Race & Ethnicity On TV

[jhlipton]

Has anyone noticed this...  At least two shows (one is Chicago Justice, I don't recall the other) have co-opted the #BlackLivesMatter movement to show that one of their WHITE leads "care"?  Disgusting.

[phoenics]

16 hours ago, jhlipton said:

Has anyone noticed this...  At least two shows (one is Chicago Justice, I don't recall the other) have co-opted the #BlackLivesMatter movement to show that one of their WHITE leads "care"?  Disgusting.

Yes - they've taken BLM and used it to center whiteness.  That new cop+tech show appears to be doing the same.  Can't remember the name of it.  This is more common than we think - at least Scandal avoided it (barely) - but only because Kerry is the star - and even then I was dissatisfied with how Shonda did that storyline.

But this is so common - most causes important to black people have been used in one way or another on tv to center whiteness again.  It's the only thing these writers/producers seem to be capable of - it's what they know and it never seems to occur to them to actually center non-whiteness.  

These days I'm shocked if I see three women and they put the black woman in the middle.  I remember watching commercials as a kid, teen, and then young adult and NEVER seeing a black girl centered if there was a white girl present.

[Silver Raven]

34 minutes ago, phoenics said:

That new cop+tech show appears to be doing the same.  Can't remember the name of it.

APB?

[jhlipton]

Just now, phoenics said:

These days I'm shocked if I see three women and they put the black woman in the middle.  I remember watching commercials as a kid, teen, and then young adult and NEVER seeing a black girl centered if there was a white girl present.

This why I blocked Star.  

BTW, have you heard that the extraordinary success of Hidden Figures has led to a pilot about (you guessed it) white female astronauts?

[phoenics]

1 hour ago, jhlipton said:

This why I blocked Star.  

BTW, have you heard that the extraordinary success of Hidden Figures has led to a pilot about (you guessed it) white female astronauts?

Really?!?!  *throws something at the wall*

Sure - Scarlett Johanssen - gender equality is SO MUCH MORE important than race issues.

Referencing the actresses' stupid recent comments about Ghost in the Shell.  I STG if one more white actress bemoans her horrid fate in being a "woman in hollywood" while women of color actresses get crumbs I will seriously scream.

[jhlipton]

Just now, phoenics said:

Referencing the actresses' stupid recent comments about Ghost in the Shell.  I STG if one more white actress bemoans her horrid fate in being a "woman in hollywood" while women of color actresses get crumbs I will seriously scream.

It's not like Johanssen is lacking for parts, either... unlike, say, Nicole Beharie.  

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

On a positive note, Shots Fired looks somewhat exploitive, but at least it has a BLACK female lead.  I guess we'll see how long that lasts.

[phoenics]

I love Sanaa - but it's Fox!  I hate what they did to Nicole Beharie.  I skipped Pitch because of it.  I may pick that show up, but only AFTER it's gone a few seasons in and folks say it's safe to watch.

[Dee]

Riverdale's only aired three episodes and folks are already complaining about Josie & The Pussycats.

[phoenics]

7 minutes ago, Dee said:

Riverdale's only aired three episodes and folks are already complaining about Josie & The Pussycats.

What's happened there?  Nevermind - I looked it up.  That's awesome casting!  I hope it doesn't mean the characters will live on the margins though, as per usual when characters of color are introduced in GB's worlds.

Edited February 12, 2017 by phoenics

[jhlipton]

Just now, phoenics said:

I love Sanaa - but it's Fox!  I hate what they did to Nicole Beharie.  I skipped Pitch because of it.  I may pick that show up, but only AFTER it's gone a few seasons in and folks say it's safe to watch.

You're the reason Pitch isn't getting the ratings it deserves!!!  LOL

Seriously -- it is crazy-good and they subvert a lot of tropes .

Just now, Dee said:

Riverdale's only aired three episodes and folks are already complaining about Josie & The Pussycats.

I don't watch, but just from the previews, it looks like the black girls have no interaction with the rest of the cast, ands certainly not with the main plot(s).

[Silver Raven]

13 minutes ago, phoenics said:

What's happened there?  Nevermind - I looked it up.  That's awesome casting!  I hope it doesn't mean the characters will live on the margins though, as per usual when characters of color are introduced in GB's worlds.

