Race & Ethnicity On TV

[jhlipton]

I agree with race being a social construct, as is gender.  But your original post stated that gender is binary (and obvious), race is not. I acknowledge that there are various skin shades of blackness. I disagree that's necessarily evidence that race is never binary.  I believe it can be, and I also believe it contributes to lack of empathy about where racism and sexism intersect.  It's usually one or the other, but not both.  And that's why you have threads like Iris West where sexism can be openly discussed, but not racial bias. 

 

On a somewhat related note, there have been legitimate concerns about the binary nature of diversity on TV as well as race discussions, including on this thread if memory serves, by those who are Asian, Native, biracial, mixed, etc.       

 

I may not have been clear in my initial post.  I never meant to say that race is never binary -- you point out correctly that it can be.  I was saying that race is less often binary (not just in shades of darkness, but all other colors as well) than gender.

 

As diurnal creatures, it's somewhat natural for us to fear the darkness, and I think this where at least some of the "white is good, black is bad" comes from (plenty of other sources as well).  I can't help but wonder if nocturnal creatures, like owls, for example, have black good guys and white bad guys?

[DearEvette]

 

but considering the later flack The Cosby Show got about the Huxtables being upper middle class and how they weren't "keeping it real", I can only imagine that it was much the same for that show.

 

Who did that flack for the Cosby show come from?  My overwhelming experience (albeit no internet at the time) was the on the whole black folks were a) happy to see black representation on tv in a positive manner and b) the Cosbys lifestyle was a tacit reminder that black folks really could achieve.  Denise especially struck me as very realistic.  She was always That Girl.  You know the one -- the cool, pretty bougie one with the money and the best clothes.  You either wanted to be her friend or you were brightly jealous of her.  She might have lived three neighborhoods over where the nice houses were and they had a pool, but she definitely existed. 

 

Mind you, there have always been an educated, wealthy black upper class in this country.  And by the time the Cosby show came along there was also a  thriving upmarket professional class as well.  There are quite a few rich black folks whose wealth does not come from either entertainment or sports and whose wealth is also generational.  But it seems at  times that black folks are just as ignorant of that fact as white folks.  

[Cobalt Stargazer]

Who did that flack for the Cosby show come from?  My overwhelming experience (albeit no internet at the time) was the on the whole black folks were a) happy to see black representation on tv in a positive manner and b) the Cosbys lifestyle was a tacit reminder that black folks really could achieve.  Denise especially struck me as very realistic.  She was always That Girl.  You know the one -- the cool, pretty bougie one with the money and the best clothes.  You either wanted to be her friend or you were brightly jealous of her.  She might have lived three neighborhoods over where the nice houses were and they had a pool, but she definitely existed. 

 

The coffee hasn't really taken effect yet, and I'm too lazy to do much research without caffeine, but right off the top of my head I can remember Chris Rock making what seemed to me to be a fairly pointed comment regarding the show in his act - "A black doctor married to a black lawyer living in Brooklyn? Man, that Spielberg's something." Of course, Chris Rock was the one who put it into my head that blacks can be just as racist as whites, because "black people hate black people too". Whether or not they can be racist towards whites as well might be open for debate, and again, I'm not really awake enough yet to get into it.

 

However, I will note that the word 'bougie' also came up in The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, usually in relation to whatever Carlton happened to be doing at that moment. Will gave him endless grief; his clothes, his mannerisms, the fact that he was a good student, etc. Will was 'street' while Carlton was 'bougie', and while some of it was good-natured teasing, the fact that it was so constant makes it seems like it must have had a point to it or why bother? As for TCS, as the show progressed, the kids were written as barely able to function on their own, particularly Denise, and whether or not that was just because of bad writing or because Cosby was allegedly a dictatorial control freak who saw to it that Cliff and Claire were always right is for you to decide.

[xaxat]

There's also The Jeffersons. George started out as a middle class neighbor of Archie Bunker, but achieved enough financially to move to the bastion of white privilege, Manhattan's Upper East Side. I don't remember much criticism of that show however. Perhaps because we, as viewers, knew that George was a self made success and the way the show dealt with the fact that, despite his success, there were people that would always consider him to be a "boy". Like in the episode where he confronted Klan members living in his building.

