Comments

1. fathima wrote:

   oh oh, does anyone watch Friday Night Lights? i love that show.
   in previous seasons it dealt much more explicitly with issues of race, now it’s more overtly about class and gender. but i’m interested in thinking about the white coach/black star dynamic that Coach Taylor and Smash are outing out. though i love both characters very much, something about Smash’s gratitude — the extent of it, or the nature of it — bugs me

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 9:45 am ¶

2. Yuhei wrote:

   I’ve really been getting into EASY MONEY, on the CW Sundays at 9 PM. It’s actually not produced by the CW – they sold off the rights to Sunday night programming to another company called MRC, which is probably why it’s not about super-rich “teenagers” living in NYC, super-rich “teenagers” living in Beverly Hills, or super-rich “teenagers” in general.

   EASY MONEY is set in the American southwest, and follows the Buffkin family. They run Prestige Loans, a company that’s just barely on the legal side of the moneylending business. Besides being a new and unusual milieu for a drama, this setting is very much a commentary on the current financial crisis – many of the people the Buffkins lend to have no business borrowing money, nothing worthwhile to spend it on, and no real way of paying them back. The Buffkins do business with any number of unreliable and unsavory characters, and thus they must be extremely creative in getting their money back.

   The drama begins when the main character, Morgan Stanley Buffkin (named after the bank) discovers that he’s adopted – and worse, he was used as payment for an overdue loan. He’s White, but his search for identity and history was something I can identify with.

   The cast is very multicultural – Black, White, Hispanic, Indian (both kinds), even Hawaiian. It’s a funny, interesting show with good acting, good writing, and an offbeat setting. Check it out!

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 9:59 am ¶

3. Genevieve wrote:

   I don’t watch the Simpsons, D.L. Hughley, Heroes, or Trueblood. I’ve seen Entourage before, but Lloyd perpetually wants a promotion and has a lot of the stereotypes associated with gay men and female secretaries thrust upon the character. I’ve seen episodes where Lloyd’s character is expanded on a little bit, but not much.

   I have been watching the new episodes of House, MD, which had some excellent moments including the “big reveal/twist” at the end. I won’t spoil them, and talking about the episodes more will just be a spoiler in itself, but I think it’s been pretty awesome.

   I’ve also been watching America’s Next Top Model, which is a lot like it always is. It’s what I watch when I want to rot my braiiiiins. Other than that, it’s mostly the news, Jeopardy, and Wheel of Fortune. God, I’m boring.

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:16 am ¶

4. J.J. wrote:

   I thought my ears were the only ones that perked up at the ‘Grand Pumpkin’ thing on the Simpsons. . . . I only made a point to watch that episode because of the Obama/McCain/Homer sketch in the opening. I really felt uneasy about the pumpkin

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:17 am ¶

5. Anna wrote:

   I’m not regularly watching either Grey’s Anatomy or House – but to my knowledge BOTH of those shows have brought in large groups of new doctors, and had characters within the show assign them numbers instead of names. I don’t want to sound like a lunatic, but whenever a show does this I start thinking about historical scenarios when doctors referred to people by number. . . the kind that happened, say, in Germany in the 1940’s.

   In a recent episode of Grey’s, Christina lined up the interns, humiliated them, and picked from the lineup who would have to go with George O’Malley. It had a dehumanizing vibe that left me sort of queasy.

   I get that this is supposed to play up how “mean” and “cold” the bigshot doctors are – but it seems like a cheap way to go about it, and not particularly entertaining or edifying for the audience.

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:50 am ¶

6. Cynthia wrote:

   I have the DVDs to the first season of Mad Men (LOOOOOOVE that show) and one scene caught my eye: It’s the one when Peggy was promoted to junior copywriter and everyone from Sterling Cooper heads to the pub. In that scene, one of the male extras looked a little Asian. Now, Mad Men takes place in the early 60s in a white-only advertising company. Why would they have an Asian-looking extra? The only non-white characters in the building are black people who work in service jobs (e.g. elevator guy, snack/lunch cart guy, cleaners, etc)

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:18 am ¶

7. Rob Schmidt wrote:

   Angela Bassett is playing the latest in a long line of tough head doctors on “ER.” Greg Pratt (Mekhi Phifer) died in the season premiere.

