[quote]bigflamer wrote:
Professor X wrote:
We have people on this forum who act like the existence of BET is a racist concept
At a very minimum, BET is an exclusionary television channel based solely on skin color. Even if you don’t consider it racist, it’s definitely exclusionary.
…while completely ignoring the fact that before its inception, most tv was strictly “WET”. That didn’t even start to change until after the success of mostly black shows like The Jeffersons and Goodtimes which seemed to cross racial barriers and social consciousness.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but in the 1974-1975 seasons, the Jeffersons, Good Times, and Sanford and Son were all on mainstream television, and were NBC and CBS’s most popular shows. These shows did indeed cross racial barriers and social consciousness, all without BET. Would they have crossed as many barriers as they did if they had been on a channel that was dedicated only to the black community? I think probably not.
[/quote]
I think BET currently is a waste of airspace and I rarely waste my time watching that channel. That doesn’t mean I don’t understand it was needed originally. MTV used to not show black artists when it first aired. Michael Jackson was the FIRST black (funny writing that now) artist they ever showed on air. Things took off from there leading to Rap City and other shows geared towards the audience they had initially ignored. You are right about those shows. You are also wrong if you think that because those shows existed that blacks in general were not fighting for air time and recognition anywhere near equal to that of white actors.
Even today, how rare is it to see a show with a majority black cast without it being labeled a “black show”? Meanwhile, no one even notices that most shows are majority white yet not seen as “white shows”.
I also hate some of the stereotypical black shows that the UPN network kept tossing on air a few years ago (even though I think even that helped break some barriers). Shows like Martin (which seemed to surprise people by how many tuned in to watch back then) did way more good than negative. I think we will actually be getting somewhere the moment a show can be cast as majority black/majority white/majority hispanic/asian without that even being an issue at all while being completely accepted across the board.
I think we are damn close now thanks to all of those shows mentioned (remember, a white guy married to a black woman was actually a big issue when The Jeffersons first aired…they helped change that stigma). But I also don’t think we are there yet.
Let me also add that I LOVE shows like House MD which show a black doctor (those who know my real name understand why I like it so much) while not making him ACT black.