 

 

Blackish deals a lot with the idea financial success and the "authentic" African American experience. To hilarious effect.

[jhlipton]

George Jefferson certainly had racial biases of his own, especially toward the interracial couple (I think he said their children would be zebras)

Since he was the black counterpart to Archie, this made sense..

[cynic]

Speaking of interracial couples and on whether race is binary, I think it's interesting how biracial heritage is rarely shown on tv. Even if the actor his/herself is biracial, normally the character's parents will be of the same background. This seems particularly true with actors who have one black and one white parent. They tend to fall into the "one drop" rule, being seen as just black and given two black parents and all manner of siblings, sometimes resulting in siblings who, to my eyes, don't appear related at all. The exception seems to be those who are light enough and have eurocentric features to "pass". They tend to just be cast as white, like Rashida Jones or Troian Bellasario. I was really surprised when the love interest on Suits, who I had no idea was mixed, was given biracial parentage. I keep hearing that Candice Patton who plays Iris on The Flash is biracial. I'm curious to see how the show casts her mom. As someone who is mixed myself, it's nice that tv is finally starting to acknowledge that we exist.

[Rick Kitchen]

Lucious' fiancee Anika on Empire, played by Grace Gealey, is biracial.  Her mother is African-American and her father is white.

[scarynikki12]

When The Cosby Show came up I the I Love The 80s specials, some of the commentators also said it was an unrealistic portrayal of a black family living in Brooklyn, so I think it was probably talked about person to person moreso than in the media. The Huxtables being well off actually made sense since they were based on Cosby who was well off in real life by then.

[ApathyMonger]

Tracee Ellis Ross's Black-ish character is biracial; it was brought up on an early episode. I don't think they've shown her parents yet.

[Rick Kitchen]

Tracee Ellis Ross's Black-ish character is biracial; it was brought up on an early episode. I don't think they've shown her parents yet.

 

I thought that it was brought up in a horribly racist way, myself, which is why, having seen the comments in the previews, I have no desire to watch the show.

[janie jones]

Speaking of interracial couples and on whether race is binary, I think it's interesting how biracial heritage is rarely shown on tv. Even if the actor his/herself is biracial, normally the character's parents will be of the same background. This seems particularly true with actors who have one black and one white parent. They tend to fall into the "one drop" rule, being seen as just black and given two black parents and all manner of siblings, sometimes resulting in siblings who, to my eyes, don't appear related at all. The exception seems to be those who are light enough and have eurocentric features to "pass". They tend to just be cast as white, like Rashida Jones or Troian Bellasario. I was really surprised when the love interest on Suits, who I had no idea was mixed, was given biracial parentage. I keep hearing that Candice Patton who plays Iris on The Flash is biracial. I'm curious to see how the show casts her mom. As someone who is mixed myself, it's nice that tv is finally starting to acknowledge that we exist.

This isn't a TV show, but this is one thing I liked about Bridesmaids:  They gave Maya Rudolph a white mom and a black dad.

[possibilities]

I'm not at all denying the lack of biracial representation, but if you want another example of an exception, Lena (one of the moms on The Fosters) has a Black mom and a white dad. She has had arguments with her mother about colorism within the Black community, and Lena has talked about how it felt for her growing up biracial. There was also an episode that addressed racism from an all- white step-brother of hers. It's not an every-episode topic, but there have been a few times her biracial status has been raised on the show.

[rue721]

Back in the early/mid-2000s on Smallville, Kristen Kreuk (who is biracial) played a character whose whole family was cast as white iIrc. But on her current show, Beauty and the Beast (which is on the same network), her mother is cast as Asian and her father as white. Her sister on B&tB is played by Nicole Gale Anderson, who (I think?) is also biracial. I thought it was interesting how the times might have changed a little even just over that span of time.

