Racial Diversity Grows On Network Television, But Will Quality Lag Behind?

For those who watch US network TV, a take on the upcoming season in relation to diversity and quality:

The good news from the big broadcast networks’ upfront presentations earlier this month, where they revealed their new shows for the next season, is that television’s turn toward inclusion seems like more than a passing fad.

Of 42 new shows planned for next TV season on the Big Four broadcast networks, 13 series (or 30 percent), either star non-white actors, feature a mostly non-white cast or feature non-white actors as co-leads. Given that we’re 15 years past a TV season when no new show on the top four networks had any non-white actors in the cast at all, those numbers look like progress.

These numbers also suggest that talk about white actors losing parts en masse to great crowds of performers of color — sparked by a Deadline.com story filled with anonymous sources that read like the dying gasp of Hollywood’s white, male privilege — was overblown.

But there may be bad news: A look at early information and trailers for many of these shows — most pilots aren’t available to critics yet — hint that the new crop of programs may not be nearly as groundbreaking or innovative as the stuff we saw this past TV season.

… Regardless of the economics of television diversity, recent history indicates that networks have to take a more active part in seeking out incisive, groundbreaking shows and roles for non-white stars – in the way Fox has encouraged producers to maintain diversity on its recent shows.

The networks also need to empower non-white producers to create shows, in the way ABC has worked with 12 Years a Slave screenwriter John Ridley to create American Crime, and Fox backed The Butler director Lee Daniels to make Empire.

It’s part of the constant struggle to create television that reflects the racial diversity of America without amplifying its problems with stereotyping and prejudice. And what’s obvious from a look at the new shows coming next season is that the struggle is about to get more complicated than it has ever been.

Racial Diversity Grows On Network Television, But Will Quality Lag Behind? : Code Switch : NPR.