Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

TV is So White- DUH

posted by Women & Hollywood
Thursday, March 19, 2009 at 6:03pm CDT

Shonda Rhimes

The NY Times had a piece yesterday about how TV is still so white. It was titled No Smooth Ride on TV Networks’ Road to Diversity. It actually should have been titled No Smooth Ride for Men on TV Network Road to Diversity.

They piece talked about how the election of Barack Obama had the potential to herald new opportunities for African Americans on TV. But since then, two of the news shows that starred African American men, David Alan Grier’s Chocolate News and D.L. Hughley Breaks the News were cancelled. It also looks like the CW might not be renewing The Game and Everybody Loves Chris two shows with all African American casts because they have decided that the network will be the MTV for young women and will only air shows like the remakes of Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place (wasn’t once enough?)

It highlighted a part of a recent The NAACP report from December showing the:

number of minority actors in regular or recurring roles on three of the four major networks had decreased markedly in the 2006-7 television season from their peaks several seasons earlier. Only ABC showed an increase in the number of minority roles during that time, according to the report, which lamented the “gross underrepresentation of minorities” in scripted entertainment.

The story then mentioned some pilots under consideration for the fall like The Brothers and The Law that will star Daryl Mitchell and Cedric the Entertainer.

Here’s my beef- How can you write a piece like this about black representation on TV and not mention a SINGLE WOMAN? How can you not talk about Shonda Rhimes? How can you not even get a quote from her? BTW that increase in minorities on ABC that was mentioned in the NAACP report can be traced directly back to Shonda Rhimes. Also, please don’t tell me that Larry Wilmore from the Daily Show is the only one who can comment on this? If the piece was about comedy, I could accept this but it was made out to be a broader piece about representation.

And why are only pilots that star men mentioned? The new Shonda Rhimes pilot In the Box has a woman of color in the lead- Indira Varma. While she’s not African American (since she is British and I think Indian), she’s not white and then the story could have at least included something about women.

You’d think that when the piece was being edited someone would say, you know all the examples here refer to men, why don’t we try and add a female example. Is it so hard? You’d think that because women are missing from the story things are great for women of color on TV. We all know that’s not true and if it wasn’t for Shonda Rhimes and her serious guts things would be a lot worse.

Am I Overreacting?

No Smooth Ride on TV Networks’ Road to Diversity (NY Times)