a little diversity never killed anyone.....
My brother Virgil and I were talking a few days ago after watching Raising the Bar. We were discussing the likelihood of Richard/Roz and Michelle/Balco hooking up. Virgil made the off comment that the 'black guy' (J. August Richards) would never get a love interest that was a part of the main cast. I told him that Richards character, Marcus, had gotten a recurring love interest but he was probably right.
This line of conversation led us to the lack of black people on television, and eventually to the lack of minorities on a whole. Virgil is well aware of my participation in fandom and asked me why the majority of my OTP's were white. It made me sad but I realize there is nothing I can do about it - I mean, how many people of color are the leads on network TV? The UNIT was the only African American lead drama on network television and it was canceled this year. Virgil asked me to list the number of shows with minority leads - not secondary characters. This is what I came up with....
Private Practice(ABC): Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs are both African American and equal part of the ensemble cast.
Lincoln Heights(ABC FAMILY): The only African-American led show on television.
Psych(USA): Dule Hill(AA) is the uptight half of the crime solving team. (this is one of the funniest shows on tv)
Southland(NBC): Regina King (AA), plays a detective who, shockingly enough, is not used as a sultry sex object or a 'mamy', but as regular woman struggling to juggle her personal and professional life. BTW, Her character kicks all sorts of ass.
Greys Anatomy(ABC): The always brilliant Sandra Oh(of Korean Descent) was quite honestly the only reason to tune in this past season.
Scrubs(ABC): Donald Faison (AA), has portrayed Turk on the sitcom since 2001 and will be heading the re-vamped season this fall with the departure of ZB. The lovely Judy Reyes played Carla from 2001-2009.
Ugly Betty(ABC): The only Latina led show on television. It stars America Ferera and is quite frankly one of the most diverse shows on television.
Hawthorne(TNT): Along with Ugly Betty, Hawthorne is the only other tv show led by a female of color. It stars Jada Picket-Smith and features a fairly diverse cast.
True Blood(HBO): Rutina Wesley(AA) stars as Tara, and Nelsan Ellis(AA) plays Lafayette - one of the most colorful characters on tv.
Royal Pains: Reshma Shetty(of Asian-Indian Descent) portrays Divya Katdare. One of a few awesome female characters on TV right now.
Leverage(TNT): Aldis Hodge plays Hardison - the computer/Internet specialist part of the team.
Lost: The most diverse cast on television...hands down.
New Shows in 2009:
FlashForward: John Cho(Korean-American), Courtney Bernard Vance(AA), Gabriel Union has just been added as a recurring guest star.
Glee(FOX): Amber Riley(AA) as Mercedes and Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz(Korean-American) as Tina.
Brothers(FOX): An African-American led cast (gasp!)
Three Rivers(CBS): Daniel Henney(Korean-American), Alfre Woodard(AA) has just been added to the cast list.
That is a sad list. I find that overseas there is a lot more diversity - especially in my BBC shows - Survivors, Doctor Who, L&O UK, and even Merlin. So my question is this - does race factor into your connection with a character? Do you feel you can relate more with a character that shares your skin color, or is it just relating to the character on a social and cultural level?
I'm not one to call racist but I think its sad that what had been one of the most diverse shows on tv - Heroes...has written off/killed nearly all characters of color and the only ones left standing are white. edit: oldstarnewshine has named Greys Anatomy as a show that has written off minority(including LGBT)characters and replaced them with white characters.
I really hope there will come a day when I don't feel shocked to see an African-American woman as a lead/lone female character(like when I saw that Timothy Olyphant's pilot was picked up yesterday and nearly fell out of my chair when I realized the female cast member was AA), or amazed to see an male actor of Asian Descent playing a man who actually has a sex drive an isn't presented as a little cute sex-less puppet.
I am going to post a link to this on several comms and enable anonymous commenting. I would really love to hear other peoples thoughts on this issue.
This line of conversation led us to the lack of black people on television, and eventually to the lack of minorities on a whole. Virgil is well aware of my participation in fandom and asked me why the majority of my OTP's were white. It made me sad but I realize there is nothing I can do about it - I mean, how many people of color are the leads on network TV? The UNIT was the only African American lead drama on network television and it was canceled this year. Virgil asked me to list the number of shows with minority leads - not secondary characters. This is what I came up with....
Private Practice(ABC): Audra McDonald and Taye Diggs are both African American and equal part of the ensemble cast.
Lincoln Heights(ABC FAMILY): The only African-American led show on television.
Psych(USA): Dule Hill(AA) is the uptight half of the crime solving team. (this is one of the funniest shows on tv)
Southland(NBC): Regina King (AA), plays a detective who, shockingly enough, is not used as a sultry sex object or a 'mamy', but as regular woman struggling to juggle her personal and professional life. BTW, Her character kicks all sorts of ass.
Greys Anatomy(ABC): The always brilliant Sandra Oh(of Korean Descent) was quite honestly the only reason to tune in this past season.
Scrubs(ABC): Donald Faison (AA), has portrayed Turk on the sitcom since 2001 and will be heading the re-vamped season this fall with the departure of ZB. The lovely Judy Reyes played Carla from 2001-2009.
Ugly Betty(ABC): The only Latina led show on television. It stars America Ferera and is quite frankly one of the most diverse shows on television.
Hawthorne(TNT): Along with Ugly Betty, Hawthorne is the only other tv show led by a female of color. It stars Jada Picket-Smith and features a fairly diverse cast.
True Blood(HBO): Rutina Wesley(AA) stars as Tara, and Nelsan Ellis(AA) plays Lafayette - one of the most colorful characters on tv.
Royal Pains: Reshma Shetty(of Asian-Indian Descent) portrays Divya Katdare. One of a few awesome female characters on TV right now.
Leverage(TNT): Aldis Hodge plays Hardison - the computer/Internet specialist part of the team.
Lost: The most diverse cast on television...hands down.
New Shows in 2009:
FlashForward: John Cho(Korean-American), Courtney Bernard Vance(AA), Gabriel Union has just been added as a recurring guest star.
Glee(FOX): Amber Riley(AA) as Mercedes and Jenna Noelle Ushkowitz(Korean-American) as Tina.
Brothers(FOX): An African-American led cast (gasp!)
Three Rivers(CBS): Daniel Henney(Korean-American), Alfre Woodard(AA) has just been added to the cast list.
That is a sad list. I find that overseas there is a lot more diversity - especially in my BBC shows - Survivors, Doctor Who, L&O UK, and even Merlin. So my question is this - does race factor into your connection with a character? Do you feel you can relate more with a character that shares your skin color, or is it just relating to the character on a social and cultural level?
I'm not one to call racist but I think its sad that what had been one of the most diverse shows on tv - Heroes...has written off/killed nearly all characters of color and the only ones left standing are white. edit: oldstarnewshine has named Greys Anatomy as a show that has written off minority(including LGBT)characters and replaced them with white characters.
I really hope there will come a day when I don't feel shocked to see an African-American woman as a lead/lone female character(like when I saw that Timothy Olyphant's pilot was picked up yesterday and nearly fell out of my chair when I realized the female cast member was AA), or amazed to see an male actor of Asian Descent playing a man who actually has a sex drive an isn't presented as a little cute sex-less puppet.
I am going to post a link to this on several comms and enable anonymous commenting. I would really love to hear other peoples thoughts on this issue.