TV study finds few Asian roles

A study of Asian Americans in prime-time television, released Monday, shows that Asians, who make up 5% of the U.S. population, play 2.7% of regular characters. It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles.

The study, conducted by sociologists at UCLA for the National Asian Pacific American Legal Consortium, examined about seven weeks of prime-time programming on ABC, CBS, NBC, Fox, UPN and the WB. It looked at patterns based on gender, characters’ occupations and relationships and whether an actor was a multiracial Asian or wholly Asian.

CBS fared worst, with no Asian characters.

The study “focused on a small slice of the prime-time television landscape, overlooking recurring roles where CBS has made progress in diversifying casts,” CBS spokesman Phil Gonzalez said, adding that “Clubhouse,” a short-lived television show that aired last fall, featured Dean Cain, an actor whose father is partly Japanese.