The Comcast NBC Merger - What Does It Mean For African Americans???

Hollywood TV Drama Pilots Getting More Diverse: Blame It On LL Cool J's Sexy Swag!

The decades-old taboo that drama series with minority leads cannot work finally might be broken.

Halfway through the castings of broadcast drama pilots this season, the top-billed actors on four pilots are non-Caucasian, with three being African American.

What's more, the four projects are among the highest-profile drama pilots this year.

The spy couple at the center of J.J. Abrams' "Undercovers" for NBC is played by Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Boris Kodjoe. "Undercovers," co-written by Abrams, marks his first pilot directing effort since "Lost" six years ago.

Forest Whitaker is the lead on CBS' "Criminal Minds" spinoff; Laz Alonso tops the Fox action-drama "Breakout Kings," directed and exec produced by Gavin Hood; and Freddy Rodriguez headlines CBS' CIA drama "Chaos," directed and executive produced by Brett Ratner.

Last year's crop of broadcast pilots included only one fronted by a minority actor, the LL Cool J starrer "NCIS: Los Angeles." The season before that, there were no pilots led by minorities.

While the Jimmy Smits-starring "NYPD Blue" was a breakout hit for ABC, the odds against dramas led by a minority actor historically have been long. None of the networks' attempts through the years had worked, including three shows with James Earl Jones, "Paris," "Gabriel's Fire" and "Under One Roof," and two each with Andre Braugher ("Gideon's Crossing" and "Thief") and Taye Diggs ("Kevin Hill" and "Day Break"). USA Network also tried unsuccessfully a new spin on "Kojak" with Ving Rhames as the lollipop-loving detective.

But whether it's the Obama effect or any other reason, the tide seems to have turned during the past year.

"NCIS: LA" has been a runaway success, becoming the first major hit drama series toplined by a black actor, and CBS replaced iconic "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation" star William Petersen with Laurence Fishburne.

And in cable, where there hadn't been a drama toplined by a black actor since the departure of HBO's "The Wire," Jada Pinkett Smith was tapped as the lead of TNT's medical drama "Hawthorne," which has been renewed for a second season.

By setting black actors as leads in its three biggest crime franchises -- "CSI" (Fishburne), "NCIS" (LL Cool J) and "Criminal Minds" (Whitaker) -- as well as shepherding the Dennis Haysbert-starring war drama "The Unit" for four seasons, CBS has been at the forefront of the trend of putting minority actors in charge of drama series.

The network is also behind two of the four drama pilots that already have tapped minority leads: the "Criminal Minds" spinoff and "Chaos."

"Diversity is top of mind for us every pilot season," CBS head of casting Peter Golden said. "It's still very early in the development process, but we're excited about diverse roles we have on the page and the performers cast for the screen."

Black comedians have a strong tradition on TV, and viewers have had no problem embracing comedy series with black leads. But dramas offer a different dynamic and require a larger degree of relatability, which makes it harder for white audiences to accept an ethnic show, TV historian Tim Brooks said.

Although Kodjoe and Mbatha-Raw -- like President Obama -- are biracial, casting on the "Undercovers" leads was done color-blind, with producers looking for the actors who best fit the characters and had the best chemistry.

It was a similar situation on "Breakout Kings" and "Hawthorne," and early breakdowns had Michael Keaton and Kiefer Sutherland as prototypes for the role on the "Criminal Minds" spinoff that was offered to Whitaker.

On the other hand, "Chaos" writer Tom Spezialy created the show's lead character as Hispanic, naming him Rick Martinez.

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Fish Don't Fry In The Kitchen... Movin On Up To The Low Budget Part Of Town

Live In The Ghetto? Here's How To Tell

By Ms. Tricky

I thought it was important to live in the city so my family would be surrounded by diversity. It's an urban, somewhat artsy district, where diversity includes everything from race, ethnicity, religion and age, to income, education and sexual orientation.

My neighborhood has it all…. including the thin, fast-walkin’ crack head, the inappropriately-clad for Sunday morning prostitute (on her way home from work) and a small pack of juvenile bad-asses on bikes.

I purchased a new-construction home, built on a vacant lot, in the midst of century-old homes, tall, mature trees and very few garages. On the left, an older African-American couple with four adopted girls and a small cleaning business. On the right, a rental consisting of 4 to 5 White college guys. Both sides have nice people who have lived there as long as I have. We all respect each other’s property and generally have a good neighborly relationship.

That's why I was so surprised this summer when I started to have problems with some of the kids in the neighborhood. They ride over my lawn, pick my flowers, and race behind my SUV while I am backing out of the driveway.

But now that I think about it, there have been some things that have happened over the years that may indicate that I live in “the ghetto.”

Perhaps these top five things should have been red flags:

5) Waking up to police sirens multiple times a year to find about 10 squad cars parked hap-hazardly in front of your home, discussing the individual pinned down to the ground on your lawn (that’s after the chase and the tasering). Everyone from age 3 to 70 is standing outside in the snow watching.

4)Your sixty-year old neighbor engages in a screaming match (laced with expletives I've never heard strung together in a sentence) from her porch arguing with the teenager across the street (who we all know has herpes). The sixty-year old concludes her argument by pulling her pants down and mooning the teen.

