Wednesday, June 21, 2006
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Where have all the ... people gone?
A long summer stretches ahead of us. Our stories are in reruns, resting and we must wait until fall to be entertained by many of our favourite shows - along with NBC's attempts to reclaim their Must See TV Glory Days.
I miss Must See TV. I have a theory, and it might be crazy, but I think I have figured out what NBC has been missing. Two words. Black people.
I love black people. Hell, I AM black people. And as much as NBC loves them some funny white people in unrealistically large New York apartments, they need to remember that it was a black dude in an ugly sweater that won them the night in the first place. The origins of Must See TV had black people peppered *giggle* throughout the evening. In 84 they had Cosby, Night Court and Hill Street Blues. Black people everywhere. They were funny in their sweaters and their Gordon Gar-Trail shirts. They were funny in court, and entertaining on the mean Hill streets. The Keatons and the gang at Cheers seemed perfectly comfortable surrounded by all those black people. We weren’t so scary after all. People liked us, they really liked us. The years rolled on and they kept adding other shows, but the night started and was built with the blood sweat and tears of a black man, like so many things in America.
But in the mid-nineties two things happened that changed the face of NBC forever. Cosby and all related spin-offs went off the air, and a couple of fledgling networks that loved them some black people were born. The coming of the networks that will soon be known as the CW created a new place for black people to go. And so they went off into the sunset never to return except in supporting roles. The nineties rolled on and yes, NBC held on to the night for a while (lotta black day players in the ER thank goodness) but I can’t really see those years being as cost effective. Between the Seinfeld cast and the Friends they were dropping a lot of clams to keep the old machine rolling. I don'’t remember Keisha Knight-Pulliam holding out for a million bucks an episode.
Time rolled on and the WB and UPN gathered all the black people to their welcoming bosom and slowly the idea of Must See TV became a thing of the past. Breeders can tell their spawn of magical time when they would sit down in front of the tv for an entire evening watching one channel that came with basic cable all night long. But times have changed and those days are gone.
And now, next year ABC will be moving their 20+ million viewer juggernaut, Grey's Anatomy to Thursday. Although the titular character is a teeny tiny blond who needs a sandwich more than Ally McBeal the rest of the cast is chock full of chocolate-y goodness with a Korean Canadian and a Latina lady doctor for additional spice. I'd like to take a moment to re-introduce a couple of old friends. Thursday night, meet black people. Black people, welcome to Thursday night.
I miss Must See TV. I have a theory, and it might be crazy, but I think I have figured out what NBC has been missing. Two words. Black people.
I love black people. Hell, I AM black people. And as much as NBC loves them some funny white people in unrealistically large New York apartments, they need to remember that it was a black dude in an ugly sweater that won them the night in the first place. The origins of Must See TV had black people peppered *giggle* throughout the evening. In 84 they had Cosby, Night Court and Hill Street Blues. Black people everywhere. They were funny in their sweaters and their Gordon Gar-Trail shirts. They were funny in court, and entertaining on the mean Hill streets. The Keatons and the gang at Cheers seemed perfectly comfortable surrounded by all those black people. We weren’t so scary after all. People liked us, they really liked us. The years rolled on and they kept adding other shows, but the night started and was built with the blood sweat and tears of a black man, like so many things in America.
But in the mid-nineties two things happened that changed the face of NBC forever. Cosby and all related spin-offs went off the air, and a couple of fledgling networks that loved them some black people were born. The coming of the networks that will soon be known as the CW created a new place for black people to go. And so they went off into the sunset never to return except in supporting roles. The nineties rolled on and yes, NBC held on to the night for a while (lotta black day players in the ER thank goodness) but I can’t really see those years being as cost effective. Between the Seinfeld cast and the Friends they were dropping a lot of clams to keep the old machine rolling. I don'’t remember Keisha Knight-Pulliam holding out for a million bucks an episode.
Time rolled on and the WB and UPN gathered all the black people to their welcoming bosom and slowly the idea of Must See TV became a thing of the past. Breeders can tell their spawn of magical time when they would sit down in front of the tv for an entire evening watching one channel that came with basic cable all night long. But times have changed and those days are gone.
And now, next year ABC will be moving their 20+ million viewer juggernaut, Grey's Anatomy to Thursday. Although the titular character is a teeny tiny blond who needs a sandwich more than Ally McBeal the rest of the cast is chock full of chocolate-y goodness with a Korean Canadian and a Latina lady doctor for additional spice. I'd like to take a moment to re-introduce a couple of old friends. Thursday night, meet black people. Black people, welcome to Thursday night.
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