Planet Green Shows Some Diversity

by Latoya Peterson

The current state of diversity in television is pretty grim. Not too long ago, Entertainment Weekly reported “Cleveland Brown — a cartoon voiced by a white guy — is the only minority character to anchor a new series in 2008-09.”

The New York Times TV Decoder blog shared this observation:

He notes that of the 26 men nominated for Emmys for lead or supporting actor in a drama, comedy or mini-series, all are white, most of Anglo-Saxon descent. Five of the 25 female nominees are members of minority groups.

So, when I caught an ad caught my eye describing a new show featuring Suchin Pak, I decided to dig a bit deeper.

Planet Green is a new venture by the Discovery Channel, featuring twenty four hour programming on the environment. SuChin Pak co-hosts G Word with Daniel Seiberg. The show asks you to “forget what you think you know about what being green means and get ready for G Word, an hour-long daily show with six segments designed to give you a whole new way to look at, and love, going green.”

There is also another minority co-host anchoring a show. Rapper Ludacris faces off with rocker Tommy Lee on their show Battleground Earth where they compete against each other in challenges like collecting junk mail and coordinating a green funeral.

Has anyone seen either of these shows? What are your thoughts?