   Alfre Woodard is the head of a secret spy agency on “My Own Worst Enemy.”

   Christine has married (!) Barb (Wanda Sykes) on “The New Adventures of Old Christine.”

   “The Mentalist” has an Asian guy who’s probably the most well-adjusted character on the police team.

   “Prison Break” introduced a Korean computer whiz, but he was killed.

   Adam Beach is gone from “Law & Order: SVU.”

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:19 am ¶

8. ieishah wrote:

   anna, girl, that left you queasy? what about the stabbing of the damn pigs by the recently discharged from the afghanistan war, major hunt? now, that made my stomach turn.

   but what about the full blown lesbian relationship between the vaguely latina cali torres, and the how-in-the-hell-did-she-not-know-she-was-gay-all-along, ericka hahn?? except, is it a full blown lesbian relationship if cali runs from the room every time she even hears a word that begins with the letter ‘l’?

   furthermore, up until this most recent episode, she’s been screwing both mark sloan and ericka hahn. kudos to shonda and friends for letting the relationship develop, but seriously, i haven’t seen cali torres perform a surgery in like 5 episodes. not sure i like what her character does for the ‘hot latina’ stereotype. she spends more time undressed than meredith grey, herself.

   god, i love that show.

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:43 am ¶

9. Genevieve wrote:

   I don’t watch Grey’s Anatomy and can’t speak for its writing/characterization of the bigshot doctors, but in House, it’s really only Dr. House who’s consistently portrayed as an ass. The numbering system was more a “What will he do next?” than “How big of a jackass is he?” It’s played more for comedy than anything else.

   It was also when House was having “tryouts” for his new doctor team, he labeled all of his applicants by number at first, and then by demeaning nicknames (Cutthroat Bitch, “Big Love” for the LDS/Mormon doctor). He was called on it by his coworkers, but that’s how House’s character is and the “gimmick” of the show. One of the characters when “fired”, flipped his number from 9 to 6 and refused to leave, and is now a recurring character. Since House chose his team, he still calls one of the doctors by number, but she seems to not care (especially in light of all the other stuff he picks on her for).

   Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:56 am ¶

10. dave wrote:

    @Anna: I saw that episode, and while it didn’t make me feel that way at the time, I can see where you’re coming from. I guess I have less of a problem with it because they didn’t show the actor who was doing that in a positive light really, so it didn’t come across as “here is an insensitive behaviour that were encouraging.”

    I’ve only seen a couple episodes though, so I could be wrong. And at first glance I like the ethnic make-up of the cast, there seems to be a decent array of POC in positions of power.

    Another show that I’ve been watching is Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, although I think I’m two episodes behind. That show is white white white. There’s a latino small-time crime family, but I think they’re mostly dead at this point. And the only latina in the family has less than 25 words although she appears in about 3 episodes (part of her schtick is that she’s a cooler than thou teenager, but they never get past that initial presentation).

    T: TSCC has some great gender parity, but every once in awhile they’ll play up the “mother” aspect of Sarah Connor in a way that previously she’d been “hard” and its the inconsistency that bothers me rather than it happening at all.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 12:12 pm ¶

11. KuriusJurge612 wrote:

    I thought the Racist pumpkin thing was funny

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 12:32 pm ¶

12. Shelby wrote:

    I watch a lot of reality tv shows. Not really the “Flavor of Love” kind (shudder) but more of the “A&E Intervention” kind.
    One of my favorites is Jon and Kate Plus 8. I love seeing the relationship Jon and Kate have with each other, but the gender essentialism they both (especially Kate) apply to their children makes me twitch. And sometimes Kate shows some disturbing, objectifying tendencies. One episode she mentioned how she hoped her kids looked like Jon, saying she pictured them as “little china dolls” (Jon’s half korean, she’s white). And a couple times she’s referred to Jon’s family traditions as “chinese” and he has to remind her that she means “korean.”
    I’m also really curious to see the kids’ racial identities forming. They don’t talk a lot about race, but there was one clip where the kids fought over who was “the most asian” in the family.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 1:04 pm ¶

13. tj wrote:

    Eli Stone
    Season 1 Episode 4 – a black lawyer sues another black lawyer to court for being racist.

