Race & Ethnicity On TV

[AimingforYoko]

An African American woman has been picked to run ABC.

Nice to see, but I'll be interested to see if this will mean more diverse shows from people not named Shonda Rhimes.

[callie lee 29]

That is kind of interesting. According to that article the previous show runner, a rather youngish looking (at least to me) white guy, who has been responsible for some odd the most arguably diverse lineups the big for have seen in awhile, has been replaced by a women of color - which I hope on the surface, would lead to more diversity, both behind the scenes and in front of them.

And as a side note, I was watching Blackish when I was reading the article.

[Wax Lion]

Nice to see, but I'll be interested to see if this will mean more diverse shows from people not named Shonda Rhimes.

 

Haven't we already got this from ABC? Fresh Off the Boat, American Crime, Blackish and Quantico didn't come from Shondaland. If ABC does manage to get more diverse it'll be hard to separate what to credit to the new boss and what to credit to what seems to be audience demand (ABC's big failures this season seems to be less-diverse shows like Blood & Oil).

 

Now if only we could have gotten Fresh Off the Boat without Eddie Huang involved.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Wax Lion

[memememe76]

There are also Dr. Ken and Galavant. 

 

ABC needs a big Sunday at 9pm show. Not sure The Family (starring Joan Allen, who I love) will be that hit. I'm not sure if anyone has the read books, but Rich Crazy Asians would be perfect for ABC. 

[ThomasAAnderson]

 

And I didn't say that Michael Jackson wanted to be white. I simply asked if he'd ever talked about why he made his facial features so Caucasoid--specifically, his nose and lips.

And I'm telling you the things he did aren't exclusive to those who trace their ancestry back to the Caucasus region, he could very well have been trying to look Somali 

 

 

[Wax Lion]

Unfortunately it's not on their YouTube channel but Last Week Tonight just did a great "Why is this still a thing?" about Hollywood whitewashing, mixing it with the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, arguing that you can't say "There are so few Oscaar-worthy performances by PoC" and while also giving PoC roles to white actors.

 

And on a movie tangent, in a lot of ways I think I'd enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's but what little I've seen of Mickey Rooney's role just makes me feel shitty.

 

ETA: Looks like they did upload the segment.

 

https://youtu.be/LyrqsFRb2r8

Edited February 22, 2016 by Wax Lion

[Neurochick]

Unfortunately it's not on their YouTube channel but Last Week Tonight just did a great "Why is this still a thing?" about Hollywood whitewashing, mixing it with the #OscarsSoWhite controversy, arguing that you can't say "There are so few Oscaar-worthy performances by PoC" and while also giving PoC roles to white actors.

 

And on a movie tangent, in a lot of ways I think I'd enjoy Breakfast at Tiffany's but what little I've seen of Mickey Rooney's role just makes me feel shitty.

 

Starz has a show on called "Black Sails" that is in its third season.  Black Sails is a sort of pre-quel to Treasure Island, but it also has real historical figures from the golden age of piracy, as well as original characters that the show has created.  The last two episodes, to me showed what diversity really means.  It's not enough to have POC on screen, but to have them with agency, with points of view, is very important.  Also, I was afraid they were going to whitewash a character, but it seems that's not going to be the case.

[peachmangosteen]

MDSC Initiative's report on gender/race inclusion for movies and TV

[Trini]

MDSC Initiative's report on gender/race inclusion for movies and TV

Characters from underrepresented racial/ethnic groups are also excluded or erased from mediated storytelling. No platform presents a profile of race/ethnicity that matches proportional representation in the U.S. Over 50% of stories featured no Asian speaking characters, and 22% featured no Black or African American characters. The complete absence of individuals from these backgrounds is a symptom of a diversity strategy that relies on tokenistic inclusion rather than integration.

 

That's just the summary of the race/ethnicity section; the whole thing is worth reading.

[DearEvette]

This is a fascinating article where actual actors/actresses/directors etc. of color & LGBTQ talk about their experience:

 

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html?_r=0

 

Although I am a bit irked by this statement form Eva Longoria

 

On “Telenovela,” it was refreshing for casting to go: “Eva, you’re Latino heavy. We need to cast one white male somewhere in there.”

 

 

I don't get how that is refreshing.  White guy inclusion is pervasive, almost a given.  It would have been more refreshing, imo, if they had said "We need to cast a non-Latino somewhere in there."  Leaving the ethnicity open for other races not just white & not just male.