 

(Actually, I think that Beauty and the Beast is kind of interesting in terms of race because at least three of the five main characters are POC, and all but one of the romantic relationships on the show have been interracial relationships. I don't even think it's commented on in the show as far as I can remember, it's treated as completely normal/unremarkable. I definitely noticed that I was seeing scene after scene of groups of mostly or all POC actors/characters interacting, and they're all *main* characters with *central* SLs -- maybe I'm showing my age by reacting to it, but it made me happy to see that!).

 

Also, way back years ago on TWoP, there was a discussion that I thought was pretty interesting about Michael Travino's character, Tyler Lockwood, on The Vampire Diaries. Michael Travino is Hispanic, and the question was whether his character on the show was, too. The show has flashbacks to ~150 years ago when the Lockwoods helped found the town (in Virginia). Those Lockwood ancestors were presumably white? Most of the viewers on the board presumed Tyler was white, too. The discussion ended up being that maybe a lot of the audience was not reading Tyler as Hispanic -- even though the actor is and even though the show is never explicit that Tyler isn't -- because the Lockwood family was performing white culture (in the present day). But then the question was, how are they "performing white culture" (and what is "white culture")? Imo people were reading the character as white because of the assumption that white is "the default" and no race was specified for the character, not *necessarily* because the character himself was whitewashed. Nobody really came to any conclusions as far as I remember, it's just a discussion that stuck with me.

 

Oh, also on that show, Kat Graham plays a character, Bonnie, whose parents were both cast as black although Kat Graham is biracial. (Black characters' treatment on the Vampire Diaries is a whole discussion in and of itself, though). Another thing on TVD that I thought was interesting is that another actress, Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena/Katherine/Talia/someone-I'm-forgetting (don't ask) is originally from Bulgaria, and one of those characters, Katherine, was also Bulgarian and even spoke Bulgarian on the show. I thought it was really fun that they did that, though YMMV.

 

Also, speaking of Blackish -- the actress who plays the oldest daughter, Yara Shahidi, is also biracial. Though Zoe (the character) has referred to herself as black on the show a bunch of times.

 

I think there's definitely less erasure of bi/multiracial people and families than there used to be, and obviously that's a good thing. But something that still bothers me is that I think a disproportionate amount of the time, a character who is portrayed as a POC woman within the world of the show will be cast with a biracial actress, and I'm not sure how big of an improvement it is that nowadays the casting for that character's parents will more likely only include one POC rather than two. There's still a big whiff of colorism at best about that to me. But YMMV, I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism.

[scarynikki12]

With regard to Tyler, the actors cast to play his parents and uncle are all white, so assuming that the character was supposed to be white is just an extension of that.  And the show could have easily made him partially Hispanic since, as you pointed out, they changed Katherine's ethnicity from Dutch (or was it German?) in the books to Bulgarian in the show so that the show could take advantage of Nina's fluency for the flashbacks.  They didn't do that with Tyler, whose ancestors needed to be white plantation owners during Civil War era Virginia but could have easily had an Hispanic mother in the present, so the logical conclusion is that Trevino is playing a white character.  I remember having many discussions about this very subject where we tried to figure out a way to make Trevino's ethnicity part of Tyler's character but the show never supported those efforts so we gave up. 

 

Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena/Katherine/Talia/someone-I'm-forgetting

 

 

Amara

[Rick Kitchen]

The character of Brandon Walker on Days of Our Lives was played by Matt Cedeno, who is defined on Wikipedia as "Afro-Cuban". His sisters were played by white actresses Adrienne Zucker as Nicole and a succession of white actresses as Taylor.  Brandon was in a committed relationship with show star Sami Brady for quite a while.  Eventually it was revealed that his father was not Paul Mendez (played by Hispanic actor Eddie Velez), but Abe Carver, played by James Reynolds, who is African-American.

[ribboninthesky1]

Also, speaking of Blackish -- the actress who plays the oldest daughter, Yara Shahidi, is also biracial. Though Zoe (the character) has referred to herself as black on the show a bunch of times.

 

I think there's definitely less erasure of bi/multiracial people and families than there used to be, and obviously that's a good thing. But something that still bothers me is that I think a disproportionate amount of the time, a character who is portrayed as a POC woman within the world of the show will be cast with a biracial actress, and I'm not sure how big of an improvement it is that nowadays the casting for that character's parents will more likely only include one POC rather than two. There's still a big whiff of colorism at best about that to me. But YMMV, I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism.

