Taking a Look at TV’s Racial Picture

Most minorities are black, nine out of ten are middle class or wealthy--and virtually all are happy. Such is the world of prime-time television, where other minorities are practically invisible and ethnic tension and racism almost nonexistent, according to a study released in Washington Tuesday.

Examining more than 150 episodes of 30 network television programs featuring minorities, the study found that last spring’s network prime-time schedule contained nine Latinos, three Asians and one Indian in regular roles.

And the producers of these shows were 93% white.

“I thought the prime-time shows that contain blacks and other minorities would have better representation behind the scenes. That explains why race is so irrelevant in plots,” Sally Steenland, the report’s author, said in an interview.

“It’s really time to broaden some of these portrayals,” she said.

Titled “Unequal Picture: Black, Hispanic, Asian and Native American Characters on Television,” the report was prepared by the National Commission on Working Women, a nonprofit group based in Washington that advocates better treatment of working women. The group has been studying TV for seven years, issuing reports periodically on such subjects as how women are portrayed.

Steenland, who has been involved in all the studies, said she viewed most of the programs in this one herself and confirmed the ethnicity of the producers with the production companies.

Officials at ABC, CBS and NBC had no immediate comment on the latest report.

Finding that “TV denies the reality of racism in America,” the report concluded that “employment statistics for minority writers and producers suggest token status.”

Although blacks have made progress in the television industry in the two decades since the Kerner Commission concluded that television was almost universally white, other minorities have not, Steenland said.

“Things are better than they were 20 years ago, but when you look at the authenticity of plots and how the characters are drawn, then there is still a lot of work to do,” she said.

And even when minorities appear on TV, it is mostly in roles that ignore the reality of racism, the report contended. Although whites dominate the television world, racial tension and bias are seldom evident, with minorities generally portrayed as happy in their roles.

The report said that black characters are cast as “friendly sidekicks” to whites in shows such as “Night Court,” “Hooperman” and “Designing Women.”

On the other hand, shows such as “A Man Called Hawk” and “In the Heat of the Night” were praised for “consistently touching on matters of racial injustice and cultural differences.”

And while applauding sitcoms such as “The Cosby Show” for presenting positive portrayals of black culture, family life and identity, the report also criticized them for “failing to tackle difficult issues of racial tension.”

“What viewers glean from all of these programs . . . is a world with little or no racial friction,” it said. “Where it does exist . . . racism is rarely called by its name, but is reduced to a personal quirk that needs correction.

“As a result, TV’s world of harmony does not present viewers with a picture of an ideal society where racism has been fought and overcome. Instead, it portrays an artificial universe where racial difficulties and realites are denied.”

Steenland suggested that producers deal with some of the real situations that confront even well-to-do minorities: A black, male teen, for example, being mistaken for a gang member. Portraying such experiences happening to popular characters like those on “The Cosby Show” could have a real impact, she said.

“We know Theo; we’ve grown up with Theo,” she said. “What if Theo couldn’t get a cab one night? Everyone would be outraged.”

Several TV producers contacted Tuesday took issue with the report’s conclusions.

Bob Myman, executive producer of ABC’s now-canceled police series “Hooperman,” said the show’s black Inspector Clarence McNeil, portrayed by Felton Perry, was not considered a “sidekick” to the lead character, played by John Ritter. “I thought Felton Perry was portraying a cop who was a real good cop, certainly as good as Hooperman, in a different way,” Myman said. “We were not trying to say anything about black people in the thing.”

He added that he found the lack of racial tension in the “Hooperman” workplace realistic: “I mean, we have black people on our staff here, and we are not at war with them,” he said.

If many minority characters in current TV shows are affluent and well-employed, Myman said, it is because the networks request it, following years of complaints from minority groups that TV only depicted minorities as criminals or living below the poverty level. “What happens is, the producers all end up casting the baddest guys as white,” he said.

Irma Kalish, executive producer of NBC’s “227,” about a working-class black family in Washington D.C., said that, although her show deals with racial issues occasionally, the half-hour comedy form is not an appropriate forum for dealing with such issues.

“We can’t do ‘Do The Right Thing’ every week,” she said, referring to Spike Lee’s recent feature film about racial tension in a New York City neighborhood. She added that, although the show does not often deal with racial issues, it does explore drug use, teen pregnancy and other problems affecting minority communities.

Kalish added that “227’s” portrayal of an ordinary black family with solid jobs and good relationships with each other, as well as with white characters, is deliberate. “I think it’s important to show (minorities) in a positive light. I think that sending positive messages is good for racial relations, because it shows people can get can along,” she said.

In “Designing Women,” the black character to which the study referred is Anthony, an ex-con who works for three interior decorators in Atlanta, played by Meschach Taylor. Harry Thomason, executive producer of the show with wife Linda Bloodworth-Thomason, said that Anthony was not originally conceived as a black character, but that Taylor was the best actor who auditioned for the role.

Thomason said that “Designing Women” had taken a lot of heat for portraying a black man as an ex-con, but that “we stuck to our guns and were colorblind; he was the best, and we hired him.”

Thomason added, however, that he believes TV is often guilty of ignoring racial tension. In “Designing Women,” he said, the character of self-styled Southern belle Suzanne Sugarbaker often makes racist remarks to Anthony, but usually gets her comeuppance from either Anthony or the other women in the cast.

Reporting for this story was done by Ybarra in Washington and Haithman in Los Angeles.