[proserpina65]

Although I am a bit irked by this statement form Eva Longoria

Quote

On “Telenovela,” it was refreshing for casting to go: “Eva, you’re Latino heavy. We need to cast one white male somewhere in there.”

 

I don't get how that is refreshing.  White guy inclusion is pervasive, almost a given.  It would have been more refreshing, imo, if they had said "We need to cast a non-Latino somewhere in there."  Leaving the ethnicity open for other races not just white & not just male.

 

 

Maybe she finds it refreshing that rather than her being the token female minority, which has happened a lot over the course of her career (or so I gather), there's a token white guy instead?  I'm just guessing, but that could be it.  I haven't seen enough of Telenovela to know whether there is a token white guy or not.

[LydiaMoon1]

Maybe she finds it refreshing that rather than her being the token female minority, which has happened a lot over the course of her career (or so I gather), there's a token white guy instead?

 

That's how I interpreted her statement as well.

[tennisgurl]

 

Maybe she finds it refreshing that rather than her being the token female minority, which has happened a lot over the course of her career (or so I gather), there's a token white guy instead?  I'm just guessing, but that could be it.  I haven't seen enough of Telenovela to know whether there is a token white guy or not.

That`s how I took it too. Normally you have to cast a "token minority" in a cast full of white people, so she was happy to switch it around and have a "token white person" in a cast full of non white people. I have seen all of Telenovela, and there is one white guy, but he is definitely a supporting character, who isn't even featured in the majority of episodes. All the other major characters are Hispanic. 

[galax-arena]

I get Eva's sentiment, but man, am I annoyed with the idea that white people must be in EVERYTHING. According to the report that peachmangosteen posted upthread, 51% of cable shows, 50% of movies, 51% of broadcast television, and 63% of streaming shows last year did not have a single speaking Asian character. And yet God forbid that white people not be in something for once.

 

ETA: To clarify, my irritation is directed towards the casting department, not Eva. 

Edited February 24, 2016 by galax-arena

[DearEvette]

I get Eva's sentiment, but man, am I annoyed with the idea that white people must be in EVERYTHING. According to the report that peachmangosteen posted upthread, 51% of cable shows, 50% of movies, 51% of broadcast television, and 63% of streaming shows last year did not have a single speaking Asian character. And yet God forbid that white people not be in something for once.

 

ETA: To clarify, my irritation is directed towards the casting department, not Eva.

Yeah,that is my issue. Why must it be specifically be a white guy? Why does a white person have to infiltrate every space? I just found that a bit ironic given the article centers the white male privilege as being the barrier to real diversity. So in a what could be another opportunity to actually increase diversity the space isn't reserved for another marginalized person but rather a white male.

[Dee]

Instead of token white dudes, I wish Eva would hire a few afro-latino actors.

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Yeah,that is my issue. Why must it be specifically be a white guy? Why does a white person have to infiltrate every space?I just found that a bit ironic given the article centers the white male privilege as being the barrier to real diversity. So in a what could be another opportunity to actually increase diversity the space isn't reserved for another marginalized person but rather a white male.

 

Infiltrate, huh? Sounds positively sinister. Ye gods, he'll probably be straight too, just to compound the horror.

 

Less facetiously (maybe), couldn't this kind of tokenism be seen as a good thing,, the white dude playing second or even third fiddle to the main cast, which is otherwise made up of people of color? I've heard that Telenovela is really good, so maybe I should start watching before it gets infiltrated, unless the infiltration has already happened, since Zachary Levi was apparently in the pilot. I had no idea that Levi has decided to become a real life secret agent.

[Rick Kitchen]

The Jackie Chan character in the upcoming "Rush Hour" series is played by an actor who's English, half Chinese and half Irish.

 

I guess it was impossible to find a full Chinese actor in Hollywood.

[DeLurker]

The Jackie Chan character in the upcoming "Rush Hour" series is played by an actor who's English, half Chinese and half Irish.

 

I guess it was impossible to find a full Chinese actor in Hollywood.

As a half myself, I love it.  A lot of times IRL, my experience suggests Caucasians see you as Chinese and Chinese (full) see you as white.

[AimingforYoko]

Has anybody seen the trailer for Baz Luhrman's Netflix project The Get Down? What struck me was there wasn't a white face to be found:

[Irlandesa]

I guess it was impossible to find a full Chinese actor in Hollywood.

