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Nielsen report: The Mainstream appeal of Black Content

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caliph95

Member
I'm not surprised, I watch your shit.

However it does make me wonder why Hollywood is always white washing their movies. Usually with the shit excuse that it would be less bankable with non-white actors.

Because there isn't a lot bankable minority actors partly because there either aren't many compared to white or they don't get much worthy roles. However because of that there isn't many bankable. It's a circle.
 

Grizzlyjin

Supersonic, idiotic, disconnecting, not respecting, who would really ever wanna go and top that
My perception of what was popular in other white households in the 80s/90s is going to be skewed a bit from growing up with mostly broadcast television from Detroit, but I'm pretty sure that Family Matters and the Jeffersons were big with everyone. The Fresh Prince was obviously huge. I'm not as sure about Hanging with Mr Cooper, the Steve Harvey Show, or Sister Sister, but they were widely watched in my school.

You just reminded me that The WB and UPN had so many Black sitcoms back in the day. Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Sister Sister after ABC dropped it, The Smart Guy, The Parent-hood, etc.
 

LionPride

Banned
The Flash definitely isn't a "Black show." They could add 6 more Black folks and it still wouldn't be. It's great that they've been so great about having a diverse cast, but that's just not what it is. Like TDLink said, it's more about shows that have those extra touches of Black culture. In Luke Cage, when Mariah called Cottonmouth out for being "colorstruck," I knew a Black person was in the writer's room.

I'm glad there are some hard numbers to back up what I've noticed anecdotally. I've been surprised by the people I know who watch Atlanta. I'm talking folks that changed the J Cole playlist at the party to Mumford and Sons.
Well Jermaine puts folks to sleep so...

Also Supergirl has to have a black writer, they have an episode about Jimmy's workplace rage as like the only black guy

Wasn't expecting Atlanta to be half
Show is unfocused and subject matter too
Folks like episodic shows with weird continuity and a plot that never gets fully explained


You just reminded me that The WB and UPN had so many Black sitcoms back in the day. Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Sister Sister after ABC dropped it, The Smart Guy, The Parent-hood, etc.
UPN aka the U People Network...
 

Chuckie

Member
Because there isn't a lot bankable minority actors partly because there either aren't many compared to white or they don't get much worthy roles. However because of that there isn't many bankable. It's a circle.

Is there such a huge difference between TV and Hollywood? There are good 'black' series with great actors and actresses... why is this different in the movies? Or have black actors been able to break the circle in TV but not yet Hollywood?
 

Slayven

Member
You just reminded me that The WB and UPN had so many Black sitcoms back in the day. Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Sister Sister after ABC dropped it, The Smart Guy, The Parent-hood, etc.

Everybody forgets Flex and One on One.

Funny how the vast majority of shit that got dropped in the merger was UPN shit.
 

caliph95

Member
Is there such a huge difference between TV and Hollywood? There are good 'black' series with great actors and actresses... why is this different in the movies? Or have black actors been able to break the circle in TV but not yet Hollywood?

Not an expert but i imagine one of the reasons is that movies are riskier than tv shows and that tv show are less picky for their shows because they can afford to focus on a specific demographic.
 

I just rewatched this last Friday lol.

How the fuck have I never noticed this:O

It took me years to put the connection together. I watched Living Single as a kid and Friends as a teenager. My mom and I had a conversation about different TV shows about 10 years ago I described Friends since she never watched it (she had a no black character no view from her policy when I was a kid) . She was like that's living single with a gender swap and a few different relationships (cousins Vs siblings). I goggled it and found the article from the 90s where the NBC president said he regretted not picking up living single that season and then the following year they made friends.
 

entremet

Member
What happened? There were a lot mainstream black shows in the 70/80/90s.

Then they were abandoned for a good while.

They're back now but pretty strange.
 

kswiston

Member
You just reminded me that The WB and UPN had so many Black sitcoms back in the day. Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Sister Sister after ABC dropped it, The Smart Guy, The Parent-hood, etc.

