Race & Ethnicity On TV

[Minneapple]

3 hours ago, atomationage said:

My question on Pitch is how come I never heard of the show, and only read about it here?  I watched the first episode and liked it.   The lead actress is very charismatic. 

I'm guessing Fox will go very heavy on Pitch promos during the World Series.

Also, Pitch should be a diverse show if they're trying to mirror any kind of current reality. Major League Baseball itself is really diverse. Baseball is a hugely popular sport in Central and South America, and in East Asia. A lot of MLB players are from those areas. It's actually black American kids who don't play baseball; players like Torii Hunter and Ryan Howard have lamented in the past that baseball is less "cool" nowadays for black youth than sports like football and basketball. Hunter's sons both play college football; most prominently his older son plays for Notre Dame.

[possibilities]

I saw a lot of ads for Pitch, so I am guessing that if you didn't see them, it just means we're looking in different places. I'm glad to hear it's getting good reviews and that the pilot was great-- I have been feeling very conflicted because I want to watch shows with an AA female lead, but the promos made it seem like it was going to be a show where the men talk about her and she herself is only shown in distance shots standing around on the field, never speaking or actually doing anything. And I'm not down for that. Moreover, I find sports generally boring. But I will give it a try after reading here that it's not what I thought. I loved Friday Night Lights, and I avoided that one for a long time because I thought it was going to be just another show about football, with no strong or significant female characters. I just don't trust the network not to do a bait and switch like happened with Sleepy Hollow, even when the lead is advertised to be a WOC.

[tennisgurl]

Possibilities, I totally get why you would be worried, after the Sleepy Hallow debacle. And in the first couple of minutes of Pitch, I was worried about that too, as Ginny (main character) was just sitting there with her headphones on while everyone else talked about her, but that ends quickly. By about the ten minute mark, its obvious that she is the lead, and and while we have a decent sized supporting cast, the story is clearly from Ginnys point of view. 

I did not see much advertising for it on TV, but FOX in general sucks at advertising. I knew about it from TV critics, and a few Baseball guys/gals who mentioned it (they seem to like it), and I am glad that I tuned in. As others have said, professional baseball is a very diverse world, and I hope they represent that. It seems to be doing well so far at least. 

[Neurochick]

On September 21, 2016 at 0:34 AM, Kromm said:

Is it REALLY that fair to gripe that the show has two Asians (I am counting an Indian as an Asian, unless someone takes issue with that), one of each gender, rather than two black people, one of each gender? That seems like really destructive thinking, IMO (and plays right into the feelings many have expressed that it's distressing when "diversity" is automatically equated to just "black").

I don't think it's a gripe, it's just that whenever a show has one black person in it, they're most likely male; and that is an issue.

As for Pitch; I've seen ads for it all over NYC, so there is that.  I saw the pilot; it's not the same situation as Sleepy Hollow because you see that SHE is the lead.  The show is about HER.

Edited September 25, 2016 by Neurochick

[Kromm]

4 hours ago, Neurochick said:

I don't think it's a gripe, it's just that whenever a show has one black person in it, they're most likely male; and that is an issue.

Does that boil down to a racial issue though, or a gender one?  Or if it's some kind of intersection of both, why is it particularly a problem with black roles on TV?

You could flip the script on the idea a bit and perhaps reach a conclusion that's actually LESS flattering about how TV treats black men than how it treats black women. Rather than see it as an absence of black women, consider what the black men are doing on the shows. How many are (even if unintentionally) sidekicks? Could there be a reason (likely an ugly societal one) that TV feels more okay in showing black men as sidekicks than it does black women? I think to some degree TV writers see the overt problems with showing subservient black women, but the less obvious subservience of black men on TV (because it will often be more subtle) slips by instead. 