I know bias towards lighter skin is an issue in Hollywood but they had to find not just a Chinese actor but one who is also a martial arts specialist.  I do imagine that limits their casting pool a bit. 

[tennisgurl]

 

Has anybody seen the trailer for Baz Luhrman's Netflix project The Get Down?

I had not heard of that yet, but it looks really interesting. I know Baz Luhrman is a bit love him or hate him, but I tend to enjoy his stuff, and I love 70s music, so I am now really pumped for this. And yes, it was cool to see a show that seems to be completely made up of POC, in a wide variety of roles. It could be an interesting show to watch next to Vinyl, the HBO show about the 70s music industry, but coming more from the rock/punk scene (although the show seems like it might be dipping more into the African American music scene in the near future). 

[xaxat]

I am really looking forward to The Get Down. Almost every period piece about people of color evokes feelings directly related to issues of race/racism and slavery or the immigration experience. 

 

The Get Down looks like it works on the feeling of nostalgia, something that feels pretty uncommon in a story about POC. There were good times in our people's history. I spent time in Harlem living in my aunt's brownstone (which is now chopped up into half million dollar condos) around the time depicted in the TV show and I remember it as being electric and exciting. That's not to say it didn't have problems, most notably drug use and crime, but those problems weren't the whole of the experience. And it looks like the show will explore the good as well as the bad.

 

In other news, Nancy Drew is coming back to TV (as an adult police detective) and the All American "girl" will be played by Iranian American actor Sarah Shahi.

Edited March 1, 2016 by xaxat

[galax-arena]

is there a cap on how successful a POC producer is allowed to be? Or a cap on how many successful POC producers can exist at the same time? And if there is, is the problem with Shonda Rhimes or is she not just someone who has overcome the challenges that every POC producer has, by - to quote Papa Poke - "being twice as good to get half as much"?

Since when did success become so common place with POC producers of diverse content that we've started finding the very fact of their success problematic?

I'm not the OP, but I think you're reading way too much into their comment. Sounds like less of a dig at Shonda and more of a shot at a network that they perceive to be getting credit as a group for diversity when it's mostly due to the efforts of one person (Shonda), i.e. ABC is riding Shonda's coattails.

 

I mean, I still think the OP is wrong because yeah, ABC does have other diverse shows like the ones others have already mentioned, but if the OP finds any aspect of Shonda's success "problematic" it's probably more so because they think ABC is using Shonda's shows to coast on diversity elsewhere, not because they think Shonda is too successful and needs to be brought down a peg. I've seen similar attitudes from a lot of networks and studios, e.g. "Whitewashing this role is totally okay because we have plenty of diversity for other characters!"

 

That said, AimingForYoko, how could you forget Fresh Off the Boat? You wound me.

Edited March 2, 2016 by galax-arena

[AimingforYoko]

The reason for the original comment was two-fold, both commenting how much Shonda Rhimes is responsible for starting diversity (Whatever you think of the writing and/or plotting) on ABC and Ms. Dungey being a Shonda bobo.

I hang my head for forgetting about FoB and Blackish, but I really don't watch a lot of sitcoms.

[Popples]

In other news, Nancy Drew is coming back to TV (as an adult police detective) and the All American "girl" will be played by Iranian American actor Sarah Shahi.

 

So does this mean Person of Interest is completely done?

[galax-arena]

Fresh Off the Boat has been renewed for a third season. I'd just like to mention that FOTB is the third Asian-American family sitcom to exist, the first to ever make it to a second season, and (obviously) the first to make it to a third. Break through the bamboo ceiling, FOTB!

[Rick Kitchen]

Fresh Off the Boat has been renewed for a third season. I'd just like to mention that FOTB is the third Asian-American family sitcom to exist, the first to ever make it to a second season, and (obviously) the first to make it to a third. Break through the bamboo ceiling, FOTB!

 

Didn't The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo run more than one season?

[galax-arena]

It did, but it wasn't a sitcom. More of a drama, I think. At least that's what wiki says! I wonder if that makes Shelby Woo the only Asian-American family drama that's run for multiple seasons though? 

 

It's interesting to note that all four Asian-American sitcoms on the big five networks came from ABC. They had Mr. T and Tina with Pat Morita in the 70s, All-American Girl with Margaret Cho in the 90s, and now Fresh Off the Boat and Dr. Ken in the 2010s. (And they also had the short-lived Selfie, although I wouldn't call that an Asian-American sitcom but just a sitcom that happened to star an AA.) Is no other big network even trying? 