The whole show is full of people of color.  The actor who plays Archie is half Maori, Veronica and her mother are Latinas, and Josie's mother is the mayor.

[callie lee 29]

Yeah, I find Riverdale weird.. On one hand the comics had, if I remember right, two black characters - Chuck and Melody. The show kept Melody and Chuck black, made the mayor, Josie, the other Pussycat, and Mr. Weatherbee black ( the coach is black as well, I just don't remember if he was in the comics). Additionally, they cast as Archie, the male lead, with an actor who is half Maori and cast Reggie with an actor who is half-Indonisian. Now Archie definitely is supposed to be white, not sure about the tv-version of Reggie.

 

On the other hand, Josie and the Pussycats only have ever interacted with Archie (to be fair, the comic Josie et al never really interacted with the main group that much either) and the only time they've shown Chuck is this past episode and made him the quasi-leader in some sex point club that rates the women of the high school and slut-shames them.

 

Sigh...

[Popples]

Coach Clayton in the Archie comics was always black (he's Chuck's dad) and Chuck's girlfriend was Nancy. Melody was the ditzy blonde drummer from Josie and the Pussycats.

I was a total Archie Comics nerd when I was a teenager (and sometimes I'm so tempted to splurge and pick up the odd issue now and then while waiting to check out from grocery shopping), but for some reason this version of it just didn't interest me.

[callie lee 29]

One of the Pussycats was black, I thought it was Melody!! Whoops. (In my defense I am 42 years old. it's been awhile!). I remember Chuck having a girlfriend, but really vaguely. I don't think she was featured much. And honestly I barely remember the Coach being in the comics, didn't realize they kept that parental angle.

I do think it's sad that they have taken the biggest minority character in the strip and turned him into a complete dick.

[Dee]

As a television show, Riverdale has done a fairly good job of diversifying a fairly non-diverse comic. Many of the secondary and tertiary characters were cast with actors of color.

Principal Weatherbee, Coach Clayton, Pop Tate and Mayor McCoy are all black; however, while KJ Apa is half-Samoan, Archie remains decidedly whitebread and though the Lodges (Veronica and Hermione) are played by Latinas, they both possess lighter skin & non-ethnic features.

The actors who play Reggie (Ross Butler) and Chuck (Jordan Calloway) are handsome, talented actors; but their characters are a different story. One is an epic tool (both in the comics & on the show) and the other has been turned from a kindhearted illustrator into a conniving sex predator.

The now all-black Josie & the Pussycats have only had a couple non-singing speaking scenes yet they're already being referred to as "insufferable" and "nasty" despite the fact that Cheryl and Veronica way outrank them on the bitch meter.

Edited February 12, 2017 by Dee

[Trini]

On 1/11/2017 at 10:30 PM, DearEvette said:

For the entire first season of Crazy Ex-Girlfriend I thought Vella Lovell, the actress who plays Rebeca's friend Heather was Indian or of Indian descent.  But there is an episode of the show in Season 2 where we meet Heather's parents and I was suprised that her dad was black and her mother was white.  Turns out that mimics the actress's own biracial make up.  She did say in an interview that she tends to get cast as Indian.

BTW, I am tickled that even with the low ratings, Crazy Ex Girlfriend just got renewed.  The show is so fantastically diverse.  Rebecca is Jewish.  Valencia is Latina.  Heather is biracial.  Josh is Asian.  White Josh is gay.  Hector is Latino.  Paula is over 40.  Paula's new bff  Sunil is Indian. 

Going back to this from a month ago....

See, even with that episode it still didn't come across to me that Heather was supposed to be biracial. My thought was, "Aw, the interracial couple adopted an Indian kid!" The actress looks really Indian to me, I guess! But thanks for the info!

[DearEvette]

9 hours ago, Dee said:

Principal Weatherbee, Coach Clayton, Pop Tate and Mayor McCoy are all black; however, while KJ Apa is half-Samoan, Archie remains decidedly whitebread and though the Lodges (Veronica and Hermione) are played by Latinas, they both possess lighter skin & non-ethnic features.

