An open letter to all UK & US Television Networks.
Dear BBC, MTV, Channel 4, E4 and every other Sky Digital channel with the budget to make it happen. My question to you all is, where have all the black sitcoms, drama’s and just programs in general gone?
This is a question I asked myself long before ‘Trouble’ (the TV channel) went off air. Whether the network knew it or not, it was the 'go-to' channel when you required a fix of black 'laugh-out-loud' comedy.
I must admit in my household Trouble was the ‘default channel’ - when there was nothing else to watch you could always count on the 1 millionth re-run of ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ to crack you up…and it never failed.
Looking back at my youth I grew up watching ‘The Cosby Show’ and ‘The Fresh Prince’ (when It used to come on BBC 2) I'd watch it and think...Will’s Mother & Aunties looked like my Mother & Aunties, then I got hooked on Moesha, I’ll never forget when Moesha & ‘Q’ were caught in bed…by their parents, even I felt sorry for the poor girl. ‘A different World’ made me want to go to university (even though I was too young to understand the level of hard work & commitment that university actually required)
I remember feeling quite disheartened when I learned that Sororities & Fraternities didn’t exist in British universities – admittedly more so by the fact that I would never be a soror, never take part in a step show or attend a college B-ball game. But nonetheless just seeing young people who looked like me excelling at university was inspiring. (and who can forget the wicked theme song by Aretha Franklin)…good times.
BBC, MTV, E4 et al - I’m not inspired anymore. In fact I have to stop myself from throwing the ‘idiot box’ out the window on a weekly basis.
After hit US sitcoms Girlfriends (Tracee Ross) and the spin off series ‘The Game’ (Tia Mowry) were both recently taken off air I started to believe that the lack of quality black sitcoms (both in the US & UK) is more than just a coincidence.
Granted, the BBC ‘tried’ with 'The Crouches’ which had a great UK cast, however the writing was terrible and totally off the mark, absolutely no evidence of investigative character research had been done, they just stuck a relatively recognisable cast in front of a camera and said ‘Action’…not good enough.
What ever happened to well written (both culturally & contextually) sitcoms & comedies like Desmond's, The Real McCoy, Blouse & Skirt, The Cosby Show, Moesha, The Richard Blackwood Show, and the short-lived (ORIGINAL) ‘Brothers & Sisters’…to name just a few.
Desmond’s in particular had a great run on terrestrial TV, everyone watched it, regardless of their race. Desmond's reflected the community I lived in and the family I came from…well close enough.
So again I put it to all you Television Networks. WHERE HAVE ALL THE BLACK SITCOMS GONE?
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