The one I'm always conflicted on is the seeming modern inevitability of a lot of "Police Captain" (or similar commanders) being black now. And actually a rather large number of those roles are even black women rather than men. But one could argue (and I've always thought) it's often a sop to the form of things rather than something really admirable to cast those roles like that, because those roles are all cliches, and usually get little to nothing interesting to do on a show (Captain Holt on Brooklyn 99 is the biggest exception I know of). 

[jhlipton]

3 hours ago, Kromm said:

Does that boil down to a racial issue though, or a gender one?  Or if it's some kind of intersection of both, why is it particularly a problem with black roles on TV?

It's not just a problem on TV, but in media in general.  And there are several shows where the black man isn't any kind of "sidekick" -- Brooklyn 9-9, Rosewood, This is Us (there is a black woman, but she's much lighter and much smaller role), Luke Cage.  That's just off the top of my head,  On the other hand, Abby Mills was definitely a "sidekick", and not a very important one at that, in the minds of TPTB on Sleepy Hollow.

There are good roles for white women and good roles for black men, but Rhondaland and SyFy are the sole refuges for black female leads.

[Dee]

Taraji Henson's Cookie Lyon is the co-lead of Empire with Terrence Howard's Lucious.

And OWN's Greenleaf and Queen Sugar boast Black female leads.

However Shondaland isn't really a refuge for black female leads (outside of HTGAWM) imo.

In the beginning Olivia was definitely the lead of Scandal, but in the past couple of years Scandal's transitioned into an ensemble show, none of the black female characters on Grey's Anatomy can conceivably be considered leads and the less said about Private Practice the better.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Dee

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, Kromm said:

Does that boil down to a racial issue though, or a gender one?  Or if it's some kind of intersection of both, why is it particularly a problem with black roles on TV?

I think it is an intersection and totally how fucked up Hollywood works.  I once remember reading ...God... many moons ago when I was a grad student taking TV production classes, there was an interview about casting and one of the talking heads, a BW, said something like 'if you need a woman, she's white but if you need a black person, it's a man." that always stuck me with me. 

I mean, women always have it worse anyway, but a WOC is going to have it the worst.  And frankly, because H'wood seems incredibly afraid to do anything original, even their choices of when they choose to diversify their female casts the woman is usually as near white as they can get.  So I am not surprised when they cast they cast very light skinned. 

The conversation around diversity is confronting that more, but yeah if you look at cast breakdowns of main or leads I believe black males outnumber black females.  And in ensembles, black males tend to be cast more as well.

This is us is a great example.  I love that Sterling K. Brown was cast because after all he is a really good actor, but they could have just as easily made the third sibling the actress that plays his wife.  Then it would have been her story, not just her being a support to his.

On a different/related note I just discovered Survivor's Remorse on Starz and besides it being a major revelation for me (it is funny and very well written) I love it that all of the main female characters on that show are dark skinned.  I absolutely support all WOC getting good roles on tv no matter her ethnicity or shade of skin, but I have to admit it is very nice to see some really strong representation of the darker girls.

[jhlipton]

5 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

This is us is a great example.  I love that Sterling K. Brown was cast because after all he is a really good actor, but they could have just as easily made the third sibling the actress that plays his wife.  Then it would have been her story, not just her being a support to his.

I agree, but they would have had to totally rewrite the "finding the dad" portion.  Maybe it's me, but I just can't picture the dynamics of that first scene, if it was a woman who was adopted.

[ribboninthesky1]

8 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

I think it is an intersection and totally how fucked up Hollywood works.  I once remember reading ...God... many moons ago when I was a grad student taking TV production classes, there was an interview about casting and one of the talking heads, a BW, said something like 'if you need a woman, she's white but if you need a black person, it's a man." that always stuck me with me. 

Ah yes, all the women are white, all the blacks are men - codified over 20 years ago (though a direct result of the black women's studies that took shape in the 70s).  

[Kromm]

2 minutes ago, ribboninthesky1 said:

Ah yes, all the women are white, all the blacks are men - codified over 20 years ago (though a direct result of the black women's studies that took shape in the 70s).  

