Are Blacks represented well on TV yet? Not really.

[Death Metal Moe]

I was just thinking about this.

There was always a big push to break down racial barriers and allow blacks to be cast in roles besides thugs and drug dealers. And sure, very few of the black people I ever met matched this description.

So in the name of Political Correctness, you have things like BET and a large line up of shows on UPN and other networks that are mostly Black.

But what made me start this thread was this thought. The MAJORITY of roles I see blacks in NOW are comedy shows and sitcoms where they're acting like ASSHOLES. OR they're sports stars or musicians: the old time stereotypical way blacks could get on TV or in movies.

Martin? Jamie Fox? That HORRID Bernie Mack show? Ja Rule? And turn on BET and you have like a 3 to 1 shot at it being black stand-up or rap videos.

Now I am NOT PC at all. I'm not sitting around saying that I don't see enough blacks on TV at all. It just strikes me as odd that in a way they won their battle to be more noticed on TV, but in a large way they lost so far because they are portrayed as kooky characters.

Now I'm also not saying this is a good thing. And I hope that someone can prove me wrong.

Oh yea, and that movie Oprah did tanked, while FRIDAY'S movies and that Barbershop one do great business. I HATE Oprah, but it helps my point that comedy is the only thing that Blacks go to see, or those violent gang movies.

Maybe this is how the black community really wants it? Please someone explain.

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[TheMojoPin]

That HORRID Bernie Mack show?

Insanity. That show is so good it's delicious. Why can't someone kill the cast of "Malcolm In The Middle"?

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
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[pinkyfloyd]

Maybe this is how the black community really wants it?

I don't think the black community are the ones who have the say about how they are portrayed on television. The executives who run the networks are primarily white guys who think that all black people are smart-talking thugs.

pinkyfloyd: Waging War Against The Sigpic Since April 2002.

Oh, by the way, which one's pinky?

[Captain Rooster]

C'mon, Clark has black buddy on Smallville. Isn't that enough?



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[TheMojoPin]

but it helps my point that comedy is the only thing that Blacks go to see, or those violent gang movies.

Nah, there's the whole "Soul Food", "Brown Sugar", "The Brothers", "The Wood", "Waiting To Exhale", "Devil In A Blue Dress" sub-genre that's just finally starting to get more exposure. I guess they fall into the "heart-warming romance/family saga"-type.

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Death Metal Moe]

Thank you Mojo. These are the things I WANT to be brought up because I DON'T study black culture. I just posted a feeling I had. I hope I'm wrong for the sake of black folk, but there's an alarming trend I noticed.

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[canofsoup15]

Well it depends, which would you prefer to fill the role of a stereotypical black guy on a tv show, a white guy trying to act black, or a black guy rrying to act black. Or maybe im just too damned stupid and sleepy to come up with good posts. o well.

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[Cybersoldier]

does sports count?

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[SuperClerk]

What's a nubian?

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[Steels]

Nubians are members of a group which include dark skinned people that formed a powerful empire between Egypt and Ethiopia from the 6th to the 14th centuries.


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[The Chairman]

You have a good point but they are making progress.

Rumor has it that the folks who brought us Little House on the Prairie are working on a new family oriented show with an all black cast called Little Black Sambo on the Plantation.


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thanks ADF for the SigPic!!
I'll take that Chesterfield now...

[Johnny4]

I don't agree. I can't change the channel enough to get past all the black shows. Try watching T.V. at about 6-7. God damn Fresh Prince is every where. Almost all black shows suck(Bernie Mac is Funny) and sometimes it seems they are broadcast in a different language. The African American vernacular changes so fast , that it is hard to keep up. Try watching a couple of Mc Donald's commercials, I have yet to see one in the last ten years that has a white person in it. Chris Rock should give up his horrible movie career and do a sitcom or a show. I'm sorry, but I don't buy him as a movie star, most of the girls on this board could beat his ass. I hope no one takes this as prejudiced, because it is not how it was intended.

Rackin' up bad Karma since 1971!

[Donnielimes]

Bernie Mac is funny. Damon Wayans produces his show. if you don't want to see comedy don't watch prime time local programming. Stepin fetchit was a wealthy,wealthy man and he was laughing all the way to the bank and so is chris rock,eddie murphy and the wayans bros. white people want to see black thugs,dealers pimnps whatever thats crossover screw em if it's puttiing meat on the table give em all the thugs they want.Objectify their women and sell em Eminem. Honestly do you think all those rap albums are bought by black people? Hell no white people want gangster rap sell em gangsta rap get paid and fuck it.