I've only watched two episode of Riverdale, but from what I saw they doing what I call wallpaper diversity.  The non-white characters are there are decoration.  They don't feel like actual people who are really part of the storyline.  Josie and the Pussycats show up to sing.  Josie has had a few badly written monologues but outside of the pussycats and Archie does she even interact with anyone?  I haven't seen the last episode so maybe it has gotten better?  Have any of the other Pussycats even had more than a line or two? 

And yeah Veronica is Latina.  Which is great but she is still a White Latina. 

[Dee]

The latest episode of Riverdale alluded to a close friendship between Josie and Cheryl; one that was significant enough to get Josie to allow a previously persona non-grata Archie to sit in on a week's worth of Pussycat rehearsals.

Outside of performing at school & community events, Josie & the girls haven't interacted with anyone, besides Cheryl and Archie; and Josie's done all the talking with the other Pussycats reduced to an interjection and brief singing solos. 

This episode also introduced Valerie's brother, Trev; who played a small, yet crucial, role in helping Veronica & Betty with their plan. IMDB has Trev appearing in at least one more episode, but they're hardly reliable, so who knows. 

[phoenics]

Sounds like typical CW "diversity".  Where whiteness is centered no matter what.  A switch in my brain must have gone off because I get raging mad at shows that continue to do this.

[JBC344]

With all due respect I think I'm going to give Riverdale some more episodes before I start judging it too harshly.  It's only aired a handful of episodes (3 maybe?) so far so I don't know if a fair assessment can be made of plot points that haven't been explored yet. 

[HunterHunted]

On 2/11/2017 at 9:23 PM, Dee said:

Riverdale's only aired three episodes and folks are already complaining about Josie & The Pussycats.

I've been watching and most of my issues are that The Pussycats feel like they are in a completely different show. They never interact with the rest of the cast. They had a brief talk with Archie about how much harder it is for a black woman than for a white male, which it is, and then rolled over. Josie talked about how their music addresses injustice and inequality, which so far has not been proven to be true. So my issues with The Pussycats is that they are not integrated with the cast and they seem to be t-shirt activists.

[Dee]

The song the Pussycats were practicing when Archie initially approached them was fairly social justice oriented.

Since then the band has only been seen playing football games, school dances and society functions (in support of Josie's mom), none of which are/were exceedingly appropriate for 'protest music.'

Edited February 13, 2017 by Dee

[memememe76]

If the lead singer was white, her "hostile" attitude towards Archie would very likely cause the viewer to think the two will at some point hook up. Sure, they haven't interacted with much of the rest of the cast, but if you are going to interact with someone, it'd better be the main character. Also, given the lead singer's mother is the mayor of the city and played by Robin Friggin Givens, I figure the writers will avoid relegating the Pussycats to Vonda Shepard status.

Edited February 13, 2017 by memememe76

[proserpina65]

11 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

I've been watching and most of my issues are that The Pussycats feel like they are in a completely different show. They never interact with the rest of the cast. They had a brief talk with Archie about how much harder it is for a black woman than for a white male, which it is, and then rolled over. Josie talked about how their music addresses injustice and inequality, which so far has not been proven to be true. So my issues with The Pussycats is that they are not integrated with the cast and they seem to be t-shirt activists.

To be fair, they always felt like they were in a different comic too.

[topanga]

On 2/11/2017 at 1:38 PM, phoenics said:

Yes - they've taken BLM and used it to center whiteness.  That new cop+tech show appears to be doing the same.  Can't remember the name of it.  This is more common than we think - at least Scandal avoided it (barely) - but only because Kerry is the star - and even then I was dissatisfied with how Shonda did that storyline.

Another show did it: UnReal. An innocent black man was shot by a police officer, and the remainder of the show was about how the white characters reacted to the shooting, not the victim, or even the victim's black friend, who was the Bachelor-like character that season.  There was one black writer on that episode, and she alluded to the fact that she'd written at least one scene about the black characters that was later edited out of the episode (or not filmed, period). 

[xaxat]

In a 'Historic' Move, The Bachelor Has Apparently, Finally Cast Its First Black Lead in the Franchise

Quote

After 21 seasons of The Bachelor, after 12 seasons of The Bachelorette, and after 15 years on the air, ABC will reportedly announce on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Monday night that they’ve cast their first black lead of the franchise.