At least part of that might be a variation of The Observer Effect though. Not in this case though (as that usually says) that the observation changes the result directly, but rather that the observation notices it more than other kinds of data (in this case of something that's very subjective--because it's perceptual to a large degree which people are leads, which shows you deign to notice and count when the Entertainment field is so large now, etc.) 

I mean if Asian girls are being given even shorter shrift? Is someone quantifying and counting that, for example? 

Demographics say that as of the 2010 census, roughly 13% of the population is black, right?  Now, diversity shouldn't be a math equation, but I wonder if anyone's done actual recent studies to see if roughly 13% of things like TV show leads match that. 

[DeLurker]

18 minutes ago, Kromm said:

I mean if Asian girls are being given even shorter shrift? Is someone quantifying and counting that, for example? 

We're just glad we show up on tv every once in a while.

[memememe76]

Even if the Asian characters on The Good Place were black females, that would help the fact that there are not enough leading characters played by black actresses, as those aren't close to leading. 

There is also Pitch. Interestingly, Maggie Q was one of the few prominent Asian women with leading roles on TV,  and she is currently in a role that while likely significant, it is clearly in support of Kiefer 's character. 

Secrets and Lies increased their diversity big time!

[phoenics]

1 hour ago, Kromm said:

At least part of that might be a variation of The Observer Effect though. Not in this case though (as that usually says) that the observation changes the result directly, but rather that the observation notices it more than other kinds of data (in this case of something that's very subjective--because it's perceptual to a large degree which people are leads, which shows you deign to notice and count when the Entertainment field is so large now, etc.) 

I mean if Asian girls are being given even shorter shrift? Is someone quantifying and counting that, for example? 

Demographics say that as of the 2010 census, roughly 13% of the population is black, right?  Now, diversity shouldn't be a math equation, but I wonder if anyone's done actual recent studies to see if roughly 13% of things like TV show leads match that. 

No they do not.  There was a study done earlier this year that broke this down.  It showed that nearly 88 percent of leads in tv were white.  So in order for your theory to be true, ALL of the remaining leads would have to be black.  They aren't.  And that clearly means Asians aren't doing much better.

Also - often it's black viewers/scientists/activists who count up the lack of diversity for black men and women.  So - they're responsible for counting it up for all PoC too now?

[DearEvette]

I think the comparison was between black females vs. black males.

Anecdotally, it feels like the reverse is true for Asian females vs. Asian males.  It feels like the representation among Asian women on tv is stronger than among Asian men. 

Off the top of my head from dramas I can think of Lucy Liu, Chloe Bennett, Ming Na Wen, Grace Park, Michaela Collins, Priyanka Chopra,  Yunjin Kim, Archie Panjabi

For men, I get Daniel Dae Kim,  Brian Tee & Steve Yuen

[selkie]

America Ferrera is doing the talk show rounds for season two of Superstore. She's said that the show was the first time she ever got far in casting where the part was initially just described as 'Woman: age 25-40' rather than 'Latina woman: this age'. 

[jhlipton]

I think that there are a lot more Middle Eastern Asians (of both genders), as well as Indian Asians, than "Eastern" Asians.  My feeling is that there are more female Eastern Asians then men working, but it's just a feeling.

[Kromm]

18 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

Anecdotally, it feels like the reverse is true for Asian females vs. Asian males.  It feels like the representation among Asian women on tv is stronger than among Asian men. 

Off the top of my head from dramas I can think of Lucy Liu, Chloe Bennett, Ming Na Wen, Grace Park, Michaela Collins, Priyanka Chopra,  Yunjin Kim, Archie Panjabi

For men, I get Daniel Dae Kim,  Brian Tee & Steve Yuen

Are we talking just about actors in general on major shows or leads? Because a few of those people are leads, but not most of them. 

