Can Black People Be Serious?

For those who don't know, I'm a big fan of television. Ever since I was a youngster I would sit down in front of the "idiot box" (my grandmother's favorite name for it); but for me, it was more than that. At times TV was educational for me, but for the most part it was pure entertainment. I could always find a television character that I could relate to in some form or fashion. I enjoyed the laughs, all of the laughs, that good and quality television provided, especially when I saw my own people portrayed on the screen. They could always make me laugh. However, as I grew older I realized, black people were rarely portrayed on television as serious human beings with real life issues.

Can anyone tell me one good black drama that lasted more than two seasons? Some might say New York Undercover but Malik Yoba was the only main black character on that show, the only positive one, since he arrested so many criminals that looked like him. I don't know if any of you remember 413 Hope St. or City of Angels (not the movie), but those two shows started off good, but they didn't last. Now Soul Food was a successful black drama, but where did they put it, on a cable station that not many people, especially black people, would be able to access. It seems like the only drama black people have is family drama.

Even majority of our black movies, successful black movies, fall into the comedy genre. Unfortunately, many of them have been disappointments (Soul Plane could be it's own blog topic but I'm not going to give it the time of day). Also, if it's a comedy, it's normally a romantic comedy, or there's some romance involved with the comedy. So basically, black people can only make you laugh and they make you laugh because of their comical relationship issues.

However, it is argued that because of low ratings in the black television audience, the black dramas do not last. So do we as black people find it hard to take each other seriously? Why don't we demand to see a variety of black dramas, especially when we complain about the ignorant comedies that are out today. We can easily have our own version of a black law firm, a black hospital, a black community center, a black church, (even though that's another stigma on black movies and television shows). I guess that's why it's a dream of mine to create a black drama, that will not be put on a cable network and will not be on the typical black television station (UPN, for those who don't know). So, look out for my debut, or if it's not me, I hope somebody gets to do it. Remember, black people used to be seen on the major networks. It seems like our respect has gone down; let's integrate...again.