New African-Americans in Genre Shows

I am one of the people who think that African Americans are missing from primetime television. However, I am impressed with the lineup that genre shows have trotted out. Heroes once again has a diverse cast which has expanded to include Hispanic characters. So, here is me giving props to some new characters on genre shows.

You can check out Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton and Nelsen Ellis as her cousin Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s True Blood (which is actually pretty good).

You can find Jasika Nichole as Agent Astrid Farnsworth and Lance Reddick as Agent Phillip Broyles on Fox’s Fringe.

Heroes in its second season add villainous “Knox” Washington played by Jaime Hector and cryptic mystic Ntare Mwine as Usutu.

But let’s not talk about how they killing off the other brothers in prime time. Spoiler after the break.

Why did they have to kill off Warrick on CSI and Pratt on ER. Damn shame. Two of the best written characters on two of the most popular shows on TV.

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Posted under Television

This post was written by Jarrell on September 29, 2008

Bedlam

Pratt's death bothered me until I realized this was the last season. But it's a shame that show has a track record of killing off black men almost arbitrarily.

It is good to see more minorities in genre shows. It hearkens back to Roddenberry who made Star Trek as diverse as possible because he saw the future no other way. Heroes' cast is a good example of that. Almost every minority is represented in some way. Fringe also has a diverse cast. However, CBS will have almost no minority presence after killing off Warrick.

You also forgot Sydney Poitier in Knight Rider.

Mickey

How is it possible that in 2008 they are still killing off the black male characters? It is pathetic and obvious. Although I really don't think the producers are consciously continuing to do this, but, they are still doing it! Dare we hope that with a black male real person in our white house, running our country - still the most powerful country in the world, that people might have some clarity about the worth of every human being and start making our tv shows look like Obama's speech crowds look? Just like America really is? Every time this happens, we must make a point of bringing it in to the light and make it stop.