That Time Of Year Again.

Yes, it's that time of the year again when the thousands if not millions of out of work Black and brown actors and actresses turn on their TV's and say, "I'm better then him/her". It's time for the fall TV lineup, and as usual there are very few people that look like me on network TV. Granted, NBC threw Black people a bone this season by hiring Blair Underwood to play Ironside, a role made famous by Raymond Burr, yep the big fat white guy. Forget doing something original, forget crafting a show that is tailor made for Blair. Instead, let's reboot an old show where we confine him to a wheelchair and make him the ONLY Black cast member. Great idea NBC.

My mother made a funny the other day when I brought this up with her, and mind you my mother is really not all that funny, but she caught me completely off guard when she called CBS the Caucasian Broadcasting System. Now you may have heard that before but I hadn't, and for that split second not only was my mother the funniest woman on the planet, she was absolutely right. I guess those behind the programming at CBS don't believe Black or brown people exist outside of LL Cool J. Unless of course it's March Madness or some other sporting event. As for as scripted shows, no dice. I won't even bring up their train wreck of a show, Big Brother.

ABC has one of the most popular shows on TV in Scandal, a show about a Black woman, the lovely Kerry Washington who is a crisis manager in Washington DC. She is sleeping with the President of the United States. Yes, the Black woman is the OTHER woman, the home wrecker and if she were on Maury or one of those other shows, she'd be the whore. Cliche much ABC? I'm aware that there is a Black woman behind the show which makes it even harder to stomach. It seems Black people have to debase ourselves so badly to even get a crack at a show on network TV.  

What really burns me up though is that throughout most of these shows, the new ones coming and the old ones already airing, there was no thought to ever hiring a Black or brown person to be even a peripheral member of the show. They don't have to be the star but at least give a Black or brown actor or actress a paycheck. And I am not talking about the already established actors who don't need the money or the help, I'm talking about those out there struggling to make ends meet. Those who are waiting tables, bagging groceries, driving cabs, doing whatever they can to make rent. Every time I turn around there is some new white person getting a show, some actor or actress I have never seen or heard of before, and I've seen and heard of almost all of them, believe me. Yet Black and brown people get no love unless we make a charicature of ourselves.

The Wire was one of the greatest shows ever created because not only was it well written, but it was a show made up primarily of Black and brown people on both sides of the law. It was a show steeped in reality, something none of the networks shows have ever heard of and what no parts of. Happy Watching!