Features » April 14, 2006

CW Network: Back in Black?

By Natalie Y. Moore

UPN's "Girlfriends"

Diversity is an integral part” of the newly formed CW television network, says spokesman Paul McGuire. On May 18, the channel will announce its fall television lineup, and black viewers are looking to see what it includes for them.

Earlier this winter, CBS Corporation and Warner Bros. Entertainment unveiled the CW as their attempt to launch a viable fifth network. The dissolution of UPN and the WB—the revenue-losing fifth and sixth networks—cleared the way for this network, owned jointly by the respective parent companies. CW officials insist they “want to appeal to the various disparate elements” of their target market, the 18 to 34 year old demographic.

But African Americans are not buying the party favors or champagne yet. Once upon a time, a little network called Fox decided to compete with the Big Three—CBS, NBC and ABC. In the mid-’80s, Black-themed and produced shows like “In Living Color,” “Living Single,” “Roc” and “Martin” inspired a cult-like following among black viewers, who hoped they’d gained a network that consistently valued their tastes and dollars in a non-patronizing way. That symbiotic relationship ran its course by the mid-’90s, when Fox began to cater to a mainstream, white audience with shows like “Ally McBeal,” and “Party of Five.”

Kristal Brent Zook, author of Color by Fox: The Fox Network and the Revolution in Black Television, says executives initially made a pragmatic business decision to go out on a limb and give unique creative control to blacks. They succeeded by seizing the urban youth market.

Both the WB and UPN formed in 1995 and quickly mimicked the Fox model. Steve Harvey, Jamie Foxx and the younger Wayans Brothers had shows on the WB. UPN is often dubbed “Us Peoples Network,” a tongue-in-cheek nod toward its casting choices. But profits and ratings lagged for both networks.

With the growth of cable over the last decade, competition has grown fiercer. For the CW to turn a profit and keep from drifting behind in the ratings, Zook says edgy thinking is necessary.

UPN currently has a lineup that includes several shows with mostly black characters: “One on One,” “Half and Half,” “Eve” and “All of Us.” Yet while the network’s new breakout hit “Everybody Hates Chris” demonstrates that buffoonery is not the only comedic device to win viewers, that’s just one show—and it’s not enough to cancel out the dozens of times on each episode of “Girlfriends” that Maya does a sassy, sister-girl neck roll.

In 1999, Kweisi Mfume of the NAACP described network television, with its lack of people of color as executives, a “virtual whitewash.” Since then, CBS has instituted diversity initiatives, spanning from writing fellowships for minorities to acting workshops. Its Web site displays UPN minority and youth stars, proclaiming, “we aim to ensure that our national viewing audience is reflected in our programming and our people.” A CW spokesman said it was yet to be determined whether the new network would continue with those initiatives—even though the parent company CBS Corporation is still involved in the launch.

The one possible upside to the ever-increasing media conglomeration is that these mega-companies may have resources and money to pour into smart programming. “That would be the hope, but we don’t know the bottom line for them,” says Jannette Dates, dean of the John H. Johnson School of Communications at Howard University. Dates, co-author of Split Image: African Americans in the Mass Media, says cable networks like HBO (owned by Time Warner) have demonstrated that smart programming that is both compelling and diverse, such as original movies on Dorothy Dandridge and a medical revolution at Johns Hopkins Hospital featuring rapper Mos Def, can succeed.

Other minority groups also yearn to see themselves on the small screen. This fall My Network TV, a primetime venture launched by Fox, debuts. This network channel will be picked up by some former UPN or WB stations. Two English-language telenovelas—Latin America soap operas—will inaugurate its programming.

If the CW hopes to compete with the Big Four and carve out a niche, executives may want to take note of an overlooked tidbit. There already is a viable fifth network: Univision. In last month’s sweeps, on a Thursday night, the Spanish-language station beat out UPN and the WB—combined.

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• Reader Comments

  This article didn’t mention a fairly important issue - gays. If it’s aim is to appeal to African American audiences, it may have some difficulty with other “diversities”, such as gays portrayed NOT as antiquated stereotypes, but as they are. In my experience, there still remains an overwhelmingly anti-gay element in African American culture. Anyone care to shed some more light on this?

  Steven Wanzell,
  artist/activist
  www.wanzellarts.com.ar

  Posted by wanzellarts on Apr 17, 2006 at 11:23 AM

  It is good to have entertainment that reflects a variety of cultures; my problem with spending so much time on what screens on television is that I firmly believe that we should turn it off. It is the drug of the nation. Ever thought about how much goes missing when one is glued? Maybe we could spend 3 hours per week watching less TV and put that time into watching our government and learning more about the world instead. Just a thought.

  Posted by rastagal on Apr 18, 2006 at 6:05 AM

  Rastagal: I so agree. In fact, I haven’t owned a television in years. There’s so little there, that truly interests me! As an artist (I “make stuff"), I work at home, so where most would have an area of passive TV viewing, I have a stimulating and active art studio.

  I worked for many years in L.A., actually helping (as a makeup/hairstyles supervisor) to produce those products of brain candy. Ironically, it provided the econimic substance needed to leave it behind, and dedicate myself to art and political activism.