 

I completely understand your point.  I like the acknowledgement of biracial characters for two reasons:

 

1. that actor or character doesn't have to solely identify as one race or ethnicity, and gets to acknowledge their whole selves, and
2. we're SLOWLY moving away from the elephant in the room of "let's pretend this biracial actor is the child of two black parents and therefore representative of most blacks," thanks to our insidious history of the one-drop rule.  

 

Isn't the actor who plays Andre Jr biracial as well?

[pivot]

I am so relieved that Fresh Off The Boat's ratings stayed consistent versus the Voice. I think there is a really good chance we end up with 2 sitcoms with minority casts being renewed by ABC. With FOTB, Blackish, How to Get Away With Murder and Empire's excellent ratings as well as shows with diverse casts such as Brooklyn 99 doing well, I think we might finally see some real changes in casting next season on network television. If that happens, I wonder how long it will take for cable and streaming channels to finally wise up?

[jhlipton]

They tend to just be cast as white, like Rashida Jones or Troian Bellasario.

 

I seem to recall Michael Scott in The Office making some offensive comment (well, duh, it was Michael Scott) about her "exotic beauty".  Other than that, I don't recall hearing her race mentioned.

 

I thought that it was brought up in a horribly racist way, myself, which is why, having seen the comments in the previews, I have no desire to watch the show.

 

There was a lot of comment about the "black enough" remark.  I think it was more an view into how Dre thinks than an "approved" comment.  You should give it a try -- it's a brilliant show. A teeny sociopath Diane is a hoot.

[cynic]

The character of Brandon Walker on Days of Our Lives was played by Matt Cedeno, who is defined on Wikipedia as "Afro-Cuban". His sisters were played by white actresses Adrienne Zucker as Nicole and a succession of white actresses as Taylor. Brandon was in a committed relationship with show star Sami Brady for quite a while. Eventually it was revealed that his father was not Paul Mendez (played by Hispanic actor Eddie Velez), but Abe Carver, played by James Reynolds, who is African-American.

Speaking of soaps, I remember one actress on One Life to Live who was biracial (Caucasian/Japanese) and looked it, but apparently her character, Blair, was supposed to be a white woman since Blair was recast later with a blonde/blue eyed actress. I'm used to soap opera recasting, but that was a weird one.

I'm happy to see other examples listed in this thread of biracial characters. I do think it's reflective of our culture moving towards acknowledging that people can be more than one thing and shouldn't have to chose.

[Dejana]

Speaking of soaps, I remember one actress on One Life to Live who was biracial (Caucasian/Japanese) and looked it, but apparently her character, Blair, was supposed to be a white woman since Blair was recast later with a blonde/blue eyed actress. I'm used to soap opera recasting, but that was a weird one.

Originally, Blair was biracial: her mother was white and IIRC (it happened before I started watching), raped in a mental institution by a janitor who was Asian. The story was that being a biracial child back then (born in the late 1960s, roughly, Blair was introduced in the early 1990s as a twentysomething) made it difficult for her to be adopted, so she never was. Her character was a something of a schemer, married a much older, richer man and his family didn't like that, but that's pretty well worn territory for a soap opera, regardless of race.

The original actress left, and by the mid-1990s, the character was recast with a white, blonde actress and all the references to Blair being biracial were obviously dropped. The recast was more of a soap veteran, so I guess TPTB thought the racelift wasn't that big of a deal. One nod to it happened years later, during a special episode. There was a scene with a flashback to the Biracial Blair days, and in the present, White Blair kept looking in a mirror to check her face.

Edited February 26, 2015 by Dejana

[Wax Lion]

It's not official but Days of Our Lives is heavily hinting that its new character Paul Narita is biracial, at least it looks like they're setting things up for his father to turn out to be one of the current, established characters, none of whom are Japanese (so far his entire family shown is Japanese). I never succeeded in Googling the actor, Christopher Sean, ethnic background but he can pass as hapa.