[DarkHippie]

C'mon, Clark has black buddy on Smallville. Isn't that enough
10 bucks says he becomes "Steel".

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[Jobberific]

Nah, there's the whole "Soul Food", "Brown Sugar", "The Brothers", "The Wood", "Waiting To Exhale", "Devil In A Blue Dress" sub-genre that's just finally starting to get more exposure. I guess they fall into the "heart-warming romance/family saga"-type.



While that is true, for everyone of thos movies there is a dozen "Baby Boy"s an "Belly"s. Is unfotunate but our favorite moe raises a very valid point(although I disagree about The Bernie Mac Show, I think thats a step in the right direction.) I mean shit look at Friends. They had a fuckin a monkey as a recurring character and I can't remember seeing a single black person ever drinking coffee in Central Perk. Its very sad that in 2002 the longest running show to consistently show black people is Cops.

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[Donnielimes]

I watch friends I copped to that a long time ago. Quite frankly the monkey was out performing everyone else on the show. Isn't cox' nickname 'monkey'.I mean the reality of the situation is your wanna sell a black story to a white audience. Black people don't have the numbers to support a show on their own.so you gotta have cross over. That means your gonna have misleading storylines because most black people are middle-class family oriented people and thats just not interesting enough for you to watch it for 22 minutes. But if you throw in some gunz some drugs some slick talking it's a tv show.

[The Jays]

Oh yea, and that movie Oprah did tanked


The Color Purple?

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[TheMojoPin]

there is a dozen "Baby Boy"s an "Belly"s.

Whoa now. I know what you're trying to say, but these are the wrong films to compare. "Belly" is a shallow, gimmicky, over the top, crime-glorifying thug-fantasy. "Baby Boy", I thought, is a great film, and a fitting follow-up to "Boyz In The Hood"; both films de-glamorize the violence and the "thug life" mythology that ciruclates amongst blacks and whites. "Baby Boy" especially focuses more on the black family, and specifically the role of the male as a figure of power and as a father, than anything that "Belly" weakly tried to express.

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Jobberific]

I couldn't disagree more. I thought "Baby Boy" was awful, exploitative crap. I think black filmmakers need to try at stop telling the same story over and over. A the time Boyz N the Hood came out, there really hadn't been alot of flms depicting the modern urban struggle so to speak. At this point there have been so many the arguement of "I'm just exposing for white america what poor blacks must go through" just doesn't hold true anymore. I have the same opinion about gangsta rap, but thats a discussion for a different thread.

The Big Ass Club: These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

[TheMojoPin]

I couldn't disagree more. I thought "Baby Boy" was awful, exploitative crap.

How so? I'm honestly curious as to what you saw to make you feel this way. I felt the relationship between the son and Ving Rhames, and then the idea of the son stepping up to be a man and a father in his own regard to be the overt core of the film. And as that Singleton himself made it be as such, I think it's an excellent capper to what he started with "Hood".

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Jobberific]

I felt the relationship between the son and Ving Rhames, and then the idea of the son stepping up to be a man and a father in his own regard to be the overt core of the film.


Oddly enough I agree with you. My problem is why does that story have to be told in a "Hood" context? Does the story a young black man maturing into a father have to be set against a back drop of inner-city violence in order for it to be believable? I know there is can be an arguement made that if you can set the message in a sort of "spoonful of sugar" that will get young people into the theater, I just think that if we don't stop portraying ourselves in this light, we can't ever expect white america too.

The Big Ass Club: These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

[TheMojoPin]

Oddly enough I agree with you. My problem is why does that story have to be told in a "Hood" context? Does the story a young black man maturing into a father have to be set against a back drop of inner-city violence in order for it to be believable?

To a degree, yes. Singleton was actually trying to do part of what you were talking about, about blacks "freeing" themselves from the 'hood, but he wanted to show that it was a slow, painful process that isn't easily done. Hence why Tyrese continually resists the gangsta leanings of his best friend (Though he's still weak enough to turn to him for vengeance).