[phoenics]

8 hours ago, topanga said:

Another show did it: UnReal. An innocent black man was shot by a police officer, and the remainder of the show was about how the white characters reacted to the shooting, not the victim, or even the victim's black friend, who was the Bachelor-like character that season.  There was one black writer on that episode, and she alluded to the fact that she'd written at least one scene about the black characters that was later edited out of the episode (or not filmed, period). 

OMG don't remind me... ugh. That was so poorly done. What was worse was how the producer/showrunner was convinced at how groundbreaking it was - when they did what all other shows do.  I find this happens a lot with some white showrunners - because they aren't familiar with how black shows and other shows have handled it, they pat themselves on the back for doing mediocrity and centering whiteness again.

1 hour ago, xaxat said:

In a 'Historic' Move, The Bachelor Has Apparently, Finally Cast Its First Black Lead in the Franchise

OMG - and it's actually The Bachelorette!  THAT will be a season I might actually watch - just to support a sista being The Bachelorette.  Plus she's an attorney?!  Win.

[Oracle42]

Funny or Die did a Black bachelor skit

[jhlipton]

1 hour ago, phoenics said:

OMG - and it's actually The Bachelorette!  THAT will be a season I might actually watch - just to support a sista being The Bachelorette.  Plus she's an attorney?!  Win.

Dayummmm...  She's ALL that!  Now I have to watch too!

[Minneapple]

23 hours ago, HunterHunted said:

I've been watching and most of my issues are that The Pussycats feel like they are in a completely different show. They never interact with the rest of the cast. They had a brief talk with Archie about how much harder it is for a black woman than for a white male, which it is, and then rolled over. Josie talked about how their music addresses injustice and inequality, which so far has not been proven to be true. So my issues with The Pussycats is that they are not integrated with the cast and they seem to be t-shirt activists.

My bigger issue is that they are bordering the line of "angry black women" stereotypes (at least with Josie, who I'm pretty sure is the only one who's had a speaking line so far) and have little character development outside of that. I hope they do get some character development soon. 

[Dee]

How is Josie bordering on an 'angry black woman' stereotype?

[Minneapple]

Well, basically most of what she has done other than sing is yell about her disadvantage as a black woman. Which I don't disagree with. But at this point she's a two-dimensional character at best. She and the other Pussycats -- I don't even remember their names, have they said them on the show? -- have zero depth. I did like that she agreed to work with Archie and took his suggestions for lyrics. I also liked that she quickly moved to start performing in the last episode when the altercation nearly caused a scene at her mom's function. It's a start. I hope we get more. 

[Dee]

Yelled? Josie's never even so much as raised her voice once on the show.

And she simply told Archie he couldn't & wouldn't be the mouthpiece for women of color because he can't comprehend their struggle. 

The fact that Archie was allowed to sit in on the band's rehearsals (after selfishly disregarding Josie's feelings), and had his amateurish attempts at songwriting entertained, makes Josie & the girls the epitome of graciousness.

Also, don't get too hopeful for more depth for the Pussycats; characters of color on CW shows (besides The Flash) historically do not fare well.  

Edited February 14, 2017 by Dee

[DearEvette]

I think it is a major fail for one of the very few POC characters (who are actually coded as a POC in the show) to start their show tenure with talking about their race.  To me it is exhausting that what seems to be the defining characteristic of this so far minor character is her talking about her blackness.  Introduce her, give her a storyline, let us get to know her, show us what she is up against if you really need to go there.  Don't have her speechifying about it in episode three when she has literally done nothing else from a character standpoint.  It would have been so much more effective to have had scenes where Josie & the Pussycats are being shown as having a hard time getting their music out there while at the same time showing some (white) other person who is less talented having it easier.  Anvilicious? maybe.  But at least it would have contextualized her statements.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Quote

Another show did it: UnReal. An innocent black man was shot by a police officer, and the remainder of the show was about how the white characters reacted to the shooting, not the victim, or even the victim's black friend, who was the Bachelor-like character that season.  There was one black writer on that episode, and she alluded to the fact that she'd written at least one scene about the black characters that was later edited out of the episode (or not filmed, period). 

