Originally posted by Holly: It's not like this is just about white people not watching "black" shows. The top comedies among the African American demographic are The Game and Girlfriends. Are black viewers watching them instead of 2 1/2 Men or The Office because of quality or because they feature black leads? The week of October 23 (it's the only week we have on the board here), more black viewers watched The Game than Grey's Anatomy. Again, is that about quality or color?
You already know the answer. It is largely about color. Black viewers seek out black programming in the same way white viewers seek out white programming. That being said, a program will survive or fail based upon how entertaining it is to those that were willing to seek it out. K-Ville started this season with a large black viewership and they stopped watching when they found the show to be not entertaining. Girlfriends has been among the top black demo shows on television for years because those that sampled the show kept watching. It was entertaining.
If everyone in America had to sit down and watch a half dozen of the top episodes of Girlfriends, 2&1/2Men, The Game, and The Office, I am confident that Girlfriends would be found to be as (or more) entertaining than 2&1/2Men. The Office and The Game would be rejected by a much larger percentage of the viewers. The thing is, very few people ever sampled Girlfriends. A big part of that is simply that the show had a black cast and a big part of that is that the show was on UPN/CW.
We can talk about Grey's Anatomy being the #1 scripted show on TV (ignoring DH for a second) and that the cast features many prominent African Americans in the cast, but honestly, people need to admit that if the entire cast (or even the majority of the cast) had been African Americans, Grey's Anatomy never would have been sampled to begin with. People tuned in initially because of Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh's 'star power'. The Cosby Show, way back when, got an initial tune in because of 'star power'. Even Everybody Hates Chris got an initial tune-in because of star power. If you can get people to watch, most of them won't have a problem with the skin color of the cast members. The thing is, those same people largely won't sample a show to begin with if that skin color variation (between themselves and the cast) exists.
Originally posted by Holly: It's not like this is just about white people not watching "black" shows. The top comedies among the African American demographic are The Game and Girlfriends. Are black viewers watching them instead of 2 1/2 Men or The Office because of quality or because they feature black leads? The week of October 23 (it's the only week we have on the board here), more black viewers watched The Game than Grey's Anatomy. Again, is that about quality or color?
You already know the answer. It is largely about color. Black viewers seek out black programming in the same way white viewers seek out white programming. That being said, a program will survive or fail based upon how entertaining it is to those that were willing to seek it out. K-Ville started this season with a large black viewership and they stopped watching when they found the show to be not entertaining. Girlfriends has been among the top black demo shows on television for years because those that sampled the show kept watching. It was entertaining.
If everyone in America had to sit down and watch a half dozen of the top episodes of Girlfriends, 2&1/2Men, The Game, and The Office, I am confident that Girlfriends would be found to be as (or more) entertaining than 2&1/2Men. The Office and The Game would be rejected by a much larger percentage of the viewers. The thing is, very few people ever sampled Girlfriends. A big part of that is simply that the show had a black cast and a big part of that is that the show was on UPN/CW.
We can talk about Grey's Anatomy being the #1 scripted show on TV (ignoring DH for a second) and that the cast features many prominent African Americans in the cast, but honestly, people need to admit that if the entire cast (or even the majority of the cast) had been African Americans, Grey's Anatomy never would have been sampled to begin with. People tuned in initially because of Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh's 'star power'. The Cosby Show, way back when, got an initial tune in because of 'star power'. Even Everybody Hates Chris got an initial tune-in because of star power. If you can get people to watch, most of them won't have a problem with the skin color of the cast members. The thing is, those same people largely won't sample a show to begin with if that skin color variation (between themselves and the cast) exists.
Well stated, although I would honestly say I'd pass on all 4 sitcoms you've mentioned.
Originally posted by Obveeus: If you can get people to watch, most of them won't have a problem with the skin color of the cast members. The thing is, those same people largely won't sample a show to begin with if that skin color variation (between themselves and the cast) exists.
I agree. My point was never that a show with a primarily non-white cast could not work, just that it is harder to get a wide audience because people tend toward shows with people that look more like them (black, white, hispanic, or whatever).
Well that's not completely true. K-Ville still was in the top 25 for African American viewers in its last three episodes in December. Not as high as it premiered, but still very strong for FOX in that area (as I said before, second highest for FOX after House).
The problem with Girlfriends is that creatively its drifting off. After eight seasons and the loss of a main actress, there's no place to go. Viewership can only hang on for so long. That's why CW should actively look for either a spin off with one of the remaining cast or come up with different shows to appeal to that demo. Aliens in America was a waste and broke up the African American demo leaning block.
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Originally posted by Obveeus:
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Originally posted by Holly: It's not like this is just about white people not watching "black" shows. The top comedies among the African American demographic are The Game and Girlfriends. Are black viewers watching them instead of 2 1/2 Men or The Office because of quality or because they feature black leads? The week of October 23 (it's the only week we have on the board here), more black viewers watched The Game than Grey's Anatomy. Again, is that about quality or color?