But I get your point that Asian women do indeed seem to outnumber the men. And I suspect I know why. Whether it's true or not (I actually think it might be but we shouldn't presume) I think conventional wisdom is that lots of male viewers would like to have sex with the Asian women they see on TV. Whether the reverse is true (that female viewers would like to have sex with the Asian men they see on TV) is the mystery area. I do think this gets back to something we talked about upthread. That men seem to like the perception of exoticness in women they... fantasize about. The TV execs, at the very least, don't seem to think that carries over to how female viewers feel about male leads they see on TV. 

Really this gets back to another gray area: porn. If you want to know why society thinks/assumes certain things about attraction (and thus sometimes representation) look to porn. 

Edited September 26, 2016 by Kromm

[jhlipton]

6 minutes ago, Kromm said:

That men seem to like the perception of exoticness in women they... fantasize about.

But that "exoticness" seems to only go so far -- the "porcelain dolls" of  Japan, Korea, China, etc; or the "light-darkness" of mixed, Latina, Middle Eastern, etc women.  Truly dark women are just too "exotic:.

[Kromm]

10 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

But that "exoticness" seems to only go so far -- the "porcelain dolls" of  Japan, Korea, China, etc; or the "light-darkness" of mixed, Latina, Middle Eastern, etc women.  Truly dark women are just too "exotic:.

(shrugs)

Maybe, but we were talking about the Asian women vs. Asian men thing. I see it as an explanation for that. For reasons wrong or right, Asian women get cast because TV execs think it will appeal to male viewers. They don't seem to think the same thing about female viewers and Asian men. 

Note I didn't say my argument extended all the way to black women. 

Again, if we go by porn?  It's all black men with white women, white men with Asian women, and the black women when they appear are only with black men. 

 

 

Unless... are we going to pretend to not know about porn?  Darn! No smilies allowed here!  But I honestly think a lot of the same assumptions carry over to mainstream entertainment. 

Edited September 26, 2016 by Kromm

[jhlipton]

Just now, Kromm said:

Again, if we go by porn?  It's all black men and white women, and white men and Asian women. 

I had thought about mentioning porn, with largely the same thought you did!  There are one or two Big Name Stars from India (female, of course), but few to none from the Middle East that I can think of. 

[Kromm]

1 minute ago, jhlipton said:

I had thought about mentioning porn, with largely the same thought you did!  There are one or two Big Name Stars from India (female, of course), but few to none from the Middle East that I can think of. 

I edited my thought a bit, but the main (pardon the pun) thrust remains.  A lot of the same assumptions seem to drive porn and mainstream casting. Light-skinned black women doing well. The popularity of Asian women and relative absence of Asian men. The frequent matching of black men with white women but not often the reverse. I'm sure there's a lot more we could compare if we really dug in. 

[Minneapple]

41 minutes ago, DearEvette said:

For men, I get Daniel Dae Kim,  Brian Tee & Steve Yuen

Vincent Rodriguez (who plays Josh Chan) on Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is Filipino. 

[Dee]

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

For men, I get Daniel Dae Kim,  Brian Tee & Steve Yuen

Sidebar? They're ALL FINE.

[Irlandesa]

John Cho starred in the brilliant (yes, it did get really good after an abysmal pilot) Selfie and will star in Connoisseur for the USA Network. (Which maybe kind of sounds like White Collar but whatevs.)  

Now he's just an anecdotal name and I don't say it to prove a point one way or another but I just felt if we were talking fine Asian male actors who could lead a series, he should not be forgotten.

Edited September 26, 2016 by Irlandesa

[ribboninthesky1]

12 hours ago, Dee said:

Sidebar? They're ALL FINE.

Quoted for emphasis. 

12 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

John Cho starred in the brilliant (yes, it did get really good after an abysmal pilot) Selfie and will star in Connoisseur for the USA Network. (Which maybe kind of sounds like White Collar but whatevs.)  

