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Race & Ethnicity On TV

callie lee 29

By callie lee 29
in Everything Else TV

Meredith Quill
Message added by Meredith Quill,

This is the place to discuss race and ethnicity issues related to TV shows only.

Go here for the equivalent movie discussions.

For general discussion without TV/Film context please use the Social Justice topic in Everything Else. 

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jhlipton
jhlipton

I have a lot of friends who are very active in working against racism and sexism and not a single one hates whites or men.  White male ego is so fragile that two women of color on the latest Star Trek

Trini
Trini

I mean, sure; but it would be weird to have everyone on TV look like this:   I personally like seeing people of different ethnicities in my entertainment.

DearEvette
DearEvette

Megyn Kelly doesn't have the charm or charisma to attract a morning talk show audience or any sort of positive attention.  The only time she gets any attention is when she does something execrable.

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DearEvette

DearEvette

On 10/23/2019 at 3:40 PM, xaxat said:

The Washington Post just published a list of The 20 defining comedy sketches of the past 20 years.

What I find interesting is how many of the sketches are about the experience of African Americans. SNL's Black Jeopardy and multiple Key and Peele and Chappelle show sketches. 

(It's a totally subjective list and not worth spending too much time arguing about. But for Chappelle, I would have replaced one of their picks with Black Bush.)

I just re-watched the Rick James sketch and holy cow, I am now cry-laughing so loud and hard. I have seen the sketch before, of course, and am aware of its iconic status, but seeing it again fresh just .... man.  So brilliant. 

I think what takes it over the top is that Rick James is actually there completely backing up Charlie Murphy's story but even more raw in his way.  Also, the one part where they rewound the tape so we make sure caught him in a contradictory statement he'd made just seconds before... just... man. So brilliant!

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xaxat

xaxat

2 hours ago, DearEvette said:

I just re-watched the Rick James sketch and holy cow, I am now cry-laughing so loud and hard. I have seen the sketch before, of course, and am aware of its iconic status, but seeing it again fresh just .... man.  So brilliant. 

Chappelle was awarded the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor on Sunday. 

I don't know his new stuff, but Chappelle Show and his early concert movies were genius. Just the name of his skits can evoke hilarious laughter from those who know them. 

"You're thinking about investing in Uber? You need to call Wu Tang Financial."

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DearEvette

DearEvette

Has anyone seen Dolemite is My Name on Netflix?  My husband and I watched it last night and it is fantastic. 

Reminds me of why I thought Eddie Murphy deserved the Oscar for his performance in Dreamgirls.  He brought the same energy to this.   The entire supporting cast is also uniformly excellent especially Wesley Snipes and Da'Vine Joy Randolph. 

My favorite parts were all the scenes surrounding the making of the (real) Blaxsploitation movie Dolemite.  They were LOL funny.  And absolutely perfectly re-created in show.  But I love how the cast creates this wonderful found family and the slow cohesion of the movie making team who all come from various backgrounds -- including white film school students, Keegan Michael Key plays a film auetuer who feels like he is making an Important movie and Wesley Snipes who has an "I worked with famous people" famous adjacent tendencies..  The end credits show the scenes from the real movie and you can see how much attention to detail the movie paid. 

It is a rare bio pic because there is no wallowing in angst or anything like that.  Rudy (Dolemite's real name) is always an optimist and his optimism pays off. 

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Joimiaroxeu

Joimiaroxeu

Quote

I've been noticing a trend lately where Asian males are being presented as the attractive love interest- noticed this on Grey's Anatomy, Insatiable (both with Alex Landi), Prodigal Son, and Dynasty. Really cool to see!

Issa Rae's show Insecure too. I think there was a collective gasp across the interwebs when Molly's "Asian Bae" Andrew unloosed his manbun and his glorious black hair came flowing down. 🙂

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xaxat

xaxat

(edited)

I knew that eighties B list comedian Byron Allen was becoming a media mogul. (The Weather Channel is one of his properties.) but until today I had no idea he had a twenty billion dollar discrimination lawsuit against Comcast that was just heard by the Supreme Court.

I don't know the legal merits of the case, but I will always root against a cable company.

