How Black people are (de)valued at TV networks
This is about to be lengthy AF yet important.
During Mara Brock Akil’s interview on The Breakfast Club, alongside her lead actors for her newest show, Love Is__, she broke down how “Black sitcoms and series” are only “valued” to draw in money for networks who haven’t had a vast pulling power, before they cancel our shows to bring in “White shows and sitcoms,” which they invest marketing into.
“Let’s talk real on this. We’re talking about value in this industry, in this country, and in this world. […]
“Let’s go back to the ‘90s. If you really think about it, although it was a really great time—romantic, hopeful, inspirational—the tech industry was starting to open up, the whole [school-to-prison] pipeline monetization. There was money flowing. The interesting thing is corporate America, at that time, starting to realize, ‘Oh, we can monetize Black culture!’ So our music really took off, our fashion. Our shows were used, in my opinion, because sitcoms were the least expensive to produce content to put on the air to open up new channels. Our product was used to launch UPN and CW and even Fox.
“I was [a writer] at [the sitcom] South Central. South Central was on at Fox and then as soon as they got football, we lost South Central. In Living Color started to taper off. It was no longer. We weren’t needed.
“Even when the CW came, as soon as we hold the audience, then here comes 90210 and they get all the money, the marketing and we get nothing. But we were holding it down with no—For Girlfriends and The Game there was no marketing budget… And not until we got to BET. I will give BET the credit. They had to market but it was also a time of a Internet, which was a whole different beast at that time of promotion. But my first marketing campaign, like legitimately so, was at BET…
“I used to write so many letters to the head of the network asking for a marketing plan, pitching my ideas. Most of that show was built upon on the publicity side, which is more of a hustle. But literally spending dollars on billboards, advertisement, commercial…there was barely any budget for Girlfriends and The Game.
“I’m really appreciative, especially to Black women, because they recognized it first. When Black women love, we love strong, hard and long. They loved us and they spread the word. That’s how it stayed on the air.”
You can watch the whole interview here.
Black sitcoms/series are what have kept a number of networks afloat from the past to the present. They’re lucrative. The high numbers for our shows have always been there. Once we’re considered disposable in order to free up space for a “White show” to roll in or there’s a disagreement between the network and the show’s creators, we get tossed.
Case in point: A Different World drew in 25 million throughout their six seasons on NBC before being canceled because of their Rodney King episode:
Back in the 90s, sitcoms Martin and Living Single (the blueprint for Friends), and the hour-long police drama series, New York Undercover, used to draw in huge numbers on Thursday nights for FOX. There was no official reason put out as to why Martin was canceled in 1997 (despite the sexual harassment allegation at the time), and the other two were canceled the following year.
My guess for New York Undercover is that FOX wasn’t feeling the show’s leads contract holdout, stalling production, and demanding to be paid what they felt they rightfully deserved. It explains why Eddie Torres was killed off that upcoming season (season 3), creating the downfall of the show’s direction. Here’s an LA Times article from 1996:
The stars of Fox’s “New York Undercover” were back on the beat Thursday, ending a contract holdout that briefly delayed production on the police drama. Actors Malik Yoba and Michael DeLorenzo didn’t report to work on Monday to begin shooting the program’s third season.
Universal Television, which produces the show, and executive producer Dick Wolf, played hardball in dealing with the pair’s demands, which, according to Wolf, included $75,000 per episode for one of the actors plus more creative input, “a gym and a star trailer and better food.”
That salary is estimated to be about three times what the stars make currently. DeLorenzo also wanted assurances that he would be allowed to direct episodes of the series. The matter was resolved late Wednesday, Wolf said, reporting that the pair returned to work “under the terms and conditions of their original agreement.”
In addition to issuing a harshly worded statement calling such public demands “a virus” in the entertainment industry, Wolf threatened to write the actors out of the show. Universal also filed a $1.2-million suit against them alleging breach of contract, maintaining that the delays were costing the production company $60,000 per day.
Observers think the “Undercover” stars may have been emboldened to hold out by the much-publicized salary dispute involving NBC’s “Friends,” whose six cast members are each seeking raises to more than $100,000 per episode.
Mmm hmm. The Friends cast got $100,000 per episode, which was later upped to $1 million per episode. In syndication, the cast makes $20 million each in residuals each year. The cast of Living Single also had a walkout.