You already know the answer. It is largely about color. Black viewers seek out black programming in the same way white viewers seek out white programming. That being said, a program will survive or fail based upon how entertaining it is to those that were willing to seek it out. K-Ville started this season with a large black viewership and they stopped watching when they found the show to be not entertaining. Girlfriends has been among the top black demo shows on television for years because those that sampled the show kept watching. It was entertaining.
If everyone in America had to sit down and watch a half dozen of the top episodes of Girlfriends, 2&1/2Men, The Game, and The Office, I am confident that Girlfriends would be found to be as (or more) entertaining than 2&1/2Men. The Office and The Game would be rejected by a much larger percentage of the viewers. The thing is, very few people ever sampled Girlfriends. A big part of that is simply that the show had a black cast and a big part of that is that the show was on UPN/CW.
We can talk about Grey's Anatomy being the #1 scripted show on TV (ignoring DH for a second) and that the cast features many prominent African Americans in the cast, but honestly, people need to admit that if the entire cast (or even the majority of the cast) had been African Americans, Grey's Anatomy never would have been sampled to begin with. People tuned in initially because of Patrick Dempsey and Sandra Oh's 'star power'. The Cosby Show, way back when, got an initial tune in because of 'star power'. Even Everybody Hates Chris got an initial tune-in because of star power. If you can get people to watch, most of them won't have a problem with the skin color of the cast members. The thing is, those same people largely won't sample a show to begin with if that skin color variation (between themselves and the cast) exists.
Originally posted by WelcomeToK-VilleAmericanGladiators: Well that's not completely true. K-Ville still was in the top 25 for African American viewers in its last three episodes in December.
Feel free to provide data for the last 3 episodes of K-Ville and the number of AA viewers. Then, provide data for the first 3 episodes of K-Ville and demostrate where I was not being accurate in saying that the AA viewers deserted the show.
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Aliens in America was a waste and broke up the African American demo leaning block.
It is the sitcom most likely to catch on with a wide audience, if only viewers would sample it. As for the AA block, Everybody Hates Chris isn't a big draw for that demo the way the other two sitcoms are.
Isn't the host of Dont Forget the Lyrics Wayne Brady, a black man???
Monday Night Football is led by Mike Toreco (sp).
CBS and FOX both have black males hosting and leading their Football Pregame and halftime shows.
Now, there are not many comedies to mention, but thats because there aren't many comedies... period. When comedies start trending back up, the diversity will be there, just as it was in comedy's golden era, the 90's & 80's.
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Originally posted by spotupj: The Unit has a black lead. Ugly Betty has a Hispanic lead. Law & Order's lead detective is black.
why won't fox stop making the same mistakes? They should use American Idol to support the sarah connor chronicles rather than House, a show that clearly does not need the support. Season after season they waste the american idol lead in.
Moment of Truth is terrible. There are going to be huge drops at 9:30. I don't think it will last more than 5 weeks.
Yup. You got it. It's gonna take a BIG drop at 9:30.
The contestants were already asked the questions earlier. Why do they do it like that? It ruined it for me knowing the contestants weren't really being surprised by the questions.
If they sprung the questions on the contestants for the first time on TV, we'd get a chance to see a real, unfiltered reaction. Instead, they do this end-run and ask them the questions in advance, and deny us the chance to see that. Am I missing something?
Maddeningly close to being a great show.
Well, maybe not. But, it still could have been a decent show.
LAW AND ORDER - they've been stringing some good eps together. It's not the new cast. It's the writing.
Tonite harkened back to the early years with a story of racial and economic tensions, free of melodrama and grandiosity.
The trial part of the ep was absolutely ingenious.
Strike one pilot Jeff Zucker will have to look at.
I agree with you 100% on both. L&O is even wowing me, and I was expecting good things before the season with the cast and showrunner changes. There's something there that hasn't been there since the millennium. It doesn't feel like 2000's L&O anymore.
I will not be returning to Moment of Truth. The slowness is the biggest problem, but it isn't the only problem.
Nevertheless, I'm extremely disappointed. It felt very safe to me. They had prime opportunity to create a trashy, lurid, guilty pleasure. I was bored, and so were most of my dorm mates.
This message has been edited. Last edited by: TAYLORJNG,
Posts: 1272 | Location: Brookline, MA | Registered: 25 September 2006
Hey Marc, Since your webcast is done, when can we get the following Series Threads you promised
Series Still needing threads
Terminator: SCC Americas Funniest Videos Cops America's Most Wanted 48 Hours Dateline 20/20 60 Minutes Chasmere Mafia Crowned: Mother/Pagent the Moment of Truth
Also, Needing out of the Summer Section are: Big Brother Power Of 10
Requesting: Daily Threads for the My Network TV section
Daily Game for 
