Recently The Game returned to television with its season 4 premier on BET. Although I have watched a few episodes here and there I am not a follower of the show. But what caught my attention about the premier of The Game is that Facebook lit up with comments and posts about the return of The Game around the time of its return. I wondered, had I missed something? It was almost as if somebody said they were bringing back The Cosby Show or something. Then I realized besides The Game there were hardly any black shows on TV. On broadcast TV there are NONE! On cable networks there are six including BET’s The Game and recent addition Let’s Stay Together, and TBS’s Are We There Yet, House of Payne, Meet The Browns, and the newly aired Love That Girl. So my question is what happened to black television???
I pose that question on two fronts. On one side what happened to black television meaning where are all the black shows (or any black shows for that matter) on broadcast television channels? And on the other hand what happened to black television, in that the shows that we do have are all different takes and spins on the same concept and amount to cheap characters and cheap comedy. We will have to wait and see how Let’s Stay Together progresses but I think it’s safe to see where Love that Girl is going. Now I have no problem with comedy, even a little over the top “coonery” is cool in the right context. In Living Color and The Dave Chappelle Show were great sketch comedies with over the top material, but it worked in that setting. Even Martin was over the top, but we didn’t have 5 other Martin’s on at the same time, oh yeah and it was actually funny. The majority of the greatest black shows of all time were sitcoms (which is another issue, you aren’t going to convince me that black people don’t like drama). So this is not an issue of having all sitcoms, it’s a matter of quality and tastefulness and the overwhelming clowning image that is being portrayed of blacks on TV.
If we compare our current lot of black television shows to those of the past, even the recent past you have to scratch your head and ask what happened? Check out the list:
Everybody Hates Chris
Girlfriends
Bernie Mac Show
Soul Food
The Wire
Living Single
Martin
The Cosby Show
A Different World
The Fresh Prince of Bel Air
The Jeffersons
227
Roc
Good Times
In my opinion the difference between these shows and current ones is the realness and believability, and relate-ability. We can all agree that African Americans are among the most talented entertainers in the world, yet with all of that talent we have reached a point where we are not represented on broadcast television (except in animation See The Cleveland Show), and the shows we do have are subpar to say the least. Are we enjoying and appreciating what black TV currently has to offer or do we want more variety, more quality? Do we want a broader representation of black people or Are We There Yet?