 

On the other hand, Ming-Na Wen (who AFIK doesn't have a biracial background) played the daughter Tom Hughes fathered while serving in Vietnam on As the World Turns. It might be a sign of the times that, back then people were just happy to have a major Asian character on a soap, especially one who was part of a major family.

[Rick Kitchen]

Chirstopher Sean's real last name is Friel.  His father is white.

[Neurochick]

Seeing black women and girls in fulfilling, healthy relationships and/or viewed as sexually desirable, especially with/by white men, seems to disturb some.

 

 

This is very sad, but very true.  

[cynic]

Black women also rarely get to play the ingenue or the innocent, delicate flowers that all the male characters seem to want to protect. Or manic pixie dream girls that have guys falling at their feet and change the guy's life with their whimsy. Or even annoying Mary Sues.

I love some of the strong, warrior types that have been portrayed by black women such as Zoe and Michonne, but I would love to also see black Elenas, Dharmas, Danerys, Sookies etc.

And of course, all kinds of other non-tropey, well-written characters. But just the chance to play these tropes would be a change.

I can do without more sassy, overweight government employees and sexless, mothering nurses though (or combinations thereof).

That's one of the reasons I am hoping that Iris succeeds as a character on The Flash. She's not a sassy sidekick or a warrior woman or a token non-entity who disappears for stretches of episodes at a time. She's an important character who isn't written as a stereotype and who is loved in a romantic way by the good guy lead. It's refreshing.

Dejana That's even worse than I remembered.

Edited February 28, 2015 by cynic

[Cobalt Stargazer]

I love some of the strong, warrior types that have been portrayed by black women such as Zoe and Michonne, but I would love to also see black Elenas, Dharmas, Danerys, Sookies etc.

 

Emphasis mine.

 

Respectfully, cynic, I'm not sure you want to add Elena to that list. Not unless you want guys like the Salvatore brothers draped around her neck like (supposedly) good-looking albatrosses. In particular, Damon's "love" for Elena made her unbearable to me, because she was always much more concerned about his welfare than that of the people he was hurting.

[DearEvette]

I can do without more sassy, overweight government employees and sexless, mothering nurses though (or combinations thereof).

 

Add in "sexless HBIC' or  'best friend sound-board to main white female' or just 'token black female with no character development'

 

I just read an article in this week's Entertainment Weekly about the show Empire.  And all but two of the writing room are POC.  I think the number was like, 5 of the 7 writers are POC.  The reason given by the showrunner was that "you need to represent the culture in your room in a very deliberate and specific way."  I think this is true.  And in Empire's case, I think that diversity in the writing room not only benefits the black characters but also the, perversely enough, the white character of Rhonda.

 

She is the lone regular white character among a majority black cast.  And say what you will about Rhonda, her character is getting some interesting character beats.  She doesn't get a ton of screen time, but what face time she does get has impact.  If this show were reversed where she was the lone black character with a writing room made up of all white writers, no way would her character be 1/10th as intriguing.

 

I can't help but draw a comparison to another music-based soap opera Nashville, where the character of Zoey was introduced as the hapless best friend.  She got no character development outside of expected to be the nanny to her boyfriend's not-really love child.  And she was vilified because she didn't want to do that.  She was advice sage, she was left over girlfriend, she had no story of her own and no discernible character arc.  The one place where she arguably fit best, as a trio in a signing group that never really took off while she was on the show was taken over by the white regular character once she was written off and suddenly it became a real thing.  Meanwhile they have introduced other white female characters who are immediately given their own character arcs. 

 

This happens is so many shows that I just scratch my head and wonder if predominantly white writers rooms think black women especially are alien and are really that clueless as how to just write a compelling story for them?

Edited February 28, 2015 by DearEvette

[DeLurker]

I hated what Nashville did to Zoey - pure plot device and not even well done. But the show keeps layering in characters that few care about and giving them stories. Makes no sense.

[Neurochick]

This happens is so many shows that I just scratch my head and wonder if predominantly white writers rooms think black women especially are alien and are really that clueless as how to just write a compelling story for them?