[Rick Kitchen]

Does Crazy Ex-Girlfriend count?

[Trini]

Outsourced -- the lead was white, but I think it had the largest number of regular and recurring South Asian castmembers.

[jhlipton]

My great aunt who grew up in Harbin, China, wrote childrens' stories with roots in Chinese folk tales, and that's where I learned that in old China it's actually the opposite: Black means calmness, righteousness, knowledge, trust (and is, according to I, Ching, Heaven's color) while white is the color of sadness, bad luck, evil and death (white is the predominant color for funerals). It's changing now, with the influences of western culture, but I just wanted to mention that.

 

This is cool!  Thanks for that

 

 

Instead of token white dudes, I wish Eva would hire a few afro-latino actors.

 

They could use a dark Caribbean sistah. 

BTW, Telenovela is funny!  Eva is not afraid to make fun of herself at all. And the cast seems to be having a hoot.

[memememe76]

I can't see The Muppets lasting. Fresh Off the Boat has really had to fend for itself. A stronger comedic block would help FOTB (and Agents of SHIELD). I would prefer a comedy focusing on adults rather than kids. What is Brenda Song up to these days? 

[galax-arena]

See, I guess I don't count Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Outsourced because while both shows have prominent Asian characters, the shows themselves are essentially centered around white people. What makes a sitcom like FOTB so remarkable is that it is unapologetically centered around the Asian-American experience. Asian leads, dominantly Asian cast, etc. 

 

I've never watched Beauty and the Beast, but yeah, that's one show where the Asian-American character is THE lead. (I'm assuming. All I ever heard in conjunction with the show was Kristin Kreuk.) The CW also had Nikita, but tbh while I loved the show for being one of the few with an Asian WOC lead (plus I just loved it in general), at times I felt like they almost neutered her race and tried to gloss over it in some weird attempt at being progressive ("we're colorblind!"). Not always; we did have a scene where we saw her birth certificate and they note her Asian mother. But there were some awkward moments where it would have made sense to address her race but they never did, so sometimes it felt like the elephant in the room. 

 

Elementary is more about Sherlock than Joan, so it's not really on the same level as BATB or Nikita as centered around an Asian actor, but I do give Elementary a few extra credit points for daring to cast an Asian woman in a role that's traditionally been held by white men. I mean, it's Lucy Liu, so of course. Right?

Edited March 4, 2016 by galax-arena

[Rick Kitchen]

So Agents of SHIELD doesn't count even though there are two WOC in lead roles, because there are more white leads?  Not criticizing, just asking.

[Wax Lion]

But if you really want to talk about lily white /problematic line ups then a few other networks cough* CWTV *cough* come to mind.

 

The CW is a lot better than the reputation its Gossip Girl days would lead. It's got one show with a mostly-PoC cast, Jane the Virgin. It's also got several shows with a pretty strong PoC supporting cast: Crazy Ex-Girlfriend (only the second show with an API romantic lead), iZombie, The Flash, Arrow, The Originals, Legends of Tomorrow, The 100. These aren't Vampire Diaries-style  problematic tokenism.

 

It did, but it wasn't a sitcom. More of a drama, I think. At least that's what wiki says! I wonder if that makes Shelby Woo the only Asian-American family drama that's run for multiple seasons though?

 

Shelby was on Nickelodeon. Cable has been ahead in terms of diversity for a while, especially channels aimed at younger viewers.

 

It's interesting to note that all four Asian-American sitcoms on the big five networks came from ABC. They had Mr. T and Tina with Pat Morita in the 70s, All-American Girl with Margaret Cho in the 90s, and now Fresh Off the Boat and Dr. Ken in the 2010s. (And they also had the short-lived Selfie, although I wouldn't call that an Asian-American sitcom but just a sitcom that happened to star an AA.) Is no other big network even trying?

 

 

Thanks  for clarifying that history... but does Mr T and Tina count as an Asian-American family sitcom? I thought it was a buddy comedy with an Asian-American lead.

 

I think I get where you're looking at this. A "family sitcom" is a pretty specific kind of show. There are plenty of family sitcoms with white families, a good number with African-American familys (a number of them short-lived Cosby Show clones or produced by Tyler Perry). Honestly. I'm struggling to think of a latino family sitcom that lasted more than a season (USA had Sanchez of Bel Air while Fox never aired The Ortegas but sold it internationally).