    Mad Men
    There are no black characters, but they sometimes deal with attitudes towards black people. I wonder what Don Draper’s agency is going to be like . . .

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 1:07 pm ¶

14. Reiter wrote:

    I thought the Great Pumpkin sketch on The Simpsons was pretty funny. The racism on the part of the Great Pumpkin is his not caring that a variety of pumpkin (different from the usual orange you always see during Halloween, it was a lighter shade of yellow instead) was being held hostage at knife-point by the Nelson character. Nelson (before being eaten by the Great Pumpkin) says, “I’d rather die than hate!”

    I thought it was a pretty funny bit, and didn’t really see anything wrong with it. Halloween monsters can be racist too, apparently (against members of their own kind, mind you). You’d find more offensive stuff on Family Guy or American Dad (I love both shows too, incidentally). Mostly I liked the sketch since it poked fun at the Peanuts with their “strong Christian overtones,” as one other parody show put it.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 1:47 pm ¶

15. Cynthia wrote:

    TJ: There ARE black characters on Mad Men. They aren’t main characters, but they’re certainly there. There’s Hollis the elevator guy and Carla, the Drapers’ housekeeper.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:04 pm ¶

16. Reiter wrote:

    @Dave – Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles may have started that way, but they have been introducing POCs into the story. The former FBI agent character (Agent Ellison, I think his name is?) is black and is digging deeper into the whole Skynet conspiracy. They also intro’d an elderly black psychiatrist character to the plot fairly recently, and he’s currently being recruited by both parties (Connors and the machines) to gauge his connection to Skynet.

    The one woman AWOL future soldier that is currently with Derek Reese (Brian Austin Green) appears to be of mixed-race (to me, anyway), though I can’t be sure. It would be nice if they intro’d some more POCs though. For a show that deals with a lot of tech, I haven’t recalled a single Asian face to my recollection (it also bugs me that you don’t see much of Asian male faces on medical shows either… Asian females, sure, but males? Kal Penn on House M.D. is promising, though I wish they’d delve deeper into his character. We got some stuff on Taub and Thirteen, so where’s the Kutner love?).

    Another thought about the Great Pumpkin sketch. It kinda reminds me of Dave Chappelle’s comedy skit about black people being “bad bargaining chips” in hostage situations. Funny because it’s sadly true. Similarly, it’s why you don’t see much if any coverage at all of POC disappearances/kidnappings on TV news while one white woman vanishes or is nabbed and everyone in the media goes crazy.

    Man, I miss Chappelle. David Allen Grier is certainly no Chappelle.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:06 pm ¶

17. jvansteppes wrote:

    ieishah: i’m glad someone else noticed that grey’s anatomy has the most boring and conservative homo relationship on tv.
    I also find the pairing of the army guy and dr yang creepy because of the whole white army man meets asian woman dynamic, but maybe i’m being unreasonable, i don’t know.
    i watch grey’s anatomy because i have loved sandra oh since she was making independent movies in canada and i can’t abandon her now. But that show has long had race issues, or perhaps ‘colorblindness’ issues.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:20 pm ¶

18. summer wrote:

    grey’s anatomy spinoff – private practice – love this show. and every week there’s a passionate scene, often brown skin on brown skin, between taye diggs and audra mcdonald. that’s so awesome! there’s also interracial love interests, but race never enters the discussion.

    @anna and assigning numbers to interns – i think you could be making a snap judgement on Grey’s based on a scene you may have taken out of context.

    #10 dave kinda explained it, but to really get it, you’d need to rent last season’s dvd at the very least.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:40 pm ¶

19. bianca wrote:

    DEXTER rocks my world for all the reasons that were written in this post http://www.racialicious.com/2008/05/29/dexter-bloody-good/

    Add to that Jimmy Smits’ new character (who brings 2 brothers and a Latina wife), and humanizing representation of sex workers, I’m a fan.

    I adore PUSHING DAISES , it has the magical realism that makes me feel at home. Chi McBride had me since BOSTON PUBLIC, and the writers just revealed he has a racially White mother and a Black daughter he’s searching for from a previous relationship and is beginning a courtship with a stunningly beautiful dark skinned Black woman. You can also watch it online.

