Where In The World Have All The Black Sitcoms Gone?
I admit, I'm not much of a network television fanatic. Nowadays, save for my date nights with Jack Bauer ("24”) on Monday’s, I'm much more of a cable TV head. As a matter of fact, up until recently, I routinely watched forensic science shows (anything truTV), investigative reporting programs ("Dateline","48 Hours Mystery") or whatever else was next up on my Netflix queue.
But ever since I became a victim of this dreaded recession, I've found myself searching out more positive television programs, comedies and sitcoms in general. Besides the fact that I grew up in the '90s, where I bore witness to multiple examples of positive Black television (read: "Living Single", "Family Matters", "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire", "Sister, Sister," etc.), I figure if there’s one thing that’ll help distract me from the reality of our grim economic future, if only for a little while, it’s a sitcom, where my beautiful Black people are front-and-center. (Truth be told, Khadijah made entertainment journalism “sexy” way before Sydney did.)
Sadly, aside from Tyler Perry's "House of Payne," CW's "The Game" and a handful of other Black sitcoms, it seems as if there has been a gradual downturn in the number of Black TV shows on network television as a whole, let alone shows that represent and portray us in a positive light. Instead we're being saturated with pointless copycats and remakes of '90s prime time soap operas—with one or two token Black faces for good measure. (If I see one more show about privileged/upper-crust trust fund babies, I'm going to scream... very loudly!) Apparently, I'm not the only one that feels this way. Actor Hosea Chanchez, of CW's "The Game," recently sat down with a Black online gossip blog and basically mirrored my thoughts with a conspiracy theory of his own.
"Back in the day, the people that I looked up to were Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Will Smith and Bill Cosby. I look back on a time when most of these guys had a show on television... I look back to when there was so much variety, and all of these shows represented our culture in such a positive way. . . Not buffoonery. I look back on those times and I say, ‘What’s changed?’ The only difference between now and then is that everybody was willing to fight for it . . . We don’t do that anymore. We leave it up to mainstream America to dictate what we like. . . we’re all too afraid to lose what we have . . . They have us so secluded in television and film that anything that comes by, we salivate at it. When you’re deprived of something, when something gets before you, it looks like steak. But, no, you [actually] eatin’ chitlins. But, it looks like you got the prime meat."
Truth hurts, doesn't it? Now, I'm no pork eater, but I'll admit, when I first learned of Taraji P. Henson and Viola Davis' Oscar nominations, my heart swelled with pride for my fellow sisthren. Now upon further reflection, with some thanks to Hosea's comments, I feel like I've been got. I mean here I am "salivating" at not one, but TWO Oscar nominations for these talented Black actresses, when in all actuality, we should have hundreds more roles that are readily available to our Black actors and actresses—reality dating shows excluded.
Towards the end of Hosea's interview, he points out the responsibility, we as viewers have, to make our voices heard. At the conclusion of the post, a link to a website—with the contacts for various network television stations—is provided, along with a not-so subtle call-to-action. But is that enough? How do you think we should go about demanding better Black programs on our stations? Should we boycott and/or write to our local TV execs? Do you feel as if now that President Obama is in office, network television will gradually begin to reflect more positive Black Kulture (Sidenote: Is it just me or has there been a sudden and drastic influx of Black actors/actresses in commercial advertisements since Barack's nomination and subsequent win?) Will we ever revisit the "golden era" of Black sitcoms or has that ship sailed? Lastly, should we rely on current TV execs to produce these shows, or should we create our own programs and TV stations, ala Tyler P. and Oprah?
~Trés Ink
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