24 Time October 3, 2016
VERBATIM
‘I don’t care
how annoying
or loud I am.
It’s important
to be loud.’
CHELSEA HANDLER,
comedian and Netflix
talk-show host, on
why she “won’t shut
up” about her political
beliefs, which are very
pro–Hillary ClintonThe View
Consider ABC’sAmerican Housewife, a new
comedy from the network that brought usblack-
ish andFresh Off the Boat. The show centers on a
white suburban woman (played by Katy Mixon)
whose two closest friends are a black lesbian (Carly
Hughes) and an Asian American (Ali Wong) who
spend most of their time—in the pilot, at least—
making her feel less self-conscious about her
weight. (“You have a great ass... like a couple of
ripe cantaloupes,” Wong quips.) Meanwhile, on
CBS’sThe Great Indoors, a group of diverse millen-
nials gets chided by their white boss for being too
“sheltered,” and on NBC’sTimeless, a black adven-
turer waxes poetic about Michael Jordan.
Is this progress? Absolutely. A decade ago, non-
white characters on TV were vanishingly rare; now
they appear on almost every show. But too often
they’re props, existing mostly to support white
leads or to directly address race. That’s a shame for
minority actors, whose talents are being underuti-
lized, and for viewers, because it makes for bad TV.
The culprit, say many in the industry, lurks be-
hind the camera. Although racial minorities (in-
cluding Hispanics who identify as white) make up
some 38% of America’s population, they represent
just 19% of TV directors and 13% of TV writers, ac-
cording to recent data. And most of them are men.
That means TV’s “diverse” characters are often
dreamed up by people who don’t share their expe-
riences; as a result, their hijinks ring hollow.
In recent years, some shows have tried to
course-correct by hiring “at least one” nonwhite
writer, says Wendy Calhoun, a black producer and
writer whose credits includeEmpire andNashville.
But that’s a form of tokenism too, creating an en-
vironment in which lone staffers are expected to
speak on behalf of entire racial or ethnic groups.
“You need to have at least three [nonwhite writers]
to start the conversation,” says Calhoun.
There are signs of a sea change, though. The
number of nonwhite writers, directors and actors
working in TV—albeit small—is still at an all-time
high, and it’s expected to increase in coming sea-
sons. And many of this year’s most promising new
shows, likeEmpire, Scandal andMaster of None
before them, feature ample minority represen-
tation, on- and offscreen. Among them: OWN’s
Queen Sugar, about siblings who inherit a sugar
plantation, and Fox’sPitch, about the first female
pitcher in major league baseball. Each one marks
an opportunity not only to push TV forward but
also to shape (and employ) a new generation of
creative minds who may well become the next
Ansari or Shonda Rhimes.
Mahoney, the director, says she’s already “bash-
ing down doors” to pitch her ideas. “It takes
teamwork to keep the industry moving,” she says.
“Everyone has to go past what’s comfortable.” □
CHARTOON
Google NapsWe all knoW ThaT Trees can make
streets look prettier. But in her new
book,Urban Forests, Jill Jonnes explains
how they make them safer as well. Dur-
ing heavy storms, trees are able to ab-
sorb a great deal of rainwater, decreas-
ing the burden on sewer systems and
preventing flooding. They also func-
tion as “natural air
conditioners,” she
writes, dispers-
ing air moisture
that keeps cities
cooler during heat
waves—and saving
millions of dollars
in energy costs.
Studies show that
more trees can
even deter crime;
they make neighborhoods feel more
pleasant, which in turns makes resi-
dents (read: witnesses) more likely to
spend time outdoors. It’s no wonder,
then, that cities like New York, Den-
ver and Sacramento have already in-
vested heavily in urban planting. Now
Jonnes argues that others should fol-
low their lead. It’s time, she writes, “to
get serious about creating the lush-
est tree canopies we can nurture.”
—sarah begleyBOOK IN BRIEF
Why cities need
more treesJOHN ATKINSON, WRONG HANDS