Ya. I was trying to list stuff that I thought had a lot of crossover. We also used to watch In Living Color, Moesha (and the Parkers), Malcolm and Eddie, and Living Single (as already mentioned), but WB20 and Fox/UPN50 were like the only clear channels we got. I had to watch the ABC stuff in syndicate on UPN.
 
Because there isn't a lot bankable minority actors partly because there either aren't many compared to white or they don't get much worthy roles. However because of that there isn't many bankable. It's a circle.

It's both. There aren't many because they're not given as many worthy roles. I mean we can sit and watch Hollywood prop up trash ass actors and try to give them a career even when all the signs point to no while at the same time not giving good/great black actors a chance, point in case:

taylor-kitsch-garrett-hedlund-aaron-paul-esquire-feature-05.JPG

One of these actors is amazing and talented as fuck in different fields who is rarely given roles to showcase that, the other is Taylor Kistch who was forced onto Americans and given the lead role for several multimillion dollar films that bombed one after the other.

Same issues Asians and Latinx actors/actresses face.
 
Are there any shows about the HBCU experience since A Different World left the air 25 years ago? I loved that show and it's on Netflix now.
 

Slayven

Member
It's both. There aren't many because they're not given as many worthy roles.

Same issues Asians and Latinx actors/actresses face.

There is a latino actor that been in like 50 shows and movies, his roles are either Latino gang memeber or "Hector the latino gang member"
 

Valhelm

contribute something
Really hope this leads to network executives yanking their heads out of their asses.

The folks who control the purse-strings have so much power that a gut feeling like "black shows don't make money" can stop amazing material from being greenlit. Reports like this need to be shared everywhere until these producers realize that they're wrong.
 
You just reminded me that The WB and UPN had so many Black sitcoms back in the day. Steve Harvey Show, Jamie Foxx Show, Sister Sister after ABC dropped it, The Smart Guy, The Parent-hood, etc.
Hell even Nick tapped into the demo with Kenan and Kel and the first couple of seasons of All That. :p
 
51RHTrnOSRL._SY445_.jpg


Goo Punch!!
How could they get rid of that show and keep Cousin Skeeter? Man life isn't fair sometimes.
Edit: I mean it's fine if they kept both, but they were two shows with a similar makeup, but the good show was dumped after one season while the garbage one stayed around far too long. I guess I shouldn't have held my breath for a new season. :-(
 

Measley

Junior Member
Just watch how many black movies (non Tyler Perry) emerge from the success of Hidden Figures and Moonlight.

Moonlight was an amazing experience btw. Probably my favorite film of 2016.
 

Fuchsdh

Member
The truth right here.

Uh, I'd change places with Chris Rock. Not that I don't get his point.

73% of non-Hispanic whites and 67% of Hispanics believe that African-Americans influence mainstream culture.

Why the hell is the Hispanics number so low? (Leaving aside that with the ridiculously low bar of some level of influence on mainstream culture those numbers should be 99.9% anyhow.)

My perception of what was popular in other white households in the 80s/90s is going to be skewed a bit from growing up with mostly broadcast television from Detroit, but I'm pretty sure that Family Matters and the Jeffersons were big with everyone. The Fresh Prince was obviously huge. I'm not as sure about Hanging with Mr Cooper, the Steve Harvey Show, or Sister Sister, but they were widely watched in my school.

Nah, I grew up in one of the most educated and affluent areas of the country (had one black person in my parochial elementary school class growing up, public high school was still only 6% black) but I remember watching Cosby Show, Family Matters, Fresh Price, etc. because it was always on WB or the like. Have there been any articles about what happened to them in terms of trends? In some ways it does feel like we've regressed since then.
 

caliph95

Member
What happened to all these "black shows" anyways it could be nostalgia and hindsight bias it seems they are not as popular as they were.
 