This happened way last summer so I was wondering if anyone would remember that mess. I know it's a show that prides itself on having despicable characters do despicable things but their take on BLM--while it was still a hot button issue*--was disgusting, IMO. The show wanted to get the credit for having a Black bachelor before the real Bachelor did (heh, they bet on the wrong gender) but it seemed to me like they didn't know what to do with the ground they broke. There was so much wrong with that season it was ridiculous.

*not that it hasn't remained an important issue but back then killings still were happening fairly frequently.

Edited February 14, 2017 by Joimiaroxeu

[JBC344]

No offense to anyone's critique but can anyone really say anything definitely about a show that has only aired three episodes?  I'm not implying that this show will "cure" diversity in television but I don't know if a fair assessment can be made considering the number of episodes that have aired in relation to a large diverse cast. 

I mean after three episodes are any of the "white" characters that firmly developed?  I think it's a little pre-mature personally.  I'm going to give it another five or six episodes, then for me I'll be able to say that with this large a cast, the show fails or succeeds at diversity.

[Irlandesa]

11 hours ago, JBC344 said:

No offense to anyone's critique but can anyone really say anything definitely about a show that has only aired three episodes?  I'm not implying that this show will "cure" diversity in television but I don't know if a fair assessment can be made considering the number of episodes that have aired in relation to a large diverse cast. 

I don't watch Riverdale, as it's not really a genre that interests me, but I absolutely think it's fair to make a reasonably definite critique about it at this juncture. Characters might not be fully fleshed out but the way a show treats its non-white characters (or non-straight characters or even women) is usually a harbinger of their future development or role in the story. 

Take the aforementioned UnREAL, for instance.  It had a very good first season but there weren't many POC featured.  The second season introduced a black bachelor.  After the first or second episode of the second season aired, an article (or blog post) was written very critical about how the show was treating the black bachelor and bachelorettes introduced.  There was a similar response to the critique about how it was too soon to write that kind of critique about UnREAL and yet, the show ended up living down to that critique in a more perverse way than many anticipated. 

It's true that shows are still developing in their early episodes and will likely get better.  But by the third episode, it's already hinting at its vision for the characters.  It's already telling you what stories they deem as important to tell first.  The show may get better in terms of storytelling but it's pretty rare for them to suddenly figure out how to handle people of color. (Or another underrepresented group.) 

So I do think it's fair to make a reasonably definitive critique on a show after three episodes.  In my anecdotal experience, it's usually pretty accurate.

Edited February 15, 2017 by Irlandesa

[JBC344]

1 hour ago, Irlandesa said:

I don't watch Riverdale, as it's not really a genre that interests me, but I absolutely think it's fair to make a reasonably definite critique about it at this juncture. Characters might not be fully fleshed out but the way a show treats its non-white characters (or non-straight characters or even women) is usually a harbinger of their future development or role in the story. 

Take the aforementioned UnREAL, for instance.  It had a very good first season but there weren't many POC featured.  The second season introduced a black bachelor.  After the first or second episode of the second season aired, an article (or blog post) was written very critical about how the show was treating the black bachelor and bachelorettes introduced.  There was a similar response to the critique about how it was too soon to write that kind of critique about UnREAL and yet, the show ended up living down to that critique in a more perverse way than many anticipated. 

It's true that shows are still developing in their early episodes and will likely get better.  But by the third episode, it's already hinting at its vision for the characters.  It's already telling you what stories they deem as important to tell first.  The show may get better in terms of storytelling but it's pretty rare for them to suddenly figure out how to handle people of color. (Or another underrepresented group.) 

So I do think it's fair to make a reasonably definitive critique on a show after three episodes.  In my anecdotal experience, it's usually pretty accurate.

But by your own logic, Unreal SHOULDN'T have had a second season because they hardly had any POC characters in the first season.  To me criticizing the second season of a show is fair because you have a whole season's worth episodes to analyze so that when POC are front and center in the second season, there is an actual basis there. 

Riverdale is an incredibly diverse "looking" show that has aired three episodes only.  I guess my main issue is that can you actually make a case for the POC characters being treated differently if there isn't a big enough sample size to compare them to the white characters. 

Can anyone who has watched the show actually say that after three episodes they have noticed that Archie, Betty, Jughead, and all the other white characters are fully formed three dimensional characters compared to the POC characters?

