interesting piece on the dearth of AfAm drama on television
If you believe Ali LeRoi, an executive producer and writer on The CW’s “Everybody Hates Chris,” it’s a complete waste of time to discuss the state of TV through the lens of a particular culture, because green is the only color that matters in Hollywood....
“Nobody has the right to be on a TV show,” LeRoi snapped at a black TV critic during a panel during a discussion on the lack of black dramas next season. “We all argue about ‘I’d like to see more representation about this and more representation about that.’ But at the end of the day, dude, you got to sell some soap. And if you are not selling soap, they got no interest in you.”
Here’s what I heard from that response: When enough viewers start watching black dramas, television will have no problem putting them in its primetime schedule – because after all, networks will gladly go wherever the ratings are and exploit the concept until people get exhausted from overload and tune out. We saw this with “American Idol” and its spawns CBS’ “Rock Star: INXS/Supernova,” NBC’s “America’s Got Talent” (produced by “Idol’s” Simon Cowell) and ABC’s “The One,” which was cancelled “One” week after its debut because not “One” person tuned in.
Networks copycat successful shows all the time, and it would be naïve to think that television wouldn’t flood their schedules with African American-themed dramas if they could look to one such show that pulled in as many viewers as “CSI” and “Grey’s Anatomy” each week. Now those shows can sell some soap.
The problem is… there are no black dramas next season for networks to use as litmus tests. Execs aren’t willing to take a chance and add them to the schedule. Why? Traditionally, not enough viewers have tuned in each week to justify its space in a lineup. Ultimately, whose fault is that?
http://www.eurweb.com/story/eur27760.cfm
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