 

Outsourced is a workplace comedy, Agents of SHIELD is a superhero drama... etc. All that inclusion is more than welcome but the family sitcom is a particularly important genre.

 

ETA: One thing I like about FOTB is that it's not just a family sitcom, it's also a period comedy like Happy Days or That 70s Show. Is that the first time a show like this focused on a PoC-led cast?

Edited March 4, 2016 by Wax Lion

[FormerMod-a1]

I think I get where you're looking at this. A "family sitcom" is a pretty specific kind of show. There are plenty of family sitcoms with white families, a good number with African-American familys (a number of them short-lived Cosby Show clones or produced by Tyler Perry). Honestly. I'm struggling to think of a latino family sitcom that lasted more than a season (USA had Sanchez of Bel Air while Fox never aired The Ortegas but sold it internationally).

 

The George Lopez show is the only one I could think of.

[galax-arena]

Ha, Wax Lion, you might be right. So I guess that makes FOTB only the second Asian-American family sitcom ever. 

 

And yeah, I'm not really sure I can even articulate why the family sitcom is such an important genre to me. Maybe it's because family sitcoms in the US are historically such a "safe" genre where the implication is, "Here's a slice of the American experience for ya." So to see minority groups (whether due to race, sexuality, etc.) included in this genre, seeing them normalized that way, makes me happy. I grew up on family sitcoms. 

 

Shelby was on Nickelodeon. Cable has been ahead in terms of diversity for a while, especially channels aimed at younger viewers.

True. And since you mentioned Latino sitcoms, in addition to the George Lopez Show that aquarian1 mentions, there was also The Brothers Garcia... but that was on Nickelodeon too. Other than that, I can't really think of anything. 

[DeLurker]

The George Lopez show is the only one I could think of.

Going into the WABAC Machine, Chico and the Man.

[Raja]

Do actors like Kristen Kreuk, not having seen Beauty and The Beast but haven seen Smallville or Dean Cain become "Asian" under a single drop rule sort of situation because we know due to Google or does the role specifically have to address ethnicity?

[shang yiet]

For me, KK in Smallville and Dean Cain in Superman don't count as they were passing as white (100%) Just like Keanu Reeves doesn't count. Has he ever played an Asian character?

[Trini]

Kreuk in BatB counts; her character is half-Asian.

[Trini]

... - but I always knew KK was Asian from her Smallville days, just from the way she looked.

 

Heh -- that was me and Wentworth Miller on Prison Break. (Also playing a White character there.)

[Neurochick]

 

Infiltrate, huh? Sounds positively sinister. Ye gods, he'll probably be straight too, just to compound the horror.

 

Less facetiously (maybe), couldn't this kind of tokenism be seen as a good thing,, the white dude playing second or even third fiddle to the main cast, which is otherwise made up of people of color? I've heard that Telenovela is really good, so maybe I should start watching before it gets infiltrated, unless the infiltration has already happened, since Zachary Levi was apparently in the pilot. I had no idea that Levi has decided to become a real life secret agent.

 

I think the point was, why does a white dude have to be in it anyway?  Why does a white person have to infiltrate every single fucking TV show?

 

But speaking of a show with a mainly white cast, Starz's "Black Sails."  The show is set in the golden age of piracy, the 18th century Caribbean, it's also a Treasure Island prequel.  The thing about this show is just when you think it's going one way, BOOM, it goes in an opposite direction.  

 

This season, the pirates washed up on this island they thought was deserted then at the end of the episode you see these black men with faces painted, carrying spears and I was like, "oh shit here we go."  Turns out those men were just scouts and the island is full of Maroons, escaped slaves.  They had a pretty interesting society and it was governed by a king and a queen, the queen really ran things.  What was interesting about the episode was that that we, the audience were able to see things from their POV and we learned how they came to that island; though the main characters in this show are white people, these people are shown to have agency and purpose.  I was surprised and happy they didn't go there with the Maroons.

Edited March 4, 2016 by Neurochick

[galax-arena]

well, they casted KK's mom and sister in Beauty and the Beast with Asians, so she wasn't passing White.  At the same time, was her character in Smallville specifically made to pass White or was it just colorblind casting? Because those are two entirely different things.