Again I have no idea what will become of this show.  I would personally like to give it a chance to impress or disappoint me, and I can't make that call after three episodes.  There is also a "mystery" element to this show that should be taken into consideration in the sense that it would make more sense to me from a "roll out" perspective to showcase all the "traditional" characters from the comics as set up before the mystery really begins to unravel with whatever twists and turns the supporting cast will play in the mystery.

Edited February 15, 2017 by JBC344

[Irlandesa]

1 hour ago, JBC344 said:

But by your own logic, Unreal SHOULDN'T have had a second season because they hardly had any POC characters in the first season.  To me criticizing the second season of a show is fair because you have a whole season's worth episodes to analyze so that when POC are front and center in the second season, there is an actual basis there. 

But that wasn't my logic.  I never said or implied a show with a primarily white cast shouldn't exist.  I'd be a hypocrite since I watch plenty. I was simply stating that I think logical conclusions about how it handles its diversity can be drawn after only a few episodes. 

It's a fair thing to do.

But it's also fair for you to want to give the show more of a chance.  It's not righter or wronger than deciding it's a disappointment from the a diversity perspective. 

[Minneapple]

1 hour ago, JBC344 said:

Can anyone who has watched the show actually say that after three episodes they have noticed that Archie, Betty, Jughead, and all the other white characters are fully formed three dimensional characters compared to the POC characters?

Yeah, they are. The Pussycats (seriously...have we even learned their names on the show) other than Josie have done nothing other than sing. Jughead is the narrator and Archie and Betty (along with Veronica, who is Latina on the show) are the best-developed characters. At least we met Josie's mom and we know she's the mayor, but her role has been way less prominent than the white parents on the show. 

Anyway. I'm sticking with the show for now. I do think it has some good things going for it. I'm just hoping that it's not like Josie and the Pussycats show up and sing every episode for their black airtime quota, maybe have a scene or two and then that's it. I hope they actually become, like, part of the mystery and interact with the other characters more.

As for UnREAL, I gave up on it last year after the ridiculous episode with the police shooting. No, show, you do not get to shoot a black man and then frame it as "how does this affect the white people." 

[Trini]

36 minutes ago, Minneapple said:

Yeah, they are. The Pussycats (seriously...have we even learned their names on the show) other than Josie have done nothing other than sing. Jughead is the narrator and Archie and Betty (along with Veronica, who is Latina on the show) are the best-developed characters. At least we met Josie's mom and we know she's the mayor, but her role has been way less prominent than the white parents on the show. 

I don't watch the show, but it seems like Archie/Betty/Jughead/Veronica are the leads/central characters, so wouldn't they be better developed anyway?

Not trying to excuse making the characters of color one-dimensional (again, I haven't watched) but I wasn't expecting much from Riverdale based on the source material and network.

[Trini]

But speaking of CW; The Flash's last episode had a family meeting that had five black people with speaking roles (the most I've seen on any of the superhero shows) in one scene, and the lead was the only white person there. It was beautiful. Not sure how often that happens on CW. The decision to make the West family black has paid some dividends.

[DearEvette]

21 hours ago, JBC344 said:

No offense to anyone's critique but can anyone really say anything definitely about a show that has only aired three episodes?  I'm not implying that this show will "cure" diversity in television but I don't know if a fair assessment can be made considering the number of episodes that have aired in relation to a large diverse cast. 

I mean after three episodes are any of the "white" characters that firmly developed?  I think it's a little pre-mature personally.  I'm going to give it another five or six episodes, then for me I'll be able to say that with this large a cast, the show fails or succeeds at diversity.

I think it depends on how you personally curate your television watching.  For some people they do give stuff a chance for others, if it doesn't catch them right away then they are out.  And for still others, problematic themes can sour what might be an otherwise ok show so they watch with a jaded eye. 

For me personally, diversity is important in a show.  And not just having brown faces speckle the crowd, but giving them actual character agency and a real life.  The pre-air marketing did not just feature Archie, Betty, Veronica and Jughead  (which honestly what I would have expected) but it also featured Cheryl and Josie very prominently which would lead one to believe they were also important parts of the ensemble.  It was that marketing of Josie as a potentially major character that actually prompted me to even give the show a shot since this sort of CW show isn't normally my thing.

