Afro-sitcom ( born Black sitcom ) is a kind of comedy series on American television , in the center of the plot of which African Americans are fully or mostly [1] . Sitcoms with African-American characters in leading positions appeared in the 1970s, but the peak of their popularity fell in the second half of the 1980s, with the success of the β Cosby Show β [2] .
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In the days of the early television era, only white people were shot on sitcoms, and blacks, like Latin Americans and Asians, were depicted only in stereotypical episodic roles. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People often criticized the big three television networks for lack of diversity, and in the 1970s a number of very long Afro-sitcoms appeared. They were "Sanford and Son" ( NBC , 1972-77), "This is my mother" ( ABC , 1974-75), "Good times" ( CBS , 1974-79), "What is happening?" (ABC, 1976- 79) and went down in history for the duration of " Jeffersons " (CBS, 1975-85). These sitcoms were subsequently criticized for promoting racial segregation and reinforcing opinions that Black and White cultures are so different and their integration is undesirable and impossible [3] . In the 1980s, the Afro-sitcoms had a breakthrough with The Cosby Show (NBC, 1984-92) and its Other World spin-off (1987-93), which showed dark-skinned characters in non-stereotypical situations, but due to segregation from white sitcoms [3] .
In the 1990s, there was a decline in the afro sitcoms on the big three networks, partly after the success of shows such as Seinfeld and Friends . Small television networks like Fox , The WB and UPN, meanwhile, tried to gain a foothold in the business and released afro-sitcoms such as Martin (1992-97) and Single Room (1993-98), which were commercially successful thanks to black audiences, although they did not have a white audience [3] . Only β Family matters β and β Prince of Beverly Hills β had a relative success with white audiences, but after their completion by the end of the decade, the number of Afro-sitcoms sharply decreased from 15 to 6, which led human rights organizations to charge large networks for lack of racial diversity [3] [4] . In 2006, when The WB and UPN were closed in favor of the new The CW , the remaining shows were closed, although several sitcoms, including β Girlfriends β (2000-08), still lived out their days on the new channel, which by 2009 was completely abandoned racial diversity [5] .
When in the 2000s, afro-sitcoms left national television, cable channels such as BET , TBS, Disney Channel , TV One and TV Land began to produce their own original shows. Only in the fall of 2014, for the first time in many years, the Afro-sitcom in the face of the β Blackish β show on ABC, which started with positive reviews from critics, returned to national television [6] .
Notes
- Al Dalton, Mary M. - Suny Press, 2005. - P. 142. - ISBN 0-7914-6569-1 .
- β Bogle, Donald. Primetime Blues: African Americans on Network Television. - Farrar Straus Giroux, 2001. - ISBN 0-374-12720-4 .
- β 1 2 3 4 Alvin Poussaint. Why Is TV So Segregated? Family Education Network . The appeal date is January 3, 2015.
- β Robert F. Moss. The Shrinking Life Span of the Black Sitcom . The New York Times (February 25, 2001). The appeal date is January 3, 2015.
- β Dara T. Mathis. Was it a Black Sitcom-Friendly Broadcast Television Network? Indiewire (November 14, 2014). The appeal date is January 3, 2015.
- β Gazelle Emami. How To Make It A Sitcom: Be Careful How To Talk About Race . The Huffington Post (October 21, 2014). The appeal date is January 3, 2015.