IIRC, they cast white people as her parents on Smallville, which weirded some in the fandom because yeah to a lot of people Kristin Kreuk doesn't read as 100% white.

 

I'd like to think that people could tell right away that Maggie Q is part Asian, but I have one friend who didn't know until I told her. SMH.

 

One character/actor that confused me was Blaine/Darren Criss on Glee. Definitely white-passing; I haven't come across a single person who knew he was Asian until I told them. Ryan Murphy cast Gina Gershon and Matt Bomer to play his mother and brother. So, I figure, white. Makes sense. But then Rachel Berry jokes about making "vaguely Eurasian" babies with him. It was a throwaway line played for laughs, but it was still weird. But perhaps my real problem is looking for consistency in a Ryan Murphy show...

[proserpina65]

I think the point was, why does a white dude have to be in it anyway?  Why does a white person have to infiltrate every single fucking TV show?

 

In the case of Telenovela, it's not unrealistic given that the only white guy is the head of the network.  From what I've seen of the show, which is pretty funny btw, he's much less of a focus than the other characters.  And even in Miami, where the show is set, there are a lot of white people, so having one white semi-regular character isn't unrealistic at all.  Would it be better to have no white characters but have all the Latino characters be horrible stereotyped caricatures?  (I don't know since I'm not familiar with the Miami television scene, I'm asking an honest question.)  On Fresh of the Boat, there are white characters here and there because the main characters interact with the world around them. The same could be said of Telenovela.

[jhlipton]

In the case of Telenovela, it's not unrealistic given that the only white guy is the head of the network.  From what I've seen of the show, which is pretty funny btw, he's much less of a focus than the other characters.

 

He disappeared -- the audience thought he was dead, but the characters just knew he was gone incommunicado.  He was out for most of the season and only returned (in true telenovela fashion) at the end of the last ep as the leads were re-igniting their love.

==================================================================

ETA:

So I see that the second season of Wayward Pines (why?????) will follow a familiar pattern: A mostly white cast, with one black man (Djimon Hounsou in this case), and no black women -- a woman of color but not black. This is the new "diversity".

I'm happy to see black men cast, and I'm VERY happy to see that a BM-WF relationship is fairly well accepted. I'm less happy to see no such acceptance for black women even getting parts.

Edited March 5, 2016 by jhlipton

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I think the point was, why does a white dude have to be in it anyway?  Why does a white person have to infiltrate every single fucking TV show?

 

Actually, I did manage to decipher that from the previous post. It took me about two and a half hours to struggle reading through the entire thing, and then I had to look up the word 'infiltrate' to make sure that it wasn't something that keeps a swimming pool clean, but once I figured that out, I got the gist.

 

My reading comprehension level aside,and since you asked the question, why shouldn't it be a white dude? Does there have to be a reason it can't be? Haven't we gotten to the point now where race doesn't matter that much? Or does it actually still count, but only sometimes? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Raja]

Actually, I did manage to decipher that from the previous post. It took me about two and a half hours to struggle reading through the entire thing, and then I had to look up the word 'infiltrate' to make sure that it wasn't something that keeps a swimming pool clean, but once I figured that out, I got the gist.

 

My reading comprehension level aside,and since you asked the question, why shouldn't it be a white dude? Does there have to be a reason it can't be? Haven't we gotten to the point now where race doesn't matter that much? Or does it actually still count, but only sometimes? Inquiring minds want to know.

I guess since "white flight" has reversed this century in many other than southern US cities it is becoming increasingly probable that there will be one white person in an otherwise minority area versus the one minority in the otherwise white area because if more than one came around white folks abandoned that area which was a feature of the last century

[memememe76]

and no black women -- a woman of color but not black.

 

Is this a problem? I mean, more diversity is great, but I am always bewildered that a show is not demonstrating diversity unless a black person is cast. I remember the media response when Alfre Woodard was cast in Desperate Housewives--finally, a black woman on Wisteria Lane! If Woodward was one of the original four woman and Eva Longorio was introduced in the second season, I'm pretty sure there would not be a "Finally, a Latina on Wisteria Lane! outcry. Similarly, when Julie on Friends was played by Lauren Tom in the second season, her being Asian did not lessen the criticism of Friends' lack of diversity. But years later when Gabrielle Union and Aisha Taylor guest starred on Friends, I vividly recalled the media mentioning how they were first non-white main characters on that show.