What the fuck you thought “CW” stood for? Country Western? Catwoman?
When it comes to black programming on TV, I think we’ve got it all wrong.
There was a recent piece on the Chicago Defender’s site, pondering how UPN’s Monday night lineup would fare in the face of the UPN/WB merger. The article re-treads many of the same points we’ve been making for years about black programming (or the lack thereof) on network television, and I’ve just about had enough of it. I do not want to see a black show on TV just for the sake of filling a void.
There. I said it.
While I agree that there’s definitely been a decline in black shows on network TV, I think we’ve lost sight of the bigger picture. We all wave our arms and stomp our feet and cry foul because of under-representation, but no one’s really saying what they want to see. And at this point, I’m not sure what I want to see either because network television is a snore right now.
But “Everybody Hates Chris” is funny as hell.
I think it all boils down to the tone of a show and fresher approaches to storytelling. Look at a show like “Weeds”. In a half-hour this show has managed to be everything we wanted “Desperate Housewives” to be at a full 60 minutes. The show is whimsical and dark, yet insanely human. The black characters (ok, they’re running a weed business out of the house, but STILL) are the most intelligent ones on the show. And it balances the suburban action and themes with the more urban elements with great panache. It doesn’t necessarily count as a “black” show, but I find these characters, black and white, much more interesting than any of the archetypes currently on the broadcast stations.
I think as an audience, we need to be more clear in our demands. If you ask for a black show, then perhaps they’ll give us one and perhaps it will be utter crap destined to fail and they’ll say “we tried it and it didn’t work out”. You want a black family drama in the vein of “Soul Food?” A black romantic comedy? A series about young black 20-somethings? We need to let them know that this audience is a lot more sophisticated than believed. I think black folks want more from programming and storytelling. We want style and depth and realism and drama. We want all those things that the non-black shows give us all the time.
Let’s be real about it. In September, will we really miss “One on One”, “Love, Inc” or “Cuts”? “Girlfriends” has pretty much done all it can do yet still manages to be funny and may be worth saving. “Half & Half” is just acceptable with loads of talent but certainly not a dealbreaker. “All of Us” has lost focus since the departure of Elise Neal and could really benefit from some humor instead of this saccharine “Family Matters” bullshit they’ve been relying since its inception.
I wouldn’t be mad if Eve gave up on the show and went back to making music. No wait, forget I said that.
So for me, that leaves “Girlfriends” and “Chris”. It can be argued that they’re just “Sex and the City” and “Malcolm in the Middle” colorized, but the shit is funny and they actually have some good storytellers at work. These shows make me laugh without feeling guilty for it later on.
In UPN’s defense, they have come a long way from “Homeboys in Outer Space”, but it’s time to move on to the next phase. There has been a significant shift in the way television shows are written and produced lately, and black show creators need to step up to the plate with fresh ideas and bigger cajones. And even if they don’t make it to the CW, NBC, CBS, ABC or Fox, there are still cable networks that are more willing to include alternative programming. But audiences have a responsibilty too. If we don’t say what we want, then we’ll get bullshit or nothing at all and continue to complain.
I suppose the only shows from UPN worth saving for me are also Girlfriends and Chris. Though, last night I saw this who where they throw parties for folks. I don’t know if all the episodes are this good, but I enjoyed last night’s as it featured a sister who wanted to give her her baby sis a 21 bday party in LV bc their family has suffered so much since the devastation of Katrina hit them.
I don’t watch anything right now but SMALLVILLE, but I did enjoy Half & Half’s first couple of seasons very much. I thought it was kinda cool for then to have a show about some “not so black” black girls. Especially Mona [there was actually a show where her current beau dumped her for not having enough 'flava'].
I’ve even had a stint where I watched Eve. At first I was just there to check out Jason George since I missed ALL of his short-lived “PLATINUM.” Eve’s acting was quite rough then but she’s gotten much better. And even though it’s a “black” show with a rapstress as the star, it too is not full of ghettoisms. “Cuts” on the other hand is a bit much, nothing like “Barbershop” the series, that flipped the movie into a somewhat surreal, but very witty and well thought out series [unlike the movie sequel].
Girlfriends used to be my show. They used to be somewhat daring, somewhat groundbreaking but now, they have become caricatures of themselves. Joan’s neurotic behavior has driven me away from the show. I would live for what I would call the Toni Childs Quote of the Week, but now, I can live without all of them.
“One On One,” and “All Of Us” never appealed to me – maybe cuz I hate kids LOL! And whoever thought to cast Boring Kidjoe and Whatshername in “Second Time Around” needs to be fired. Pretty people = not funny. They also had the worst gay character EVER! and btw, your novaslim posterboy played Boring’s kid brother!
Sadly, Kevin Hill did not work out. Anything with Taye Diggs is a good thing, but him being just about the only black person on the show kinda bugged me. It also bugged me that it was another lawyer show in disguise. That and how this ultra playboy adapted so well to his new lifestyle as a daddy. Sure, he did some backsliding, but never ever did he resent or regret having that baby in his life. Unreal, but I know they didn’t want people to dislike Kevin.
Good question. What DO we want? Do we even know? Comedy? Drama? Pushers? Professionals? I looked at the “Weeds” snippets on sho.com. Seems like a lot more is going on than her being a dealer. Did she need to be one? Is she ever going to do the time for her crime? Being that she’s a white woman on TV, its likely that she’ll be the best darned dope dealer ever and run everyone out of business! *sigh*
I agree, television sux right now – ‘cept a lil’ show ’bout a boy in Kansas….
I definitely agree with you….girlfriends is pretty good and makes me crack smiles when i decide to watch it…I enjoy “Chris” even though i always here negativity around the work place about the show being compared to bernie mac and what not…the difference to me is….it is actually funny….I’ve actually caught one show on “WEEDS” before and enjoyed it…but have no idea what day and time it comes on…forgot all about it until reading your article….can you enlighten me on when I might be able to catch it on the east coast?
I agree that black shows shouldn’t be saved just for a network to say to the NAACP, “Oh, we have these black shows on the air, so we’re not racist.” Quality shows, both black and white, have been in decline in recent years. When UPN and the WB merge, they should pick the best shows to run and not keep garbage shows on the air.
I don’t watch UPN anymore, so I can’t really comment on what’s good or not on there. But I do watch a couple of shows on the WB, and I personally wouldn’t care if some of the other shows on that network go away. I don’t want to see a show just fill in a timeslot, and that seems to be the case with a whole lot of network TV. Just look at the rash of crime dramas on the air right now. They are wearing a format out to death. I like crime drama but not that much. I mean, does one really need to see three CSI shows? Or even three Law & Order shows?
Personally, I think TV executives, in general, have become lazy when it comes to “quality” network programming. They seem to be throwing some of anything out there. And don’t even get me started on non-reality TV shows. This is the reason why I prefer to watch older shows no longer on the air for the most part and very few newer shows.