 

 

I think we have a winner.  I believe THAT is the problem:  white writers believe that black women are alien, different, exotic and then they're like, "I don't know how to write for them."  In reality, I think they're just ignorant and lazy.

[Actionmage]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/wga-study-declines-for-female-and-minority-tv-writers-across-the-board-20150304

 

Just saw this on IMDb and also posted on Gender and TV.

 

Composing thoughts for coherency.

[BoogieBurns]

I seem to recall Michael Scott in The Office making some offensive comment (well, duh, it was Michael Scott) about her "exotic beauty".  Other than that, I don't recall hearing her race mentioned.

 

Jim says to Karen (Rashida's character) "You're Italian, say it like an Italian." Michael also asked if her dad was a "G.I."

 

Then in Parks and Rec, Rashida's race is only mentioned as a "Perfect representation of America's melting pot," and "ethnic hybrid." So it doesn't sound like she was playing a white character, but definitely a mixed one. Her kids with Rob Lowe's character looked very beautiful, and racially ambiguous as well. 

[ribboninthesky1]

http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/wga-study-declines-for-female-and-minority-tv-writers-across-the-board-20150304

 

Just saw this on IMDb and also posted on Gender and TV.

 

Composing thoughts for coherency.

 

It will be interesting to see if there is an increase in minority TV writers next season and beyond, particularly black.  I have little doubt that networks, if not cable, are looking to cash in on ratings by casting minorities.  With black women headlining top-rated dramas this year, and one of those with a majority-black cast, there should be a positive correlation between on camera and behind the scenes. The reality of what will be remains to be seen. 

[ApathyMonger]

Occasional PTV writer Pilot Viruet has a good, long article on the current boom in diverse TV shows up at Flavorwire: http://flavorwire.com/507088/are-this-seasons-diverse-shows-ushering-in-a-new-era-of-multicultural-television/view-all

 

 

This is the sort of pressure creators who are people of color, and who write programs about people of color, feel. Black-ish has to be twice as good as Modern Family in order to be mentioned in the same conversation; I can’t even do the math to figure out how good Black-ish has to be to win the Emmy over its white peers. It’s why these shows have to work harder, and it’s why viewers, to a certain extent, have our own responsibilities to them. We have to first show that there is a demand for these programs, then continue to demand that more exist, and then, finally, demand that each one is better than the last.

[ribboninthesky1]

From the article:

 

 

Naturally, there’s been a lot of praise for the diversity of this season’s TV narratives — even if that praise fails to take into account what a small percentage of programming these shows actually comprise. But this isn’t the first time a “boom” in diversity has occurred on television. Robin R. Means Coleman, an associate professor and the author of African American Viewers and the Black Situation Comedy, is quick to dismiss the notion that this is a groundbreaking year for minority-focused narratives, explaining that representation on TV is follows a cyclical pattern. “About every 20 years, there is a surge in representations of blacks on television,” Coleman says.

 

 

The existence of this cycle is what makes it difficult to muster unreserved enthusiasm for TV’s new gestures towards diversity. The abundance of African-American comedies in the ‘90s had less to do with networks actively pursuing representation out of good faith than with networks in a slump desperately seeking shows that were cheap and guaranteed an audience. But, as Coleman explains, “Once [networks] get back on sure grounds, they abandon that kind of programming. That’s exactly what Fox, UPN, and WB did… Once they got their audience, they moved into, and funneled that money into, other programs — 90210, Dawson’s Creek, and those sort of things — and they built their network up for that.”

 

And this is why I'm giving the side-eye to the current "diversity is good business" schtick I've read.  I'm pleased for those shows and actors who currently benefit, and hope that, especially for minorities who get even less representation than blacks, this will provide more opportunities.  But I wholeheartedly agree that racial and ethnic diversity is cyclical.  The writer's assertion that this time is different is rather compelling, though.  Time will tell.     

[memememe76]

I totally agree with Nashville crapping on Zoey. And then they keep on putting Layla on my tv screen. Ugh!

 

The character of Rhonda is an example of a show commenting on her race, while not limiting the dimensions of the character solely on her race. 