Snoop, representing the thug life that claimed his brothers (Ice Cube and the football player in "Hood"), is gunned down after trying to commit the ultimate of male offenses: the rape of a woman. His slaying represents Tyrese's maturity twofold: the rejection and his liberation from the cycle of 'hood-violence and his finally stepping up as a strong male by being a responsible husband and protective father.

Rhame's help in disposing of the gun is also indicative of the strength and necessity of family and the father figure in the black community.

So the implication is that Tyrese IS escaping the inner city life, by moving out of his mother's house, by staying true to his girlfriend and son, and by getting a job and not relying on the charity of the women in his life.

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Jobberific]

Rhame's help in disposing of the gun is also indicative of the strength and necessity of family and the father figure in the black community.


See what you see as positive, I see negative. Why does the improtance of father figures in the black family have to be shown in that context? In dispoing of a gun? I'm kinsa torn on that one, beause I recognize that gun violence is a major problem in the black community, but at the same time I am tired of seeing it used in hollywood as if it is the only aspect of black culture that exists.
Looks like we'll have to agree to disagree on this on. At least we both recognize how pants wettingly funny The Bernie Mac Show is.

The Big Ass Club: These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

[jafter]

It just strikes me as odd that in a way they won their battle to be more noticed on TV, but in a large way they lost so far because they are portrayed as kooky characters.



Moe, most tv sitcom characters are kooky white or black -- Archie Bunker, Al Bundy, Will and Grace, Frazier (he's supposed to be a doctor), Friends, Drew Carey, and Home Improvement to name a few. The characters portrayed on all of those shows are not the brightest bulbs on the tree.

Don't look for comedies to have intellectual characters on them. Look for dramas or mini series to increase roles for minorities, blacks, hispanics, and asians. Law and Order SVU Ice Tea and the oriental psychologist. The Practice has 2 very good black characters. St. Elsewhere and ER have had strong minority characters in positive roles.

The key is not to see the actors as white or black just as good actors or bad actors. We need to stop labeling everything. A crook is a crook if he/she is white, black, brown, yellow. Same with doctors, lawyers, cops, teachers.

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[Mr Self Destruct]

Come on DAWG! It's all good. N'am Sayin'??????

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[TheMojoPin]

Why does the improtance of father figures in the black family have to be shown in that context? In dispoing of a gun?

Look at who was killed. And, look at it as Ving saving Tyrese from the life he had to go through. Rhames' character is now law-abiding, hard working, and love his woman, but he had to spend years in jail, trying to survive on the street, and watching his friends die. By getting rid of the gun, he's gotten rid of Tyrese's connection to that street life, and giving him the chance that Ving never had.

Still, this was a damn cool discussion. I love talking up movies like this.

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Donnielimes]

That whole relationship between Ving rhames and that kid was to close to home for me so I really couldn't watch the whole movie. There's like a whole issue of the relationship between a boy and his mother that creates asertive positive people and if that relationship is disrupted you get fucked up adult males. A strong male figure is very important but a negative strong male figure is really destructive.

[Jobberific]

Still, this was a damn cool discussion. I love talking up movies like this.


It certainly was. Whats your opinion on "Undercover Brother"?

The Big Ass Club: These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

[BrianTheBailBondsman]

Little Rascles ring a bell?

"Getting my 15 minutes of fame a few seconds at a time"

[TheMojoPin]

It certainly was. Whats your opinion on "Undercover Brother"?

Nope. Premise looked funny, but Eddie Griffin makes me want to slice my nipples off.

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VP #2 for the Coalition of Angry Micks, and Minister of Bloody Mayhem.
"You can tell some lies about the good times you've had/But I've kissed your mother twice and now I'm working on your dad..."

[Donnielimes]

I liked Undercover Brother it was funny as shit, mayonaise and the black man's Kryptonite and 'Sistah Girl' that shit was funny 4 shizzooo.

[Jobberific]

Nope. Premise looked funny, but Eddie Griffin makes me want to slice my nipples off.


While I agree whole heartedly about Eddie Griffin, I did find the movie quite funny.

The Big Ass Club: These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined.

[Michael Fury]

C'mon, Clark has black buddy on Smallville. Isn't that enough?
And what about Carl Carlson, Homer's handsome black co-worker? A great actor & the best friend a guy could ever want.







The Good Humor man can be pushed only so far.