    Also rewatching THE WIRE.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:43 pm ¶

20. Jess wrote:

    I watch True Blood and think it’s so far interesting, but the last episode brought it into serious skinemax territory.

    I like the fact that Jason’s new love is a fake hippe-dippie-granola sociopath. The contrast between “we’re one with the Earth” and her serial-killer morality is priceless. But the whole sex-while-tripping thing was waay to long. the show seems to be “let’s see whose nerd fantasy girl we can pay enough to do a nude scene.” (The girl who plays the hippie was on Freaks and Geeks).

    Jason Stackhouse is proving to be not all stupid, which is nice. I was worried for a while. And the story the gay schlubby vampire told whilst tied up was actually interesting, and touching. I’ve known a number of gay men in just his situation, and it’s always a bit heartbreaking when they try to rebuild their lives after everything falls apart. In that sense he’s the most interesting vampire character I’ve seen in years. I wanted to know more about his situation.

    Bill goes to trial — well, wasn’t like we didn’t see that coming. And Sam the dog, we knew that one already, though how he’s supposed to “protect” Sookie is beyond me since he’s not a very big dog and somebody could just, y’know, put a leash on him or something.

    And what about the nudist story he told? Christ, I’d have just said, “yeah, I got a little hammered, went with a friend of mine and smoked some of the best weed you’ve ever had, and stuff happens, you know how it is.” The cops would have believed that one first.

    The mystery killer is not moving very far or fast. And I am having a bit of trouble buying the fact that the cops are that stupid. “Dead cat in the house where someone was murdered? No problem here!”

    Why did the vampires in Fangtasia want to see Sookie in leather gear? What’s up with that? Do they just dig black leather? Is there a vampire equivalent of Tim Gunn who mandates stylistic choices? Do all vampires want to dress like heavy metal bands?

    Good stuff: Tara is developing a little, though I am not sure I like the direction this is going. Sam didn’t just give up, and these two actually talk. Bit better there. I like seeing a bit more about vampire “culture” as it is, but the last three episodes are going to have to cover a lot of ground, it seems to me.

    Oh well.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 2:44 pm ¶

21. ieishah wrote:

    @jvansteppes- lol! i used to watch the l-word with my mouth open. especially in the early days. hahn-torres, not so much. and i didn’t catch the subtle miss saigon reference there with the hunt-yang story line, but i think it’s because honestly i forget christina’s asian sometimes. she has so many annoying qualities to focus on-and oh plays them to the hilt- i forget all about her race. you may have a point there, though.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 4:07 pm ¶

22. naomi wrote:

    Eli stone– sassy black assistant, mystical Chinese acupuncturist, black lawyer who is strictly in the background, the two partners with Jewish last names greedily kicking out the “saved” partner who wants to reform the firm for the greater good.. It’s a feel-good, cute show, but it def has some glaring problems..

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 4:40 pm ¶

23. Pheagan wrote:

    I might be late on this, but– I would like to see a Racialicious review of Weeds. I haven’t seen it until recently and started watching Season 2 with my friend. And I started getting more and more uncomfortable– the casual racism of the white characters (I brought this up and my friend, who’s white, said it was just a realistic portrayal of casual white racism, but neither of us talks like these characters), the stereotypes– of course the black family is into weed, of course the Indian guy is a nerd. And there’s everyone being in love with Nancy even though I’m constantly startled by the beauty of Heylia’s daughter. And then in Season 3 all the black characters disappear. Including Conrad, who had FINALLY got down with Nancy. The fuck? And of course when we have Latinos, they’re all Mexican and they’re all dealing drugs or running borders.

    What else? Battlestar has been pretty good on race, I think. Of course, it’s a non-issue there and usually tension between the colonies is the stand-in for racial tension, can’t decide if it’s a cop-out or not.

