“Deception” TV Show Deserves Semi-Kudos

The couple that is not a couple.

Well I guess kudos are in order for NBC for its new TV show “Deception.” I always note commercials, movies or television shows that dare to show mixed couples in a positive light and often without making a big deal about the relationship.

In the case of this show, a black female detective, played by Meagan Good, goes back to her childhood hometown to investigate the mysterious death of her childhood best friend, who happened to be white. The detective sort of picks up again a flirtatious relationship with the girl’s brother, played by Wes Brown, and we also see that as teens they did have a relationship.

So far nothing is made of the color difference. Good. However I do have to say, the show is stereotypical in that Good’s character is a working stiff who knows the family because her mother was a maid for the wealthy white family. So she doesn’t come across as their equal in the way it is written.

Too bad that is the backstory they came up with to explain her relationship to her old best friend. But I still give them credit for showing the mixed relationship in prime time.

Obama Speech During Football Game Flushed Out A Lot Of Racists

Some people’s priorities are really screwed up.

This is what I call bi-level stupidity.

When the President addressed the grieving people of Newton on Sunday night and his speech was broadcast to the nation, television stations broke into regular programming to cover it.

This didn’t sit well with the neanderthal segment of the Sunday Night football crowd who couldn’t believe a football game was being interrupted by a tragedy involving 26 people being killed. And worse still, they were incensed that a part-black man was doing the interrupting.

It was just too much for their brains. So some of them took to Twitter and here was the result:

Trust me there was much more where this came from (if you’re in the mood to read more click here).

Amazing how little it takes for some people to show their true colors. And their stupidity.

Mixed People Monday – Jessica Ennis

The best all-around athlete at the games.

In keeping with the just-ended Olympics theme (which by the way, featured many mixed athletes) this week’s focus is heptathlon gold medal winner from Great Britain, Jessica Ennis. Her father is originally from Jamaica and her mother was born in Derbyshire, England.

Gabby Douglas’ Hair Takes Center Stage? Really?!

A new hero emerges.

Really people?! Her hair?!

Gabby Douglas just wins the most prestigious medal in women’s gymnastics, making history in the process, and all some women can do is complain about how her hair looked?!

You have got to be kidding me. How superficial can some people be?

I know the power and importance of hair in the Black community, but come on people.

Congratulations to Gabrielle Douglas for a phenomenal Olympics performance and her two gold medals, especially the Best All Around. What an awesome accomplishment and she truly deserves to be America’s newest sweetheart (though I am concerned her ethnicity will keep her from being celebrated as much as say Nastia Liukin or Mary Lou Retton). She made us ALL proud, not just African-Americans.

Here is the link to the full story on the stupid hair controversy. I can’t believe how silly some people are.

Going Along With Discrimination

A thought-provoking show.

If you did not get a chance to watch the Dateline NBC series “My Kid Would Not Do That” you should. One of the topics covered was discrimination and it put several teens in situations that showed just how easily kids can be convinced to accept and go along with blatant discrimination. It was very eye-opening.

The scariest part was seeing how even kids who were clearly not racist, could, with peer pressure, be moved to accept racism even when it was very clear that was what was going on.

I couldn’t embed the video from the show but here is a link to Part 1 and on that page you will find links to the other five segments.Each segment is about 10 minutes. You owe it to yourself to watch this.

Television Diversity Has Been Hit & Miss

A valiant attempt, but don't stop now.

Generally I think television does a great job of depicting Mixed relationships very well. Showing them fairly often, and most of the time doing so in a way that doesn’t make a big deal about it. I give kudos whenever I see such depictions because I think they do help the general attitudes about such couplings.

But all is not well of course. Especially when it comes to the number of minorities in leading roles on major TV shows, referring primarily to Blacks, Hispanics and Asians. The following article especially singles out NBC which has had problems before.

“Undercovers,” a glossy drama about married caterers moonlighting as spies, was positioned by NBC as more than just a glittery entry in its fall lineup when it premiered last September. The series featured two black leads — a rarity in prime-time network TV — and was the centerpiece of the network’s aggressive campaign touting its commitment to boosting diversity.

NBC trumpeted “Undercovers” as a response to opponents of the network’s merger with cable giant Comcast who contended NBC had a historically poor record when it came to placing African Americans in front of and behind the camera. But despite heavy promotion, “Undercovers” never caught on with viewers and was canceled by early November, leaving some observers to speculate that NBC’s push for more minority presence would wither.

Network honchos were reassuring. Then-diversity chief Paula Madison maintained in a February radio interview with noted sociologist Michael Eric Dyson that Comcast’s NBCUniversalwas committed to increasing diversity “in all facets of our business.…Those commitments are in writing, and they are on file with the FCC. There is no likelihood that we would revert. We’re not going to put shows on the air that are devoid of diversity.”

But little more than six months after the approval of the merger by the Federal Communications Commission, and three months after Madison retired, some of NBCUniversal’s units have come under fire as advocates claim that the company is not honoring promises that helped pave the way for the merger’s approval.

To read the full article click here. Here’s to hoping the peacock network gets it together. And the others as well.

TV Can Open Our Minds

A mixed First Family is a first.

I have to give some dap to TV writers and producers again. The new NBC drama “The Event” actually goes farther than most on the “open your mind” scale.

We have seen Black Presidents on TV before, notably the first season of “24″ and in various movies, including Morgan Freeman in the Ben Afleck thriller, “The Sum of All Fears,” to name just a couple. But “The Event” does two things I haven’t seen and I truly applaud.

For one, the Black President, played by Blair Underwood, is also Hispanic, Cuban in heritage, to be specific. He even has a Spanish name, Elias Martinez. That’ll throw a few people for a loop. Good. Because people need to realize that Hispanic is not a “race” and that Black people exist in a lot of countries.

Going one step past even that, Underwood’s character is in what some would call an interracial marriage, the First Lady being played by Puerto Rican actress Lisa Vidal. And they have a Mixed kid. So there you go, our first fictional Mixed family in The White House. It could happen. Hey I do believe life can and does imitate art and I think getting people used to seeing fictional Black Presidents did in a small way, pave the way for Obama. So maybe seeing more characters like these will also have some impact down the road.

Here’s hoping so. But for now, way to go NBC for pushing the envelope a bit.