Time USA-October 3-2016

23

Several new TV shows—including CBS’sThe Great Indoors, ABC’sAmerican Housewife and

NBC’sTimeless—are struggling to include authentic minority characters

One Of the mOst striking mO-

ments at this year’s Emmy Awards

came early, when Aziz Ansari and Alan

Yang won the Best Comedy Writing

prize for an episode of their Netflix se-

riesMaster of None. The episode, “Par-

ents,” explored how children relate

to their immigrant moms and dads,

drawing heavily from the real-life ex-

periences of its Indian-American and

Taiwanese-American writers.

Less inspiring was what happened

next. After Yang gave a heartfelt ac-

ceptance speech urging more and bet-

ter representation for Asian Ameri-

cans in Hollywood, Ansari—the star

and creator ofMaster of None—got cut

off by the orchestra. Then Jimmy Kim-

mel, the night’s host, retook the stage.

“Now there’s almost too much diver-

sity in this show,” he declared.

It was meant to be a joke, but it

hit on an uncomfortable truth. Yes,

American TV looks and feels more in-

clusive than ever, thanks to buzzy hits

likeEmpire, which centers on a black

family, andFresh Off the Boat, whose

leads are Asian American. But the

(white) status quo remains very much

in place. On many network shows, mi-

nority actors get less screen time than

their white counterparts. And when

they do speak or act, they often do so

in generic or unbelievable ways, as if

executives were more concerned with

casting a token than creating authen-

tic characters—or empowering writers

of color who could.

“Certain people in the industry be-

lieve things have changed and every-

thing’s fine,” says Victoria Mahoney, a

black director whose credits include

Grey’s Anatomy. “The outliers, we don’t

understand what the party is about.”

‘IT IS PAST TIME FOR AMERICA TO RECOGNIZE THE COLLAPSE OF WORK FOR MEN.’—PAGE 28

ENTERTAINMENT

There’s still

more room—

and need—

for diversity

on TV

By Daniel D’Addario

ABC; NBC; CBS
PHOTO-ILLUSTRATION BY MARTIN GEE FOR TIME