In the eighties The Cosby Show was one of the most highly rated shows in the country. The topics transcended race and people of all backgrounds and ethnicities tuned in to see what the Huxtables were up to that week. This also paved the way for other Black shows to come into the forefront. We saw A Different World, 227, Amen, and Benson just to mention a few. The nineties led us to hipper territory that was a little more “urban” and edgy. We saw the emergence of the first really high profile Black sketch comedy show with In Living Color. Fresh Prince of Bel Air made Will Smith a mega star. And let us not forget the great Thursday night of black shows that Fox gave us in the late nineties featuring Martin, Living Single and New York Undercover. There was of course the family friendly fare like Family Matters and Hanging with Mr. Cooper. And late nights we got to woof with the Dog Pound on Arsenio.
So what happened?
Why did all black shows disappear?
Why are we being relegated once again to the token black male/female of the show?
It seems like once these shows went off the air they weren't being replaced with new shows. Once upon a time there were two start up networks in the mid nineties. The WB and UPN. Both of these start up networks had a roster of shows that were mostly black. The WB built its audience with shows like The Wayans Bros., Sister, Sister, The Parent ‘Hood, and the Steve Harvey Show. The same can be said with UPN and their primarily black shows like Moesha, The Parkers, In da House, and The Hugleys. It seemed like once these networks had established themselves on the foundations of black programming, they then only focused on maintaining their mainstream (read:White) shows.
One day we were introduced to this kid named Dawson standing in a boat in his damn Creek. Dawson’s Creek became a wildly popular show featuring attractive young white teenagers. After Dawson’s Creek it seemed like all these networks wanted to produce were shows featuring young white teenagers with “problems”. These networks then cranked out 7th Heaven, Felicity, One Tree Hill, Buffy the Vampire Slayer (I admit this show was quite kick ass but still white), Smallville, Charmed, One Tree Hill etc. It seemed like once one of these shows went off the air another would inarguably take its place. The expansion of basic cable programming may be to blame as well. There are over 300+ cable channels with a need for programming so this is where some of our black shows seem to be falling. TBS has House of Payne and The Browns by way of home made auteur Tyler Perry. BET has The Game and Real Husbands of Hollywood. (However I must acknowledge the countless number of reality shows black people seem to be on that are mostly counterproductive and make us look foolish and ignorant.)
But where are the shows on the major 4 networks?
The closest we have is The Cleveland Show and Mike Henry who does the voice of Cleveland is white. One of my favorite shows Community notes a cast that has half minorities, with 2 Asians and 2 Black cast members but can hardly be considered a black show. We thankfully have Shonda Rhimes who has created a show with a black female protagonist, the first time in over 20 years with the hit ABC show Scandal. So what are we to do now? It’s up to us. The aspiring writers of color to write what we know. To come up with programming that is us, but it not restricted to solely our race, and for topics to transcend and speak to others. That is what all the old shows did and why they were accepted and watched by everyone. So when the next smart, funny, well written, idealistic black show comes on TV I look forward to watching that show.
By: Maia M.
Maia Morgan's nerd interests run from watching prime time/ late night animated shows, comic book movies, and reading books based on the supernatural. She is currently obsessed with Game of Thrones both the books and the television series.