Edited by xaxat
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xaxat

xaxat

21 hours ago, xaxat said:

I knew that eighties B list comedian Byron Allen was becoming a media mogul. (The Weather Channel is one of his properties.) but until today I had no idea he had a twenty billion dollar discrimination lawsuit against Comcast that was just heard by the Supreme Court.

I don't know the legal merits of the case, but I will always root against a cable company.

OK, I did some more reading, and that lawsuit is about much more than the money. The decision by the Supreme Court could have a major effect on all racial discrimination lawsuits.

Supreme Court seems interested in limited ruling in civil rights case

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adora721

adora721

(edited)
On 11/10/2019 at 12:05 PM, methodwriter85 said:

I've been noticing a trend lately where Asian males are being presented as the attractive love interest- noticed this on Grey's Anatomy, Insatiable (both with Alex Landi), Prodigal Son, and Dynasty. Really cool to see!

There's an Asian male and Black woman couple on Chicago Med, too. Check out "House of the Flying Daggers" with Takeshi Kaneshiro in all his handsome glory. A few years ago, actress Issa Rae made comments (and got backlash) after she suggested that Black women should date Asian men.

On another note, Hilarie Burton claims she asked for more inclusion on a Hallmark Channel TV movie, and she was then fired for making the request.

Edited by adora721
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Luckylyn

Luckylyn

3 hours ago, adora721 said:

Unfortunately, this wasn't as good as I'd hoped, but I'm glad to see something like this. A few years ago pre-Duchess Meghan Markle (biracial) was paired with Kristoffer Polaha in the "Dater's Handbook" on Hallmark, which was good.

And they cast white actors to play her family members which is what they did in the other Hallmark movie Megan did When Sparks Fly.  I actually really like The Dater’s Handbook despite Hallmark’s shady casting decisions.

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DearEvette

DearEvette

I can't with Hallmark. 

And even though Lifetime Christmas movies are more diverse they still use the Hallmark formula with the production values that look bright and plasticy and characters with no romantic chemistry at all and a bunch of recycled plots.

Freeform is sticking its toe into Christmas rom-coms and I've seen two that look really interesting with plots that aren't Hallmark copy cats and casted with POC leads.

The Truth About Christmas

And

Ghosting the Spirit of Christmas

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DearEvette

DearEvette

Jesus Christ on a cracker!  How many iterations of his family life do we need to see?  Also, he got all the Netflix money and this is the story he chooses to tell again? And casting himself as well?   He is supposed to be a creative and the most he can create is to talk about his life?  That is what facebook is for.  LOL.

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UNOSEZ

UNOSEZ

16 hours ago, topanga said:

Kenya Barris tries to defend himself. Again. Badly.

I think I’m done with this man and his shows. Despite his loud protests, his casting choices show that he clearly doesn’t think brown-skinned people of color should have prominent roles on TV. 

Are you saying that the ppl casted on this new show aren't brown-skinned,  because on another forum that was my contention... To the ppl saying all these ppl he's hired are light and to me most are what would be considered lighter to Light-skinned... At least when we do speak on skin tones in my fam that's how we would classify these folks.. On this new show the only ppl I'd consider "light-skinned" are msg Jones the youngest daughter and maybe one of the boys... Everyone else ate varying shades of brown

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DearEvette

DearEvette

(edited)

My husband and I just finished binge watching Years and Years on HBO.  This show was never, ever on our radar.  We just started watching it out of the blue.  A boredom 'hey what is this' click as we were desultorily navigating around the channels.

We ended up really enjoying it.  It has a kind of  Black Mirror feel without that completely nihilistic feeling Black Mirror gives. It is a series that follows a British family as they live through years of political, social and technological developments & upheavals.  Each episode takes place every 5 years in the future.  Emma Thompson plays a political demagogue whose rise in power is fascinating to watch.

Lots of rep in this series.  The family is multicultural.  The eldest son is married to a black woman and they have two biracial daughters.  One of the sons is gay, one of the daughters is a lesbian and her gf is black, one of the daughters is disabled. The disabled daughter has a biracial Chinese child and later marries I believe a Middle Eastern man.  One character quietly goes about as a gender non-conformist.