Erika Alexander who plays Maxine Shaw revealed their reasoning and dished on how much they were paid during her interview with The Breakfast Club:
“Living Single was originally called Friends. We were originally called My Girls when we first did our pilot and it didn’t test well. So they came down, we were now filming the actual series and one of the executives had a whole list of names, and he read them out. ‘Living Single, Friends blah blah blah.’ And they chose Living Single for us and then the next year they created Friends. The same people—We were both at Warner Brothers. We were on the ranch lot and [Friends] was on the big lot. We called the ranch the ghetto lot because we had nothing on that lot. We actually had no air conditioning or heat. We had a walkout because we you know our craft service table was basically rice with Tabasco sauce and Ritz crackers.
“At the end of our run, we were being paid a lot less and people say ‘Well you had a smaller market share.’ I say ‘Compared to what?’ If you think about how much they made [off Living Single] paying so little and how much they made in syndication all around the world all these years.
“[The cast of Friends got] $2.5 million [each] to [the cast of Living Single] $55,000 per episode [each]. Every week. We didn’t get marketing—There were a lot of things in place to keep the hold down and make you not feel as valuable. I’m sure if they looked at it, and how much they made versus what they put in, I’m sure we’re on par if not way beyond what they made.”
FOX is something else. Not to mention that FOX had a desire to make New York Undercover “whiter” as revealed here, which explains the cast shakeup, but that’s another topic…
Fast forward. All of this reminds me of how Nicole Beharie was treated on the FOX series, Sleepy Hollow. (Not necessarily a “Black show” but it had a Black lead.)
She was the lead character, the face of the show before being killed off in season 3. In the following season, the show unveiled a heavily white cast and it was canceled that next year. Ironic, huh…
Remember Taraji P. Henson’s excellent portrayal as Detective Carter, one of the main characters in Person of Interest?
Mmm hmm. Yep. You guessed it. She too was killed off in season 3 (before the white rollout) and the show started to take a nose dive. It was canceled by season 5. Not to mention, during the promo for the show before it premiered, there was controversy around the show because Taraji had tweeted: “WOW!!!! TV Guide is NOT including me on the cover with my cast members…I am the female lead of a 3 member cast and I’m not included on the cover!!!!!! Do you see the shit I have to deal with in this business…..I cram to understand!!!!“ They only wanted the two white guys on it.
Rewind. In the late 90s, the budding networks, UPN and the WB, which both launched in 1995, were viewed as “Black channels” because that’s where all the Black sitcoms lived at that time. But as usual… Smart Guy and The Wayans Bros brought in numbers for The WB, but they were both canceled by 1999.
Moesha and In the House (which had been picked up after being canceled by NBC), brought in numbers for UPN before being…Yep, canceled.
Hell, I bet some of y’all didn’t know that The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air was actually canceled TWICE by NBC.
Yep. One of the most popular sitcoms of all-time with the most quotable theme song of all-time was canceled twice. Granted, in 1996, Will Smith was transitioning from the small screen to the big screen after the huge success of Bad Boys and Independence Day. So the network decided to cancel the it after the face of the show was parting ways. Here’s an article from the LA Times from 1996:
With the final episode of the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air airing tonight, Smith’s show is one of the rare programs that weathered NBC’s struggling years–before Jay Leno was beating David Letterman and ER and Friends were household names. A testament to the show’s wide-ranging popularity is the fact that during its six-year run, “Fresh” has never been moved from its original Monday slot at 8 p.m.
Because Smith has gone from being a novelty rapper to a budding film star–with the 1995 hit Bad Boys and the likely summer blockbuster Independence Day–he decided this season would be the series’ last and that it was time for the show and actors to move on.
However, the first cancelation was uncalled for.
After NBC canceled Fresh Prince in its fourth season, the finale had Smith’s character heading back to Philadelphia. After fan outcry, however, NBC decided to bring the show back; its fifth season opens with an NBC executive pulling Smith into a van to drive him back to California, saying “It’s called the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, not The Fresh Prince of Philadelphia.” Ultimately, the show had six seasons.
You know it was from the “White fan outcry.” Let’s be honest, Black people don’t have that kind of pulling power nor do they care about our outcry.
Now look at TV today. FOX needs Lee Daniels’ Empire and Star…for now…
The CW canceled Girlfriends in 2008, and pushed Everybody Hates Chris and The Game to Friday nights (which is considered the “death slots” in tv) before canceling them the following year. Ten years later, the CW is reminiscing on the huge viewership and the coins those shows drew in for their network.
Well, well, well. Looky, looky. Tryna get that old thing back…
The CW needs Mara Brock Akil’s show, Black Lighting…for now….
Now…it explains the shakeups that have been going on recently with blackish, the show’s creator, Kenya Barris, and the show’s network, ABC. Notice the pattern. Will it be renewed next year?…
Reminds me of what happened to NBC’s hit show, at the time, The Carmichael Show. Too many disagreements that the show’s creator left and the show was axed from the network…
