NHRadio said:
Isn't that what killed UPN? Over-reliance on all-black casted sitcoms?
I don't know what changed but "classic" Black sitcoms like Good Times, Sanford and Son, Jeffersons, Cosby, etc reached people of all races. Today's shows like "House of Payne" (ugh) seem to have little or no interest outside the Black community.
And that Wednesday night block has become so popular that TBS gave the greenlight to another Tyler Perry sitcom, not to mention a third hour of 'HOP' reruns.
The frustration in the series that you mentioned is that those were greenlit on established networks. One of the frustrations amongst like-minded civic/civil rights/media groups has been that African-American audiences (who tend to watch TV more, on average) have been used build broadcast network viewing, then a noticeable 'shift' toward female-dominated (and whiter) audiences as time went on. Quick, name one hit Black or Hispanic dominant show on NBC after the 1990s post-
Cosby Show,
A Different World, or
Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Or one on CBS. (The last season
Family Matters shouldn't technically count.) ABC dared to do so with
My Wife & Kids &
The George Lopez Show when they were reeling from ratings doldrums after their 'four nights of
Millionaire' experiment failed.
Not only was the creation of new minority-themed sitcoms left to the netlets, these netlets used them the same way the majors did: Build up viewership, transition to the more 'sellable' demos later. Think of the early 90s programming on Fox, (shows like
Martin, Living Single, In Living Color, New York Undercover) then the WB's first few years (
The Wayans Bros., The Steve Harvey Show, The Jamie Foxx Show), then most of UPN's existence (
Moesha, Girlfriends, The Parkers, Malcolm & Eddie, The Hughleys [started life @ ABC],
Everybody Hates Chris), and now the transition of the latter two into The CW. All had well-viewed (amongst Black households) shows that grew their overall network viewership, and over time these programs went by the wayside, largely unreplaced. White audiences didn't have much use for them when they had
Seinfeld,
Friends,
Will & Grace,
Everybody Loves Raymond, et. al. and who knows how many dramas.
Why do people even look at TV shows as "Black", "White" or any other race? A good show is a good show. Many shows have multiracial casts but some seem to feel only an all (fill in race here) show is (fill in race here) enough. Sad.
We know better than to think Hollywood and the studios/networks are filled with nothing but prejudiced or bigoted people who make the final decisions. It's mostly been about business and basic math, we know that. But to that point, there have been many more shows with mostly white casts that have allowed to flop than there have been shows written and cast by minorities primed to succeed. The networks have done better to broaden appeal with smarter, multiracial casting, but there's still more work that could be done behind the camera.
There's still plenty of room for more success stories like Shonda Rhimes'--cable is helping out on that front with new original programming opportunities, so there are reasons to be optimistic.
When is Smallville coming back with new episodes?