The 90s and early 00s where a great time for black media on/in the mainstream. It was a lot of opportunities available. UPN use to be made fun of but it was so important. If you were black and had an idea for a show your could at least go to UPN and have an opportunity. Sink or swim you could at least get a few episodes to air. There was a culture shift right before Obama got elected that iced black media and art out the mainstream.
 
I mean most people think The Wire is the best TV show ever made so its hard to see why this is a debate or something? TV seems like a much easier place for minority folks to get on screen but more importantly work behind the screens, whether its running shows, writing them, or crew.

The tougher place is the big screen, movies, especially big summer blockbusters. A lot of that has to do with simple worldwide box office receipt economics, whereas with TV you have multiple ways to make money - ad $$ and product placement for network TV, eyeballs for premium cable networks, and a more complicated mix of factors for places like Netflix or Amazon.

Although now that I think about it, aren't most of the netflix and amazon prime series mostly white? They do have a few like Masters of None or Marco Polo (cancelled) but I'm sorta drawing a blank on shows that heavily feature black actors. Is that a bad sign for the future if global reach delivery systems like netflix/amazon have a hard time funding minority shows?
 

TDLink

Member
Probably none

Nothing will change soon, like at all

Things are changing, slowly sure...but they are. Just the fact that we're getting stuff like Hidden Figures and Moonlight. Or Creed the previous year. Or TV shows like Empire and Atlanta. It's not much but it's a good start. And there will continue to be an increasing amount. I am positive next award season will have more black centered films. And the Fast and Furious franchise (while not black specifically) proves that the big budget movies can center around non-white casts as well and still be ridiculously successful. Hollywood -is- changing. It just is requiring some patience.
 

TDLink

Member
I mean most people think The Wire is the best TV show ever made so its hard to see why this is a debate or something? TV seems like a much easier place for minority folks to get on screen but more importantly work behind the screens, whether its running shows, writing them, or crew.

The tougher place is the big screen, movies, especially big summer blockbusters. A lot of that has to do with simple worldwide box office receipt economics, whereas with TV you have multiple ways to make money - ad $$ and product placement for network TV, eyeballs for premium cable networks, and a more complicated mix of factors for places like Netflix or Amazon.

Although now that I think about it, aren't most of the netflix and amazon prime series mostly white? They do have a few like Masters of None or Marco Polo (cancelled) but I'm sorta drawing a blank on shows that heavily feature black actors. Is that a bad sign for the future if global reach delivery systems like netflix/amazon have a hard time funding minority shows?

In addition to those you mentioned, Luke Cage, Narcos, Sense8, The Get Down, Orange is the New Black and several of their original films (remember Beasts of No Nation?) are all highly diverse/non-white . I don't think Netflix is doing a bad job with this.
 
Last year Netflix had two different shows with storylines about how the real victims of gentrification are old white ladies. It could be better is what I'm saying.
 

TDLink

Member
I don't think you would have seen a show like Narcos in the US or something like The Get Down even made without Netflix. They're doing some good work in terms of diverse programming is all I'm saying. Netflix is making shows for all demographics, and that's good considering most others prioritize 18-49 white people specifically.
 

Lkr

Member
Isn't there an always sunny quote where Charlie or Mac says something like "of course it's cool! black people wouldn't be doing it if it wasn't cool!"?
 
The Living Single/Friends thing ruined my morning. Wow.

And I hate how people get turned off if the show is seen as too black. I recommend The Wire to my in-laws whenever we talk about TV in general or policing and race. I know damn well they'd tune out because all that yo stuff.
 
Not really sure what qualifies as a "black show", but Atlanta is good.



Is Spike Lee supposed to be good? The only movie of his I've seen off the top of my head is Oldboy, and compared to the original it was abysmal.

You're on watch

Last year Netflix had two different shows with storylines about how the real victims of gentrification are old white ladies. It could be better is what I'm saying.

. . . what
 
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