    OK, another thing I’d like to see Racialicious cover even though the shows aren’t on right now: Star Trek. In particular, the racialization of the alien races. Like, Vulcans=Asian, Klingons=black, Ferengi=Jewish. I personally love DS9, and I think it was racially aware and even though they had these characters the show attempted to de-racialize them. For instance, lots of white people were cast as Klingons, and there was a lot of development on the Ferengi culture. Also, they introduced alien cultures that were not racial simulacrums. There was this great moment where Captain Sisko explains that he doesn’t like to go into those retro 60’s holosuites because he wouldn’t have been accepted during that time, even though the racism has been edited out of the program. Unlike Battlestar, DS9 addressed race and when it did it was more nuanced than usual in television.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:02 pm ¶

24. Gothic Guera wrote:

    Simpsons, American Dad, the Colbert Report/Daily show, The soup, best week ever(not as much as I used to thought) reruns of King of the hill, and That’s 70s show,I really want to see mad men but I can’t seem to find time to watch it.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:37 pm ¶

25. Mammith wrote:

    @Pheagan: I’ve been watching Weeds since Season One and I’ve got to say I couldn’t have a more different opinion of the show.

    I’ve heard people complain about all the black characters leaving the show before and I do think that’s unreasonable, they were a group of characters that wouldn’t have fit into where the show was going it didn’t really have anything to do with their race I think.

    The Indian guy (who incidentally has a baby on the show with a black woman, which I really liked because you almost never get two different POC interacting in anything, its always POC/White person) may have been a bit of a geek but he mainly gets into the whole drug thing, not too geeky and safe if you ask me.

    Also all the Latino people are drug dealers? Most of the cast of the show are drug dealers! Its basic premise revolves around drugs and trafficking and whathaveyou.

    Plus Nancy is probably the most F***** up character on the show, she treads new areas of moral ambiguity. The casual racism from the likes of Celia (whose in a constant state of meltdown) are just because she’s that sort of person, you’re meant to find it funny because its so stupid I’ve always thought.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 10:49 pm ¶

26. mahsino wrote:

    Despite resisting it at first- I have a problem when people try and paint a happy nostalgia to the 60’s when in reality it was only great for heterosexual, white, men- I really love Mad Men.

    It may sound wrong, but I love the old-timey northern racism of the show. They don’t prefix their xenophobic statements with “I don’t want to sound racist but…” or “but it’s okay, I have black friends”- they show exactly how crappy the world was for anyone who wasn’t a white male. They don’t try and put black characters in the “token” position: it is exactly how it would have been and I appreciate that sort of realism (forgive the pun, but I always hate when tv or movies try and white-wash how bad things were for women and poc). I don’t just love it for its realism and reminding me how good I have it, but because I actually enjoy the time they take to tell a story- they don’t try and rush it and they don’t treat the audience like they’re stupid.

    I still have a problem with True Blood because I’m such a fan of the book (they’ve gone from taking liberties to butchering the storyline at this point) and I have a problem when people try and oversexualize characters to the point of gratuity that has nothing to add to the story.

    Love Dexter.
    I’m starting to get annoyed by the mammification of Bailey on Grey’s Anatomy.
    I died with laughter at the “all pumpkins are at least a little racist” line on the Simpsons
    And despite the mysogony and homophobia in Entourage, the Ari/Llyod friendship makes it watchable for me. I really hate Vince though.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:04 pm ¶

27. brad wrote:

    Pheagan,

    On Battlestar, racism isn’t based on skin color but on planet of origin. More advanced worlds like Caprica enslaved poorer agrarian colonies like Geminon. This was addressed in several episodes including the one where a doctor kills patients from Geminon.

    As for aligning races to Star Trek aliens, that doesn’t work that cleanly. The Klingons were originally played by only white actors as were the Vulcans and Romulans. That changed with Next Gen and DS9.

    In both shows, Vulcans, Romulans, and Klingons were played by people of all races. Tuvok’s appearance on Voyager was quickly explained that all people from equatorial geographies had darker skinned.

    Unfortunately, in the retched Enterprise, nonwhite Vulcans disappeared as quickly as Star Fleet became white male dominated again.

    BTW, the Vulcans, if you look at the original show, were heavily influenced by Jewish culture. The Vulcan hand sign is of Jewish origin.