Like I said we rather enjoyed it as an out of the blue find.  Here's the trailer:

 

Edited by DearEvette
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jenrising

jenrising

1 hour ago, DearEvette said:

My husband and I just finished binge watching Years and Years on HBO.  This show was never, ever on our radar.  We just started watching it out of the blue.  A boredom 'hey what is this' click as we were desultorily navigating around the channels.

We ended up really enjoying it.  It has a kind of  Black Mirror feel without that completely nihilistic feeling Black Mirror gives. It is a series that follows a British family as they live through years of political, social and technological developments & upheavals.  Each episode takes place every 5 years in the future.  Emma Thompson plays a political demagogue whose rise in power is fascinating to watch.

Lots of rep in this series.  The family is multicultural.  The eldest son is married to a black woman and they have two biracial daughters.  One of the sons is gay, one of the daughters is a lesbian and her gf is black, one of the daughters is disabled. The disabled daughter has a biracial Chinese child and later marries I believe a Middle Eastern man.  One character quietly goes about as a gender non-conformist.

Like I said we rather enjoyed it as an out of the blue find.  Here's the trailer:

 

This is the very first time I'm hearing of this but the trailer looks interesting.

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Trini

Trini

13 minutes ago, Irlandesa said:
20 minutes ago, possibilities said:

Does Bulletproof air in the USA? Would like to see it!

It aired on the CW this summer but I don't see it currently streaming or available on Demand anywhere in the US currently.

Here: https://www.cwtv.com/shows/bulletproof/

But only episodes 2-6 are available. Discussion topic in: Drama > Other Dramas

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Neurochick

Neurochick

(edited)
On 12/25/2019 at 5:05 AM, UNOSEZ said:

Are you saying that the ppl casted on this new show aren't brown-skinned,  because on another forum that was my contention... To the ppl saying all these ppl he's hired are light and to me most are what would be considered lighter to Light-skinned... At least when we do speak on skin tones in my fam that's how we would classify these folks.. On this new show the only ppl I'd consider "light-skinned" are msg Jones the youngest daughter and maybe one of the boys... Everyone else ate varying shades of brown

I think the real issue is there need to be more black people on the production side.  

Here's something else I don't get.  When I was a child in the 1960's and 70's, there were few black people on TV and most of them were dark skinned.  I don't know if light skinned people complained back then.   

Maybe what's happening is that there are more biracial people than there were 50 years ago.  

Edited by Neurochick
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UNOSEZ

UNOSEZ

1 hour ago, Neurochick said:

I think the real issue is there need to be more black people on the production side.  

Here's something else I don't get.  When I was a child in the 1960's and 70's, there were few black people on TV and most of them were dark skinned.  I don't know if light skinned people complained back then.   

Maybe what's happening is that there are more biracial people than there were 50 years ago.  

I grew up in the mid 90s and its been split.. For the women on tv I see an array.. Tho more lighter skinned/ multiracial types like the women in my fam... But for the dudes.. Mostly darker... Even on tv shows where you'd have siblings... The boy would be darker and the girl lighter with curlier hair... I don't say I ever really complained... I mean I know I don't really look like the dudes on the screen.. But its never overtly gotten on my nerves.. But when I do see a lighter or mixed race guy in a substantial role... I do get attached quicker... 

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Danny Franks

Danny Franks

(edited)
On 1/28/2020 at 8:24 PM, Trini said:

I don't watch Doctor Who, but this article gives a summary of it's handling of diversity: 

 

I remember when they rebooted Doctor Who, and some people were surprised (pleasantly and unpleasantly) that they cast a person of colour as Rose Tyler's boyfriend, and never commented on it. I was surprised that anyone thought it even noteworthy, though I guess this is an area where British television has always been a little ahead of American.

Noel Clarke was great as Mickey, both when he was Mickey the Idiot and when he became a more competent character.

Anyway, this is TV related, as all involved are WWE wrestlers, but Xavier Woods has a fairly major Youtube gaming channel called UpUpDownDown and last week held a tournament with a bunch of his friends and co-workers. Of the ten people involved, eight were people of colour - three African-American, three Samoan-American and two Latina. It's a really fun video.

