Television: A Melting Pot?

The lack of ethnic representation on television has always seemed to be underestimated. Either they are represented in stereotypical ethnic roles or they are nonexistent. There have only been one or two successful primetime shows about various ethnic groups every decade, like The Cosby Show of the 1990s and The George Lopez Show of the 2000s. The struggle has continued in this day and age. Some ethnicities are gaining ground like African-Americans and Indian-Americans, while others like Asian-Americans are still relegated to subordinate positions. This fall's primetime programming shows signs of improvement for underrepresented ethnicities.

BBC and E4 in the UK have already been cashing in on ethnicities by featuring them in programming like Doctor Who and Skins, respectively. While some networks like ABC continue to cast ethnic actors in typical roles, NBC is branching beyond stereotypes with its primetime programming this fall. One of their more anticipated shows this fall is Undercovers, from the genius that is J.J. Abrams.

Undercovers follows a husband and wife spy team, played by Boris Kodjoe and Gugu Mbatha-Raw. The show's two lead characters are both African. Kodjoe is Ghanaian, and Mbatha-Raw is South-African. Traditionally African-Americans play the black best friend, neighbor or sidekick. Africans usually assume the role of terrorists, migrant workers or sketchy cab drivers. Undercovers is not taking the traditional route as Kodjoe and Mbatha-Raw are of African decent, and neither is playing a terrorist or supporting character. Kodjoe and Mbatha-Raw play two very strong characters who fight bad guys and live ordinary lives, kind of like Mr. and Mrs. Smith. The teasers of these two in action have only helped in building anticipation for the show that holds no ethnic bars.

Another highly anticipated show coming this fall is Outsourced on NBC. The show's main character Todd Dempsey (Ben Rappaport) is transferred to India to run a call center. You can imagine the hilarity that ensues when East meets West. Indian-Americans are a growing minority, but the foray into the entertainment industry has been ever expanding as with actors like Aziz Ansari (Parks and Recreation), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes), and Ajay Mehta (Fiber One ads). They are often cast as geeks or people with thick accents like Raj in Big Bang Theory. With Outsourced, Indian-Americans have an opportunity to move away from being typecast as nerds or people with funny accents, but that depends on the success of the show. 

More interesting is the use of one ethnic group as the basis for a show. There are some successful single-ethnicity shows like The George Lopez Show or Sister Sister, but they have proved to be uncommon in regular TV programming and especially on network television. It is not done very often, but when it is, the results have been mixed. Some single-ethnicity shows fare very well like The George Lopez Show, while most others do not do as well unless in a niche market like Girlfriends. Very rarely are single-ethnicity shows featured on network primetime programming. 

One ethnicity that is still struggling to ring in the lead-character status is Asian-Americans. There have been few notable Asian-American lead characters like Masi Oka (Heroes) and Lucy Liu (Lipstick Jungle)*. This fall's Hawaii Five-O remake on CBS boasts Daniel Dae Kim (Lost) and Grace Park (Battlestar Galactica) as part of the main cast, yet they still fail to take the show's leads. Their presence on primetime television is still not felt although Asian-Americans are well established within America.

Perhaps, with the success of shows like Undercovers and Outsourced, there will be even more roles available for ethnicities in television. Only time will tell if more ethnicities will be represented on primetime TV, until then there is success in small but growing numbers, and this fall is a testament to that.

*Correction: Lucy Liu (Cashmere Mafia)