I am shocked and amazed. I would even go so far as stupefied. You might wonder why, if not for a friend making me aware of some news I would as well. In this case though I am referring to my reaction to the article found on Yahoo TV, Black leads still absent from network dramas by Nellie Andreeva. It seems that Black Americans are underrepresented in television. With no disrespect to Ms. Andreeva, no kidding.
Finally there is some media coverage on a subject I have directly discussed in no less than 3 posts, the earliest dating back to December 2005. In my post Minorities, Television and 27 percent, I highlight the fact that broadcast television, television commercials and movies ignore the relevance and existance of non-whites. A particularly relevant section from that post goes on to say, “The facts taken in total make a profound statement, that is seen and felt not only in the US but also throughout the world. Broadcasters appear, in my opinion, to state that any non-white is relatively unimportant. That no attempt at providing quality programming targeted to these groups is required or of practical use. Perhaps it could be summarized as 'the less seen the better'? That offends me.”
Yet I feel that Ms. Andreeva seems to make an excuse for this fact. That it’s ok that no dramatic television program starring an African American, or Latino/Hispanic, or Asian, has ever fared well. Her reasoning is that the majority of viewers are White and thus do not connect to leads unlike them. It feels like Ms. Andreeva is also relegating Black American leads to only roles that are restricted to a type, such military officers because, “Most dramas are in some way relatable to your life, whether it is about families or cops, something you see every day.” [This quote is in the above mentioned article but made by Mr. Tim Brooks.]
I disagree with such a thought excusing the lack of leading African American, Latino/Hispanic, Asian and other minority actors. The reality that television hopes to evade is that better than 1 in 4 Americans is a person of color. Millions of Americans work with, for, and/or under the supervision of people of color every day. People of color have held positions of power and prominence for some time now, and I do not like the implication that those individuals have not, or do not, exist.
I dispute the theme proposed that a White audience cannot accept a lead character that is African American, or a person of color. In my post German police and television programing - 10.05.2006.2, I stated, “Take your choice of programs made by HBO, Showtime, FX, Spike or others. I’m speaking of The Shield, Thief, Blade the series, Eureka, and many others. In each program there is a diversity of race, sexuality and flaws that are just caricatured in broadcast show. There are actually characters that you can identify with as a person of color. And in several of these shows we see leads like Mr. Andre Braugher that show that African Americans, and other minorities, are easily capable of being leads and cores of their respective shows. There is more depth in their performances than the usual limitation to comedy shows and minor secondary characters broadcast television has tried to shove down our collective throats for decades.”
Continued in part 2...
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