized theres only one black reality show...Flavor Flav

Handclapsfingasnapz said:

that's what all my relatives say! of course, they're all amish...

origmnd said:

Yeah he is a great role model.

Role models matter, especially to children. It's important to see people of all colors in all capacities on tv. Kids watch so much tv, the shit needs to be balanced...

thedoorkeeper said:

forgot there's also "Run's House"