    Posted 03 Nov 2008 at 11:20 pm ¶

28. Pheagan wrote:

    @ Mammith– the reason that I found all the black people leaving the show problematic is because the white people DIDN’T leave. Sure, if the Botwins got out of Agrestic and set up shop somewhere else it would be one thing, but the writers jumped through hoops to keep Celia and Isabelle on the show (Isabelle begging to be with the mother she despises? Celia getting out of jail when she owned a grow house on the off chance that she might get some information on a slightly bigger dealer?) Surely equally implausible plots could have been conceived of to at least keep Conrad on.

    You seem to be on the same page as my friend where it comes to the white characters’ racism (not just Celia but Doug). So, you know, maybe there’s just two viewpoints on that.

    And yeah, all the characters on the show are drug dealers, but when you add that to the rest of the Latino characters involved in border crossing there’s definite playing into the stereotype– and you know, I get the sense that the creators are trying to play with the stereotypes and turn them on their heads, which is why I watched this season’s show. But sometimes the stereotypes aren’t reversed at all and merely become cartoonish– this might be just me, but I wonder if it verges into uncomfortable issues for others.

    @ Brad, yeah, I’m pretty sure I said in my post that the inter-colony tensions are what stand in for race on Battlestar. My point is this feels like it could be a cop-out, when there are characters of color there to address racial issues. I mean, I’m not even sure if it IS a cop-out. I feel like BG is good on race. The only thing that’s ever bothered me is the most under-utilized Cylon, the one who never had a plot, is the black one. This doesn’t mean other characters of color haven’t had good storylines, but I do watch the show and wonder if they’re ever going to do anything with the guy. But I haven’t seen the last six or so eps.

    Yeah, I only know my Star Trek from Ds9, and it seemed that they were trying to un-racialize the aliens. I didn’t know about the Vulcan hand gesture being Jewish. My claim about the racialization of the aliens is based on what I’ve heard Trek fans say, and it’s not so much about the race of the actors playing the aliens as the stereotypes that the aliens play into (and it sounds like from what you’re saying this is Next Generation-era and was destabilized in later shows by casting actors of different races).

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 12:13 am ¶

29. Lyonside wrote:

    Pheagan and Brad: Yay for dead/mostly dead sci fi!

    >This doesn’t mean other characters of color haven’t had good storylines, but I do watch the show and wonder if they’re ever going to do anything with the guy. But I haven’t seen the last six or so eps.

    If you mean the last 6 that aired, nope, nothing interesting with the black Cylon. Actually, nothing big with ANY black male, human or Cylon, on Battlestar. It’s the big racial flaw in the show, IMO – yay for Asians (women anyway) and vaguely indeterminate brown people (I have no idea what the actor who plays Gaeta identifies as). But for black women, we have Dee, a Geminon,… oh, and the mystic Geminon priestess who died. Coincidence that the only black women we’ve seen are from the historically oppressed colony? Yeah, they’re not being subtle. Meanwhile, I think the only black male humans we’ve seen have been soldiers, and not the most pleasant ones. Did they get names?

    Sort of how I feel about black men in Dr. Who-verse. If they’re not Mickey, they’re going to be a villian. *sigh* And don’t get me started about black men and women on Torchwood. *doublesigh and facepalm*

    >. My claim about the racialization of the aliens is based on what I’ve heard Trek fans say, and it’s not so much about the race of the actors playing the aliens as the stereotypes that the aliens play into (and it sounds like from what you’re saying this is Next Generation-era and was destabilized in later shows by casting actors of different races).

    Not really – more like:

    TOS limited black actors on the show to Uhura, as far as I can tell. Welcome to the 60s. TOS movies got a little better, w/ the occasional admiral or something thrown in.

    Next Gen had 2 (count them, 2!) black actors in recurring/emsemble roles. One blind human, one overcompensating Klingon TRA. For a while on NextGen every Klingon was either played by a black actor, or had a decent tan. Of course they looked different too – This got fanwanked different ways – either the 60s Klingons had been surgically altered (no brow ridge either), or there were different types of Klingons, some w/ more prominant features than others. I THINK skin color got addressed on some level, but indirectly.

    Some guest stars were black, usually under significant makeup (Darmok and Julad, anyone?) – in a very “Enemy Mine” way.

    DS9 got better, and I have a hunch that Avery Brooks had some say (and probably changed some lines). But noone has ever accused Star Trek franchises of being subtle. Bajorans = Palestinians.