  Steven Wanzell,
  artist/activist/ex-American
  www.wanzellarts.com.ar

  Posted by wanzellarts on Apr 18, 2006 at 11:35 AM

  Steven:

  Your inference that African Americans would be smart to check their anti-gay biases in order to get the whole “gay rights” movement on their side is pathetically laughable.

  Still, I understand, you are still probably a bit groggy from being overwhelmed by your experience with the “anti-gay element in African American culture.”

  So much so that you completely missed the flip side of the coin.

  “Gay male culture” is rife with racism against African Americans. Maintained even in the face of heavy societal bigotry against gays.

  It’s so rife with racism that it would be unwise for African Americans to rely on the “gay rights community” as a dependable ally in the fight for true equality as your brief comment infers it should.

  A good example of how ingrained racism is and indifferent to it gay culture is the response of the SF Gay community to the SF human rights commission claims that the owner the most popular in the Castro, the Badlands, actively practiced racism in order to prevent black men from getting into his club.

  The owner did this by strictly enforcing the rules of admittance only to black men.  “ your dress, backpacks, IDs Etc.” If you were black, and your stuff was not perfectly in order, you were refused admittance.

  White patrons experienced only cursory questioning and were always let in. The commission went to great lengths to validate this was happening.

  People sent in undercover, experienced this first hand. A couple of examples involved white and black pairings in which the black person was not allowed in, while his white buddy was allowed inside.

  One would think that gay men in San Francisco would have rallied behind its HRC. Which has as parts of its job ensuring gays don’t suffer discrimination, but this did not happen.

  The months long ongoing controversy didn’t affect the bars business one bit. The bar was packed to overflowing during its peak times, and there was nary a black face to be seen in these crowds.

  The generic response by gay patrons about the accusations of racism was it as much ado about nothing.

  Your post is yet another example of how gay rights activism tries to foist itself upon the whole left, and demand its agenda be given priority over all other issues that came before it, and be used as a litmus test for anyone who believes in the entire left agenda.

  While gays do deserve equal rights, granting gays equal rights would help only a small fraction of the number of people that would be helped by ensuring Blacks or Hispanics or Women all get fair and equal treatment in accordance with the laws already on the books.

  No less than Barney Frank said that if it weren’t for being gay, 70% of white gay men would be conservative Republicans.

  Blacks demands for fairer treatment in Hollywood cannot be pre-qualified with a demand that it rectify it’s own inherent anti-gay bias.

  They are NOT connected, except in one way, and again it’s the many gay screenwriters in Hollywood who should be called into account first. 

  It’s clear from the stories they contribute to that as a group, they have made no effort to stop being racist. In fact it appears as if they actually exploit it for humor, and thus we see the endless parade of Black stereotypes on TV, thanks in part to the supposedly “enlightened gay white male who believes in diversity and equality - no exceptions allowed.” Hmmmm

  Posted by johnnyincentx on Apr 19, 2006 at 1:46 PM

  Johnny:

  You seem to have misunderstood what I wrote above, and to have presumed an awful lot of (truly awful!) things about me, my perspectives, and my political alliances. These presumptions are completely remiss.

  First of all, let me say that when I, myself, relocated to SF (the Castro!) from LA, I was sorely disappointed to find “the gay community” there, was just as bigoted; racist, classist, sexist and selfish - untimately just as “conservative” as American society in general. (I am a bonafide European now, though currently on a creative project in Argentina.)

  I am NOT a member of that pathetic gaggle known as “the gay community”.

  I am a true liberal, who just happens to be predominantly homosexual (I do subscribe to the Kinsey Scale - it certainly applies in my case), and after seeking a place to “belong”, and having discovered the overwhelming hypocrisy of this “gay community”, I certainly don’t consider myself a member, nor a proponent of it. Ultimately, I am repulsed by it. As repulsed as I am in general, by American bigotry, which persists as America’s primary social trait, and the primary source of its problems.

  My commentary - my querry, was regarding how this renewed version of Black-oriented television programming might deal with (in its scripting), an issue that is unquestionably a real issue in the US Black community (just ask virtually any out Black homosexuals, if you can find any!), which itself, has many of its own racial issues. I should add here, that during my many years in the film and TV production industry (as a makeup artist / hairstylist), I became somewhat known, among other things, as the “token white / token gay” day-player in the makeup departments of many of these (primarily FOX’s) Black-oriented programs.

  As a generally likeable, fun-loving, and anything-but-racist personality, I was quite popular on these jobs, and was asked back frequently, by both the producers and stars involved. Aside from this, I have ALWAYS had many friends and associates, as well as lovers, of every possible colour, religion, nationality, etc. (I draw the line at “conservatives” - that’s my bigotry!)

  I do hope this dispells any misconceptions of me, as a person who happens to be of light-coloured skin, and who is (evidently) not always articulate in my public statements.

  Steven Wanzell,
  artist/activist/ex-American
  www.wanzellarts.com.ar

  Posted by wanzellarts on Apr 19, 2006 at 7:05 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

  Discussions with more than 5 comments are continued on our special discussion page to encourage continuity and ease of use. There are currently 8 posts.

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