Nah, the Benjamins aren’t white guys for nothing
by Diego Vasquez
I watched The Bachelorette last night, and I found one thing painfully obvious: the black guy ain’t gonna win. In fact, there were 10 contestants left on last night’s episode, and he didn’t even make it that far. But hey, at least there was a black person on the show. We Hispanics didn’t even get to play.
No, don’t worry about us, we’ve got George Lopez.
The amount of minority-based television shows on network television today compared to the actual percentage of minorities in the country is definitely cause for concern. And I’m not talking about UPN or the WB, which seem like today’s version of the back of the bus. I’m talking about the Big Three: ABC, CBS and NBC.
Just a glance through this week’s TV Guide will show you. I counted just the situation comedy shows on the big three networks that appear in primetime, Monday through Friday. The final tally? Eighteen sitcoms feature all or mostly white casts. Only four shows feature minority casts. Four! (The Tracy Morgan Show, Whoopi, My Wife and Kids, and George Lopez)
“Hey, wait a minute,” you may argue. “Black people have their own network, don’t they? What’s it called? BET?”
Yeah, BET, that’s great. Comic View used to be better. Rap City and 106 & Park are saturated with music videos that can be downright offensive. I mean, I like a lot of the music, but some of the videos don’t exactly do a lot to help advance the perception of black and urban culture. And those are the good shows. I haven’t even mentioned Hey Monie or Maad Sports yet. But hey, at least there is a black entertainment network.
Hispanics (who, by the way, outnumbered black people in the United States in the 2000 census), don’t have a network. Neither do Asian-Americans.
No, I’m not forgetting the Univision and Telemundo networks, which do have plenty of entertaining options for the Spanish-speaking population in the U.S. But what about Hispanics, like myself, who grew up speaking English only? This may come as a surprise, but just because I am half-Mexican doesn’t mean I’m bilingual. Again, TGFGL (Thank God For George Lopez).
Maybe it will end up being like history months. Black people got February, the shortest month, for Black History Month, although there is a bonus day thrown in every four years. But Hispanics couldn’t even bargain a whole month. We got stuck with two halves—Sept. 15 to Oct. 15—for Hispanic Heritage Month. So maybe when they start a Hispanic entertainment network it will be on one channel for 12 hours, but then you’ll have to switch stations for the other 12 hours of programming.
It probably won’t matter anyway. I mean how many times can you re-air American Me and the episodes of L.A. Law in which Jimmy Smits appears?
So back to reality TV. How about a reality check first: None of my arguments matter to executives at any of the big three networks. Why? Because it’s all about the Benjamins, baby. They would air your cousin’s Bar Mitzvah if they knew they could sell the advertising space. They don’t care about how entertaining or socially conscious a particular show is, they just want to maximize viewers so they can turn around and sell commercial time to advertisers for as much money as possible.
Why do you think reality TV has gotten so popular among the programmers? Believe me, it’s not because they are quality shows (come on, a second season of Celebrity Mole?). It’s because these types of shows cost virtually nothing to produce, yet the networks can still charge advertisers a lot because the shows are bringing in viewers. It really is as simple as that.
That’s why it’s discouraging to even start to talk about the depiction of minorities on mainstream television, because in the back of my mind I know the people making the decisions really don’t care either way. Maybe some of them would like to see a proportionate number of minority-based shows on the air, but I can almost guarantee you that they wouldn’t do it if it cost them precious advertising dollars.
In the end, though, maybe it’s all good. I mean when I think about it, would I really even want to be a contestant on The Bachelorette? Trista and Meredith are both beautiful women, but could I picture myself hooking up on air for the entertainment of others? I don’t think so.
Diego Vasquez is a graduate of the Syracuse University Master’s Degree program in journalism and helped produce a prototype of a magazine for 25-38 year-old Latina professionals. He lives in Virginia.
February 19, 2004 • Vol. 14, No. 8
© 2004 Metro Pulse
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