    And the less said about race relations re: Voyager, probably the better.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 1:47 am ¶

30. Powerpuffgirl wrote:

    I LOVE Entourage. I laugh at the Lloyd/Ari jokes because for me, it pokes fun at racist and homophobic people…but when I watched it in Hong Kong, a few of my Asian friends (born/raised in China or Taiwan or Hong Kong, etc.) didn’t get it and didn’t understand why I was ok with the jokes. Which got me worried, because what if Entourage fans are laughing along with the racist and homophobic comments that Ari tosses to Lloyd because they, in fact, feel the same way?

    Gossip Girl has hardly ANY POC on its show…I mean…come on. I know its an exclusive Upper East Side world, but I’ve lived in Manhattan and the UES is not all white.
    http://adventuresofpowerpuffgirl.blogspot.com/2008/09/b-for-gg.html

    Grey’s Anatomy is my dream show in terms of having actors who are of all different races. And the characters are not stereotypical per say…I don’t focus on their races – I care more about the characters vs. the race of the characters. Which I think is a “normalization” of non-white actors in the media. I loved the Christina + Burke relationship (Asian American woman and an African American man – you don’t see that every day in the media), but of course we all know what happened there…

    Lipstick Jungle – Lindsay Price who is part Asian is in a lead female role, which I love. Although it is definitely not Sex and the City and it would be like comparing apples to oranges, I like following the characters on their adventures.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 7:05 am ¶

31. Powerpuffgirl wrote:

    Oh – I forgot to mention that I hated the Asian character played by Bai Ling on the episode of Entourage where she is a martial arts trainer. Also don’t like the Entourage episodes where they go to Asian “massage parlors”… See, I wouldn’t have an issue with some of the main characters on that show (besides the token gay Asian character, Lloyd) was Asian…but the fact that the only times they have showcased Asian actors/actresses on the show were when the storylines were about prostitutes and martial artists…well, that IRKS me.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 7:18 am ¶

32. Mammith wrote:

    @Pheagan:

    I do see your point about them bringing back the other characters, but I do believe that a lot of it can be attributed to the fact that all the characters that did come back are the hangers-on that sort of rely on Nancy, the less self-sufficient characters.

    Although I was annoyed that they didn’t have at least cameo appearances I think that may have been because they wanted to let us know that Conrad/Nancy was never gonna happen.

    I think with the portrayal of the Latino charecters the only thing that I thought was a bit iffy was how Guillermo’s character seemed to became dehumanized as the season went on, he became less well-rounded and just became a scary drug/human trafficker.

    But all in all I think the few missteps were just that and the show judged in its entirety is pretty good when it comes to race (as well as in general obviously).

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 9:34 am ¶

33. Reiter wrote:

    DS9 is a good one. It’s been a while though. I always thought the Bajoran and Cardassian dichotomy worked more like Jewish/Nazi-Germany, or perhaps French-resistance/Nazi-occupation (or Berlin/Soviet-occupation). And I recall the Klingons were originally a metaphor for communists in the first series. But I guess we sometimes see what we want to see when it comes to certain shows.

    Another show I’d like to mention is Firefly. I love the series and the movie, but I always had a problem with the way the universe was set up. Everyone seemed to be heavily influenced by Chinese culture (in fact, a lot of characters would sometimes talk and swear in Chinese, etc.), but I don’t think a single Asian person ever entered the plot as a major character or even a side character, only as background scenery, which bugged me (maybe there was an Asian prostitute during that one episode where the Serenity crew fought to defend a brothel). Kinda smelled like culture appropriation there, Mr. Whedon.

    Bai Ling. Ugh. Most any role she plays is pretty cringe worthy, with very few exceptions (her role in Anna and the King was admirable, though I haven’t seen Curse of the Golden Flower yet, which may redeem her more).

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 11:32 am ¶

34. Lisa J wrote:

    @ Lyonside
    “TOS limited black actors on the show to Uhura, as far as I can tell. Welcome to the 60s. TOS movies got a little better, w/ the occasional admiral or something thrown in.”

