They Changed the Face of TV

In the broad landscape of television programming, cable’s TV Land channel occupies a modest parcel where nostalgia is king and surprises are few. But viewers tuning in at 9 tonight expecting yet another trip to Mayberry or perhaps a visit with the Petries of New Rochelle will be charting a course of a different color.

To mark the arrival of Black History Month (February), TV Land begins airing a three-part original special that is as unexpectedly ambitious as it is engrossing: “African Americans in Television.”

Created for the channel by Gay Rosenthal Productions and narrated by Ron Glass (“Barney Miller”), the briskly paced show is divided into hourlong segments chronicling the struggle of blacks to gain a foothold in variety programming (tonight), drama (Feb. 15 at 9 p.m.), and comedy (Feb. 22 at 9 p.m.).

There will be repeats of all three episodes at various times throughout the month, and they’ll be shown consecutively on March 1, from 9 p.m. to midnight.

The assemblage of talent in the scores of TV clips rolling across the screen would have been entertaining enough, but the special has added depth because the snippets are given historical and cultural context via insightful interviews.

“When ‘The Nat “King” Cole Show’ came on [in 1956], black families across this nation found their way to whoever had the television set in the neighborhood and watched, because everybody took pride in that,” NAACP President Kweisi Mfume recalls in tonight’s episode.

Actor D.L. Hughley put the experience of watching early black shows more simply: “It was the only time we got to see us.”

The key roles that white performers such as Eddie Cantor and Steve Allen, or producers such as Norman Lear, played in helping blacks break through TV’s formidable color barrier in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s is a recurring theme. So is the white-hot pressure some areas of the country put on networks and advertisers to restore that barrier. Yet sometimes, talent just won out.

“Nobody sings and dances better than we do, I’m sorry,” says actress Debbie Allen.

In each of the three segments of “African Americans in Television,” there are shows that are set apart as pivotal moments of an era, whose impact still resonates.

In variety, Nat Cole’s pioneering efforts and Flip Wilson’s groundbreaking hour receive special mention, as does the all-around brilliance of Sammy Davis Jr.

In the comedy segment, Bill Cosby’s landmark sitcom, “The Cosby Show,” Redd Foxx (“Sanford and Son”) and Diahann Carroll (“Julia”) are prominent, as well as Lear shows such as “All in the Family,” “The Jeffersons” and “Good Times.”

Cosby’s influence crosses genres into the drama segment for his mixed-doubles starring role in 1965’s “I Spy.” (Says Cosby of being the first black star in a TV drama: “I never worried about being the first black, or the first Negro, or the first colored, because I was too worried if I could act.”) Cicely Tyson’s standout performance in “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” (1974) was another high-water mark.

And then there was “Roots,” the 12-hour television touchstone that made ratings history in 1977 en route to a record 37 Emmy nominations.

“‘Roots’ helped supply America with a truer definition of who black people were than any other work that had come around,” says actor Ossie Davis.

It’s a definition that’s still evolving, and this three-part special provides another valuable tool toward a deeper understanding.

*

The first installment of “African Americans in Television” can be seen at 9 tonight on TV Land.