[jhlipton]

It will be interesting to see if there is an increase in minority TV writers next season and beyond, particularly black. 

 

 

http://deadline.com/2015/03/anika-noni-rose-cast-for-justice-cbs-civil-rights-drama-pilot-ava-duvernay-1201385906/

Anika Noni Rose has been tapped for the lead in CBS’ civil rights crime drama drama pilot For Justice, written by Law & Order veteran Rene Balcer and directed by Selma helmer Ava DuVernay.

 

[ribboninthesky1]

Nice! Love Ava DuVernay and Anika Noni Rose, so I hope 1) the pilot is well done, and 2) it gets picked up. Thanks for sharing.  Hopefully, the writers' room will be diverse, especially since DuVernay is an executive producer as well.

[GHScorpiosRule]

http://deadline.com/2015/03/anika-noni-rose-cast-for-justice-cbs-civil-rights-drama-pilot-ava-duvernay-1201385906/

I had read that it was Phylicia Rashad who was going to play the lead last week?

[cynic]

Emphasis mine.

Respectfully, cynic, I'm not sure you want to add Elena to that list. Not unless you want guys like the Salvatore brothers draped around her neck like (supposedly) good-looking albatrosses. In particular, Damon's "love" for Elena made her unbearable to me, because she was always much more concerned about his welfare than that of the people he was hurting.

Oh, Elena is awful, but I'm not advocating for minorities to only be in roles that I like or are positive role models or are good people. I want PoC to be able to play all kinds of different characters, even the ones that make me want to throw stuff at my tv. Besides, despite her many shortcomings, Elena is still the star of TVD, drives many of the plots, and is held up as the kind of person everyone else should sacrifice for and protect. I've never seen a black female in that kind of role. Certainly not on TVD, where their sole black original regular disappears for multiple episodes at a time and is mainly used as a plot device (at least for the seasons I watched).

Speaking of TVD, I stopped watching after a few seasons, but caught an episode recently. It appears this season had a major arc involving a witch coven and had introduced a whole slew of new characters who appear to all be white. I found that interesting, because TVD usually had black witches (Bonnie, her grandmother, and various short term guest stars), with the major exception of the "original" witch who was also part of a major arc involving the introduction of a host of new characters. It seems like TVD was totally okay making witches black, until they were looking to pick up new long term actors. And of course, poor Bonnie who probably would have been helpful considering she's a witch herself, was trapped in an alternate dimension and was MIA.

[HunterHunted]

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt has a love triangle with an Asian man, white woman, and rich British guy. Ultimately, the Asian man is the one who gets the girl. I'm not in love with everything they've with the Asian male character, but I did like that the Kimmy chose him.

[DearEvette]

Lots of POC casting news in upcoming pilots:

 

Jaina Lee Ortiz & Morris Chesnut as leads in a Fox drama

Maisie Richardson-Sellars has a lead role in 'Of Kings and Prophets' (ABC)

Joy Bryant has a co-lead role in 'The Advocate" (ABC), Coby Bell also cast as a series regular role

Aimee Garcia & John Foo cast a co-leads in Rush Hour (CBS)

Rutina Wesley is cast as one of four female co-leads in a cop drama 'The Broad Squad' ( ABC)

Parminder Nagra is cast in a regular (not sure if it is lead or not) in 'The Kingmakers' (ABC)

Christina Vidal is cast as a lead in 'The Curse of the Fuentes Women' (NBC)

Wesley Snipes is a co-lead in 'Endgame"  (NBC)

Anika Noni Rose is the lead in 'For Justice' a CBS procedural

 

These are only pilot castings, and subject to change may not be picked up etc. etc. but I can't remember the last time I've seen so many potential pilots with POC as leads much less regulars.

[pivot]

To add to the list, Dule Hill got cast in Doubt on CBS. I was hoping he'd do another comedy after Psych, but I'll be checking this one out.

[xaxat]

Wesley Snipes is a co-lead in 'Endgame"  (NBC)

 

I just hope he's learned that he has to pay his taxes.