    That statement isn’t entirely accurate. There were several episodes in the original show also where their were black Admirals, there was one Hispanic Commador and an episode with a universe-renowned black scientist. Not a super track record but by 60’s standards pretty good. (Been watching the TVLand early am Star Treks)

    As for your crack on Mickey from Dr. Who, don’t be hating on my boy and my show Mickey became a hero by the end and did lots of wonderful things; he grew as a character which is more than you see on lots of tv shows of any stripe. Also, although there sadly were not many blacks on Doctor Who in its original 27 year run (and with only one exception I can think of they were sort of back ground characters or silent strong men for villians ) there have been several guest starts who were black and male in its new run over the past 4 years who were not bad guys. The one who hops to mind immediately is the Captain from “The Impossible Planet/Satan Pit” in series 2 of the new show. There is also Martha’s father-flakey but a good guy- a lesser extentn her brother. Solomon the leader of Hooverville in Daleks in Manhattan and Evolution of the Daleks (slightly unlikely since this was set in the 30’s in NYC but still) and I could probably think of some others and can run down some more stories if I really thought about it. But in a society where blacks are a much greater minority than they are here in the US , it isn’t too bad. (Can you tell I’m a long time Whovian?)

    Now for Torchwood, I can see where you are coming from. They’ve done well in some respects (homosexuals, bi-sexuals, woman, highlighting an Asian female) but not so great for representation of those of African descent, except for Martha’s visit. But then again, how many black folks live in Wales?Not too many according to my friend who was called a monkey when there but that was in a less cosmopolitan area than Cardiff.

    As for Battlestar, I personally think they did a better job in the original series than in the reboot with black males. They had 2 strong black male characters, Col Tighe and Boomer, who were very different than their new versions, and both were unabashadly good guys of strong morale character (that Col Tighe didn’t even finish a drink on the one time they showed him drink). They didn’t have much else in the way of minorities, but I was really disappointed that they didn’t do as well in the new series. As you said, impressive in someways but not so good for African-Americans.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 3:47 pm ¶

35. Kendra wrote:

    The line I focused on in the Great Pumpkin portion of the Simpson’s Halloween special was “Everybody’s racist, but I’m willing to admit it.”

    Something along those lines. That’s what stuck with me.

    Also, any King of the Hill fans out there had better get their fill of the new seasons. The show will be canceled after the 2009-2010 season.

    Other than what’s mentioned above, I watch American Dad, Family Guy (saw the spin-off reference toward the end of a recent episode), Venture Brothers, Daily Show/Colbert Report, etc.

    I feel like I’m one of the few here who watches cartoons more than anything else.

    Oh, and short recommendation: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 and Futurama: Bender’s Game. They can be found online.

    We could discuss the role of Amy in the latter as the perpetually loose woman. (Nothing wrong with that generally, but combined with her Asian identity and other qualities, I wonder if the portrayal is balanced enough.) She had Kiff for a while . . . I guess he aint coming back.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 7:13 pm ¶

36. EvilAngelfish wrote:

    @Lyonside,
    please do say more about race relations on Voyager. Granted, I’m a fan (Tuvok is my favorite Vulcan), but I don’t think they were any worse than on other incarnations of Star Trek I’ve seen. Plus, didn’t Harry Kim have the first kiss between an asian man and a black woman on tv ever (according to the DVD commentary, anyway). Although, now that I think about it, B’elanna Torres, who was my other favorite, did sometimes seem like a Klingon version of a tragic mulatta. Is that what you mean?

    I’m a big fan of True Blood – it’s the only series I’m currently watching (until BSG returns). I understand that a lot of people who’ve read the novels aren’t too pleased with the series but I think the actors are doing a fantastic job so I can’t really imagine what I’m missing not having read the books.

    Posted 04 Nov 2008 at 9:00 pm ¶

37. tj wrote:

    @Cynthia: I was refering to the fact that there are no black main characters, should have made myself clear. You forgot Paul Kinsey’s black girlfriend, whose name is interestingly – shiela white!

    Posted 05 Nov 2008 at 1:50 pm ¶

38. Hokayshenao wrote:

    For me it would have to be those post-modern yet framed by the seventies commercials. The ones with the couple that appear to be successful even though they do not have scary smiles.

    Posted 05 Nov 2008 at 6:34 pm ¶