Now he's just an anecdotal name and I don't say it to prove a point one way or another but I just felt if we were talking fine Asian male actors who could lead a series, he should not be forgotten.

Seconded. 

14 hours ago, phoenics said:

Also - often it's black viewers/scientists/activists who count up the lack of diversity for black men and women.  So - they're responsible for counting it up for all PoC too now?

Yeah - this is a tricky area because it sometimes feels like blacks shouldn't be concerned with our own representation.  A lot of that is on the media not amplifying voices of Americans who are of Asian, South & Central American, Caribbean, and Native descent who speak on this. 

Edited September 26, 2016 by ribboninthesky1

[vibeology]

14 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

John Cho starred in the brilliant (yes, it did get really good after an abysmal pilot) Selfie and will star in Connoisseur for the USA Network. (Which maybe kind of sounds like White Collar but whatevs.)  

Now he's just an anecdotal name and I don't say it to prove a point one way or another but I just felt if we were talking fine Asian male actors who could lead a series, he should not be forgotten.

Right? I love John Cho and think he's probably my biggest celebrity crush. All ten minutes of screentime he had in the most recent Star Trek was not enough because I love looking at his pretty face. That his career isn't bigger is a crime. That thing a while back on twitter, where he was "cast" in all the movies. That's my ideal world.

[maraleia]

I still can't decide if I'll watch Pitch because I already have too many shows on my fall schedule. Convince me why I should watch please?

[topanga]

5 minutes ago, vibeology said:

Right? I love John Cho and think he's probably my biggest celebrity crush. All ten minutes of screentime he had in the most recent Star Trek was not enough because I love looking at his pretty face. That his career isn't bigger is a crime. That thing a while back on twitter, where he was "cast" in all the movies. That's my ideal world.

In a perfect world, John Cho would be a bigger star than he is. He's funny, a great actor, an easy on the eyes. 

Count me as another who liked him on Selfie. And he was great on Sleepy Hollow--though he was only in the first season. 

[Ohwell]

16 hours ago, Kromm said:

Again, if we go by porn?  It's all black men with white women, white men with Asian women, and the black women when they appear are only with black men. 

Ermmm...uhhh....maybe you  haven't seen enough porn.

Just sayin'.

[DearEvette]

3 hours ago, maraleia said:

I still can't decide if I'll watch Pitch because I already have too many shows on my fall schedule. Convince me why I should watch please?

I highly recommend peeping the discussion on the Pilot episode in the Pitch forum, but I enjoyed it and I don't even follow baseball.  Kylie Bunbury is excellent as the central character Ginny,  she manages to convey both the swagger confidence that this girl has being the first woman in the majors as well as the panic just under the surface -- not really apparent -- just flashes sometimes of what this all means and the pressure.  I can kinda see the actress maybe trying to channel, say, Jackie Robinson and not reacting to stuff -- just striding through with her chin up sometimes.

Ali Lartner is all sharp and steel in her role and Ginny's agent. 

Mark-Paul Gosselaar has put on some weight, grew and beard and has a 'fuck all' attitude that is perfect for a veteran of the team who is chasing a championship.  He also has some of the best lines.

But I think I was mostly struck by the look of it.  The colors are crisp, the photography is really good and there is an energy to the baseball scenes.

[DeLurker]

Adding to the list of Asian males on my tv:  Ken Leung, Mark Dacascos and Naveen Andrews.

I really like all three of them and would be happy if they were on my tv on a regular basis, even Mark Dacascos because I love his cheesey goodness.  Plus, he's always awesome in fight scenes.

[Hybridcookie]

I loved Ken Leung on Lost.

There's also Harry Shum Jr

[Trini]

Sendhil Ramamurthy, too.

[Princess Sparkle]

1 minute ago, Trini said:

Sendhil Ramamurthy, too.

God, I slogged through Heroes WAY longer than was necessary just to keep watching Sendhil Ramamurthy. He is just so gorgeous. 