Edited by Danny Franks
possibilities

possibilities

If producers were serious about this issue, they could easily mandate training and just not hire anyone who doesn't get it. You don't hire people for a job they are unqualified to do, period, end of story. And you find people who ARE qualified, even if it means going outside your habitual networks and making a little actual effort.

They could recruit people and pay for the training if there really aren't enough people in the pipeline, but it's hard for me to believe that competent people don't exist. They just need to be sought out and helped to get the credentials so they can join the union.

It's just inexcusable at this point.

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Ms.Moon

Ms.Moon

The lack of stylists who can do black hair has been an ongoing issue.  Many black actresses have said they would wear wigs or braids to avoid having white stylists do their hair.  Many black actresses brought their own makeup to sets as well.  I am not at all surprised by the nepotism in the industry being a barrier to stylists of color working in the industry.

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Neurochick

Neurochick

11 hours ago, Trini said:

Nothing really new here since the last time this topic has been brought up, but this Hollywood Reporter article does mention the union requirements: 'Hollywood's Black Hair Problem on Set: "We've All Cried in Our Trailers"'

Here comes the generalization:  Any hair stylist who can't do black women's hair is a fool.  I have known white hair stylists in the deep South (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) who learned how to do black women's hair because they knew they could make more money.  Period, end of story.

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Raja

Raja

4 hours ago, Neurochick said:

Here comes the generalization:  Any hair stylist who can't do black women's hair is a fool.  I have known white hair stylists in the deep South (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) who learned how to do black women's hair because they knew they could make more money.  Period, end of story.

Los Angeles segregation was a different animal than Southern segregation 

DearEvette

DearEvette

(edited)
Quote

Nothing really new here since the last time this topic has been brought up, but this Hollywood Reporter article does mention the union requirements: 'Hollywood's Black Hair Problem on Set: "We've All Cried in Our Trailers"'

And that, kids, is what institutional racism looks like. 

It sounds like the studios and union never had any incentive to force hairstylists to learn how to do black hair.  And why should they bother if they keep getting hired and no one penalizes them on not knowing how to be of service to all the front screen talent.  Meanwhile it sounds like stylists who know how aren't given the opportunity to build the credentials to join the union.

It reminds me of the catch-22 scenario that Ava Duvernay talks about wrt WOC female directors. Directing in tv is a very lucrative gig and once you get some episodes of shows under your belt you begin to build a resume until you can get episodes of some pretty prestigious tv shows and begin to build and even more impressive resume. 

The problem is, they won't hire you if you don't have any tv episode directing on your resume, but then how can you get tv episode directing on your resume if they don't hire you?

On 2/9/2020 at 12:45 PM, Neurochick said:

Any hair stylist who can't do black women's hair is a fool.  I have known white hair stylists in the deep South (Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi) who learned how to do black women's hair because they knew they could make more money.  Period, end of story.

So true.  One of my first jobs out of school was an a counselor/advisor at a big Division I PWI University.  There was a big merchant area right around the college that catered primarily to the students that had all sorts of shops including several beauty salons, but all were white owned and operated. 

When I would do new student orientation, one of my areas was college/community relations and it was my job to educate new students in what was available in the larger city off campus (how to get to the mall, off campus restaurants that were nice to visit for Parent's weekend etc). one of the most common questions I got from black female students was if I could recommend a good salon.  For years my colleagues and I would vet salons and would have on hand a good selection of salons to reccomend.  But of course they were more inconvenient for the black students to get to because they were off campus vs. the ones that catered to white students that were within walking distance. 

One year a black stylist rented a station in one of the salons on campus.  She was always booked.  Always.  She was the most booked stylist in that salon.  When the (white) owner realized this,  she and one other of her stylists got the training needed to style black hair and she made sure we knew about it so we would know to rec her to students.

Edited by DearEvette
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Meredith Quill
Message added by Meredith Quill,

This is the place to discuss race and ethnicity issues related to TV shows only.

Go here for the equivalent movie discussions.

For general discussion without TV/Film context please use the Social Justice topic in Everything Else. 

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