So to be three episodes in and for it to 1) feel like she is not even part of the main story and 2) have her go on about how hard it is to be a black woman as one of the first defining aspects of her personality is rather disheartening.  And it doesn't bode well, imo, if that is what the lede is with that character.

This is not to say the show can't get better.  But it is fair to judge them on what they have given so far.

[tennisgurl]

The CW also has Jane the Virgin, which has an almost entirely Hispanic cast, and

Spoiler

just killed off the only white guy in the main cast, Janes husband Michael *sobs forever*.

and Crazy Ex Girlfriend, which is a pretty diverse show, by race, religion, and orientation, although its not perfect by any means. And the Arrowverse shows do alright in diversity, even though they have, sadly, only had white characters as the main heroes. They do, however, have a lot of POC characters who have well developed personalities and arcs, especially on The Flash, which has the whole West family and a black female lead who is one half of the shows One True Pairing. I'm certainly not saying the CW is a paragon of diversity, but its not totally all white, all the time.

As for Archie, I'm holding off from making a full judgement until a few more episodes. I appreciate that they have tried to make Riverdale a more diverse place than in the comics, but I question how that diversity is being portrayed now. Most of the non white characters (except for Veronica) have been background characters, and rather stereotypical (sassy black women Josie, sassy gay friend Kevin), or villainous (Reggie, the jerk slut shaming jock from last week) but, as I said, I will give them some time to work out the kinks.

I saw some people mention Unreal earlier, and last season was an absolute mess for about a hundred reasons, and the racial stuff was a big one. It was like the writers had a list of "topical" issues they wanted to deal with (black lives matter women! black bachelor! Muslim women! Mental illness! Republican woman! Rape!) to get attention for the media and the critics, but they never actually bothered really thinking about the issues they were talking about, so it just came off as cheap and exploitative. Which is ironic for a show criticizing reality shows for being cheap and exploitative.

[xaxat]

I originally posted this in the Race and Ethnicity in the Movies thread, but it's too good not to cross post here.

Michael K. Williams asks, Am I Typecast?

[allyw]

I see many go to shows for Latino's diversity are the White ones. Are there any shows that features Black Latinos and explicitly states that that's what they are?

[callie lee 29]

Well, I watch Riverdale and lurk in the forums here and there's a ton of people who think Archie is not fully formed at all. And truthfully, Jughead has not been featured much. Right now the show is the Betty & Veronica (with a side of Cheryl) Hour.  They're probably the only one's who seem multi-dimensional. (And I like Archie, not a very popular opinion it seems.) 

The Pussycats (Josie, Melody and Valerie, thank you Wikipedia) probably have had more screentime total than Jughead (definitely more than Reggie), which is a little surprising based on the comics. They didn't interact much with the Archie characters, unless it was a story where they were featured. I do have a suspesion they and/or the Mayor, aka Josie's mom, will be more heavily featured later. Robin Givens is playing her and I would think they'll play up that name recognition. Right now she's only had a couple of brief cameos. 

I know this has been mentioned before, but one of the best shows for diversity (IMO) on a major network is The Good Place. I'm going to be supre pissed if they cancel it. 

[JustaPerson]

I watched The Flash series not long ago on Netflix and made a really weird discovery that there were pretty much no asians on the show. Other than one temporary love interest who was played by a half asian actress who looked fairly western. Not even as one-line characters or extras. I didn't really realize it until I saw an asian lab technician with a couple lines in one of the season 1 Grodd episodes. It really soured me on a show I was becoming a bit disillusioned with anyway. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, callie lee 29 said:

I know this has been mentioned before, but one of the best shows for diversity (IMO) on a major network is The Good Place. I'm going to be supre pissed if they cancel it. 

It has already been renewed for a second season. 

Spoiler

Quote

just killed off the only white guy in the main cast, Janes husband Michael *sobs forever*.

 

Both Michael and  white even if Rafael is very tan.  

Edited February 16, 2017 by Irlandesa

[Dee]

5 hours ago, allyw said:

I see many go to shows for Latino's diversity are the White ones. Are there any shows that features Black Latinos and explicitly states that that's what they are?

Gina Rodriguez is an afrolatina, despite the fact that Jane isn't.