[jhlipton]

On 9/26/2016 at 0:18 AM, Kromm said:

I edited my thought a bit, but the main (pardon the pun) thrust remains.  A lot of the same assumptions seem to drive porn and mainstream casting. Light-skinned black women doing well. The popularity of Asian women and relative absence of Asian men. The frequent matching of black men with white women but not often the reverse. I'm sure there's a lot more we could compare if we really dug in. 

On 9/26/2016 at 4:48 PM, Ohwell said:

Ermmm...uhhh....maybe you  haven't seen enough porn.

Just sayin'.

I totally agree, Kromm.

OHWELL, we're talking about the major and minor studios.  I could give you a list to look at if you PM me.

 

On 9/26/2016 at 3:34 PM, maraleia said:

I still can't decide if I'll watch Pitch because I already have too many shows on my fall schedule. Convince me why I should watch please?

22 hours ago, DearEvette said:

Mark-Paul Gosselaar has put on some weight, grew and beard and has a 'fuck all' attitude that is perfect for a veteran of the team who is chasing a championship.  He also has some of the best lines.

MLB is behind it so it looks REAL.  She plays for the Padres, against the Dodgers and the Giants, and the games are called by Fox Sports announcers.

Plus all of what DEAREVETTE said (M-P G also gets the best ass-slaps!).  It's my favorite new show so far.

Edited September 27, 2016 by jhlipton

[Popples]

17 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

MLB is behind it so it looks REAL.  She plays for the Padres, against the Dodgers and the Giants, and the games are called by Fox Sports announcers.

It's still on my DVR, but this means Joe Buck, who is so ugh.

18 minutes ago, jhlipton said:

Plus all of what DEAREVETTE said (M-P G also gets the best ass-slaps!).  It's my favorite new show so far.

I will give this my full, undivided attention tomorrow.

[jhlipton]

23 minutes ago, Popples said:

It's still on my DVR, but this means Joe Buck, who is so ugh.

Several people have complained about that!

[Kromm]

On 9/26/2016 at 3:34 PM, maraleia said:

I still can't decide if I'll watch Pitch because I already have too many shows on my fall schedule. Convince me why I should watch please?

Because (at least based on one episode) it's very good.

[memememe76]

Randall and Beth on This Is Us...the best couple on TV? I say yes!

[pivot]

I thought that Pitch was a good pilot but the casting was way too white. Where were all the Latinos that dominate MLB now? It seems like TV can only do Latinos or Blacks in prominent roles and not both in one TV show. Irritating.

[xaxat]

The General Manager is Latino. Remember when he referred to himself as the Latino Gerard Butler?

[Dee]

4 hours ago, pivot said:

It seems like TV can only do Latinos or Blacks in prominent roles and not both in one TV show.

Wait until TV finds out you can be both at the same time!

[BoogieBurns]

On 9/27/2016 at 9:20 AM, DeLurker said:

Adding to the list of Asian males on my tv:  Ken Leung, Mark Dacascos and Naveen Andrews.

I really like all three of them and would be happy if they were on my tv on a regular basis, even Mark Dacascos because I love his cheesey goodness.  Plus, he's always awesome in fight scenes.

 

On 9/27/2016 at 3:45 PM, Hybridcookie said:

I loved Ken Leung on Lost.

There's also Harry Shum Jr

Anyone mention the dreamy Randall Park? I want to marry him and make Blasian babies.

[Irlandesa]

7 hours ago, pivot said:

I thought that Pitch was a good pilot but the casting was way too white. Where were all the Latinos that dominate MLB now? It seems like TV can only do Latinos or Blacks in prominent roles and not both in one TV show. Irritating.

I think that's something to look at going forward but this show's cast is a minority majority show with 5 people of color in the main cast, including the lead compared to 3 white cast members. (And I'm including MPG as white because he "looks" white even though he has a half Asian mom.) That's still pretty rare for a TV show.