[Wax Lion]

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt also has the revelation

that Jane Krakowski's character is a Native American woman who bleaches her hair to pass as white and erase her heritage

. I'm not sure how I feel about that revelation though if they got into it it could be an exploration of being othered.

[Minneapple]

Priyanka Chopra is in the pilot for ABC's Quantico.

[Jipijapa]

Wow, that has to be quite a come-down for her!

[Rick Kitchen]

That "Quantico" series also has Aunjanue Ellis and Yasmine Al Massri in it.

[Rick Kitchen]

Other new pilots:

Paula Patton is starring in "Runner", about gun runners, also stars Vondie Curtis Hall.

Comedian Jermaine Fowler stars in "Delores & Jermaine" in which Whoopie Goldberg plays his grandmother. Also stars Jennia Fredrique and Roy Wood Jr.

Ken Jeong from "Community" and the "Hangover" movies will be starring in "Dr. Ken", in which he plays a character based on himself, he used to be a doctor.  Also stars Tisha Campbell-Martin.

"Uncle Buck" stars Mike Epps, Nia Long, and Aalyrah Caldwell.

There is an unnamed comedy about an NBA player, played by college star Blondy Baruti, who doesn't speak English. Also stars Ving Rhames.

Hospital show "Code Black", co-starring Melanie Kannokada, Luis Guzman, and Raza Jaffrey.

A "Criminal Minds" spinoff co-starring Tyler James Williams.

Mehcad Brooks co-stars in "Supergirl", along with David Harewood

"Taxi-22" stars John Leguizamo and Sahr Ngaujah.  (Also F. Murray Abraham, who I guess can be counted as a POC).

"Cordon", about a plague-ravaged Atlanta which has been put under quarantine, stars David Gyasi and Christina Moses.

Idris Elba is one of the co-executive producers of a US version of "Luther", but no cast has been announced yet.

Morris Chestnut stars in "Rosewood", where he plays the chief forensics doctor in Miami.

Vanessa Williams and Utkarsh Ambudkar co-star in the comedy "Fantasy Life".

Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Audrey Esparza and Ukweli Roach co-star in "Blindspot", a police procedural.

Yaya DaCosta and S. Epatha Merkerson are the stars of "Chicago Med", another one of the Chicago Fire/Chicago PD series.

Adan Canto, Christina Vidal, Rachel Ticotin, Katie Sarife, Daphne Rubin-Vega and Sonia Braga star in "The Curse of the Fuentes Women", a romantic fantasy series.

Jennifer Lopez stars and co-produces "Shades of Blue", about corrupt cops.

Natalie Martinez, Will Yun Lee and Rila Fukushima star in "Warrior", a martial arts series.

Comedian Jerrod Carmichael stars in the sitcom "Go Jerrod Go".

Eva Longoria, Amaury Nolasco, Jencarlos Canela, Diana Maria Riva and Jose Moreno Brooks star in "Telenovela", a sitcom about the behind the scenes at a Telenovela.

Donald Faison co-stars in an unnamed sictom starring Monica Potter.  He plays one of her three ex husbands.

[Kel Varnsen]

The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt also has the revelation

that Jane Krakowski's character is a Native American woman who bleaches her hair to pass as white and erase her heritage

. I'm not sure how I feel about that revelation though if they got into it it could be an exploration of being othered.

This didn't really bother me because there wasn't any jokes directed at Native American's or any thing offensive stated, or even implied, that I thought was offensive to Native American Culture. The only person being mocked was Jane Krakowski's character, who was pretty much established in the show as a pretty terrible and selfish person. Plus the fact that it was so out of no where helped to make it funny.

[Bruinsfan]

Black-ish has to be twice as good as Modern Family in order to be mentioned in the same conversation; I can’t even do the math to figure out how good Black-ish has to be to win the Emmy over its white pee

I've only seen one episode of the series so far, but it cleared the bar of "twice as good as Modern Family" with plenty of room to spare.

[memememe76]

I find Dre extremely annoying. Tracee Ellis Ross is the most consistent pleasure. The kids are cute, but haven't done much to stand out either. I think Fresh Off the Boat is the better show.