3) You're in bed quietly reading one warm summer night and suddenly who hear a child ram his bike into your garage door. Although you find the child still in the driveway - slightly bewildered and sitting on a bicycle intended for someone twice his age - the kid’s parent wants proof that it was her angelic son who did $400 dollars worth of damage (‘Cause yah know, she wasn’t watchin’ him!)

2) You regularly get a knock on the door from either the toothless lawn-cutting brotha who needs a dollar to take the bus at midnight, or the cross-dresser offering to sell you a Tahari suit for five bucks.

1) The postman apparently delivers your Mary Kay catalogue to another address by mistake. By the time you get it, the free sample of lotion has been ripped out.

IS ASSOCIATED PRESS THE POT CALLING THE KETTLE BLACK?

Associated Press writer Nancy Benac plays the "diversity" card with a piece tallying up how many women and minorities serve in power positions for the various presidential candidates.

But take a look at the AP Board of Directors:

The Board Consists Of 22 Members.

19 out of 22 are men.

0 out of 22 are "women of color."

1 out of 22 is a "man of color."

Nevertheless, the AP writer slams Republicans for not promoting enough non-white people in her piece entitled "Democrats seek diversity in advisers:"

When the leading Republican presidential candidates sit down with their top advisers, those with a seat at the table don't exactly look like America, to use the phrase popularized by former President Clinton.

The 2008 presidential race is notable for the presence of a woman and a black among the leading Democratic candidates. But progress is much slower when it comes to diversifying the ranks of top decision-makers within the various campaigns, especially those of the Republicans.

The campaigns of the top GOP candidates — Mitt Romney, John McCain, Rudy Giuliani — couldn't point to any key advisers who are black, although there are some women in the top tier. Not unsurprisingly, those campaigns with the most women and minorities among top staff members are Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.

Perhaps Nancy Benac should follow-up with why her own organization seems to be whistling the same "we can't find qualified black folk" diversity song.

Source

WHY OSCAR IS STILL NOT READY FOR ITS CLOSEUP

In 1996, I was lamenting the dearth of minorities, particularly Blacks, in entertainment.

This was obviously pre-Forest Whittaker in "The Last King of Scotland". It was a decade before Halle Berry's historic nod, or Jennifer "Dreamgirls" Hudson.

It was two lifetimes before rap artists 3-6-Mafia made pimpin' a little easier.

Of the 166 Academy Award nominees that year, only one was African American. Sure, Whoopi Goldberg presided over the festivities, with Qunicy Jones serving as co-producer. The disturbing message sent in 1996, however, was as clear: Whites only.

What a difference a decade can make!

This year's 79th Annual awards show was the most globally diverse in the history of the Academy. The international broadcast showcased 20 outstanding nominees in the acting categories alone.

Of them, five were of African descent. Overall, blacks fared well, receiving a total of eight nominations and three wins. Latino filmmakers brought their A-game as well, garnering 16 nominations and four wins, three for Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth" and one for Gustavo Santaolalla in the best music score category for "Babel." With an acting nomination for a descendant of Japan and a best short documentary win for Chinese director Ruby Yang, Asians did not go home empty-handed either.

But my favorite part of the ceremony came in the opening monologue. That's when quirky host Ellen DeGeneres stated, "If there were no blacks, Jews, or gays, there would be no Oscars."

Of course she was being sarcastic - the part about blacks, that is.

Ten years ago, fewer than 150 - or 3.9 percent - of the then 5,043 Academy members who nominate and choose Oscar winners were black. Only 2.3 percent of the Directors Guild membership was black.

A mere 2.6 percent of the Writers Guild was African-American. Blacks accounted for less than 2 percent of the 4000-member union of set decorators and property masters. For other minorities, the numbers were equally disgraceful.

In 2007, those stats really haven't budged much despite the fact that in the U.S alone, African-Americans make up 25 - 30 percent of the movie going audience.

You would think Hollywood would have recognized by now that mining for greater minority participation could dramatically increase its bottom line. A highly sought-after export, the film and television industries represent high-yielding commodities.

Actor Edward James Olmos' assertion that, "All of the Oscar-nominated pictures put together give lots of hope to diversity in general...", however, means nothing unless we get the cameras rolling in Africa, Latin America, China and "other parts" of America.

If Hollywood is a place where money doesn't talk but screams, add my voice to the chorus on set shouting "And... ACTION!"

WHAT PAULA MADISON WANTS, NBC GETS

NBC ANSWERS IMUS CONTROVERSY WITH A BLACK WOMAN ON A MISSION

President and general manager of NBC affiliate KNBC and regional gm of Telemundo affiliates KVEA and KWHY, this bad, no-nonsense sister was named executive vp for diversity for NBC Universal.

“We are a company wholly committed to diversity and to a culture that stands for respect, tolerance and inclusiveness,” said Jeff Zucker, NBC Universal president and CEO. “As one of our key business operatives, diversity deserves the attention of a full-time dedicated executive.”

Madison plans to work with NBC Universal’s film, television and studio teams, to provide them with guidance in meeting the company’s diversity objectives. And she will work with the newly formed NBC Universal Diversity Council, made up of executives across all NBC Universal’s businesses.

Bravo Paula - we know you have our back!