[possibilities]

I think Dr Ken is not a very good show, but Ken J is the lead, so I guess that counts as another Asian male.

[Raja]

17 hours ago, Irlandesa said:

I think that's something to look at going forward but this show's cast is a minority majority show with 5 people of color in the main cast, including the lead compared to 3 white cast members. (And I'm including MPG as white because he "looks" white even though he has a half Asian mom.) That's still pretty rare for a TV show.

With most shows it is okay just to include a mixture, messing up the mix of a modern Major League Baseball Club. with MLB giving full support and trademarks is almost like saying we are okay with a few people in a show about the Tuskegee Airmen

[atomationage]

Is anyone else watching Loosely Exactly Nicole?  I'm watching the first episode.  Nicole Byer is pretty funny, but does she ever interact with anyone else black?

[Just Here]

So, on Wednesday, it was announced that NBC was developing a series titled "Mail Order Family."

This is how Deadline described it:

Quote

NBC has put in development Mail Order Family, a half-hour comedy from Superstore writer-producer Jackie Clarke, director-executive producer Ruben Fleischer and executive producer David Bernad. Universal TV, where Fleischer is under an overall deal, is the studio.

Written and executive produced by Clarke, Mail Order Family is loosely based on Clarke’s family. It follows a widowed single father who orders a mail-order bride from the Philippines to help raise his two preteen daughters.

That was the extent of the description, just a log-line.

 

Nerds of Color has some additional background in an article criticizing the project:

Quote

The series is loosely based on comedian Jackie Clarke’s life — which has already been told in an animated webseries and as a story on PBS’s This American Life. Her father had his children look through a catalog for a potential wife to be mailed over from the Philippines. He bought a wife and both lived unhappily together for several years. Clarke’s new stepmother not only rejected her attempts at closeness but also divorced her father after discovering he had a secret family in the Philippines. Eventually, Clarke’s father abandoned his kids to be with his new family in the Philippines as well. And now her story is being turned into a comedy. Funny, right?

There are many, many problems with a show like this being picked up.

For one, with the series listed as a family comedy, it is endorsing the concept of mail order brides and marketing it as a positive characteristic of a “kooky” family. Human trafficking of a woman to be married off to a man she doesn’t know should not be a laughing matter.

(Note: Links to the webseries and a podcast of the PBS episode are in the original article.)

After criticism on Twitter (Mic.com), news articles, and a Change.org petition (with ~10,000 signers), by Friday afternoon, NBC decided to not move forward with the project (Deadline).

 

Given that this was a comedy/sitcom,* it just sounds like a "bad idea."  So, I have no problems with most of the objections.  And, the fact that this project got approved without any apparent due diligence or significant modifications is just more proof that Hollywood needs more diversity up and down the development chain.

That said, one minor issue raised by this, is the fact that the project, given its early stage, was apparently not allowed a chance to re-tool the concept:  E.g., by removing the mail-order-bride angle (e.g., whirlwind marriage after meeting on a cruise), or by giving it a more serious treatment while still staying a comedy (e.g. genuine mail order bride shows up at wrong house, hilarity ensues, but also serious complications such as a jealous/controlling would-be "buyer" husband, immigration issues, family problems back home in the Philippines, et cetera). And, if the mail order bride angle was retained, the series could have worked with anti-human-trafficking organizations to publicize the human rights issues of mail order bride victims, which would have generated more long-term positive publicity than an online petition that few people will ever hear about.

 

*And, to some of the "but it's based on a real life situation" pushback I've seen elsewhere, regarding the scrapping of the project:  If this was a serious prestige drama by FX, HBO, or Netflix/Amazon, then I'm sure that people would have more much faith that the serious issues would be more properly handled, compared to a network sitcom.

[memememe76]

I don't know, I would watch both. Didn't Fresh Off the Boat face similar anger before it aired?

Also don't know why I would give cable shows the benefit of the doubt. Their diversity is way worse than network.