Abstract
Gregory Adamo, an assistant professor at Morgan State University in Baltimore, goes behind the scenes of the television production industry to describe the experiences of African American producers and writers early in the twenty-first century. The account is based on interviews with seventeen industry professionals between 1998 and 2005, and it describes the hurdles they face in a business where success depends as much on who you know as what you know.
Adamo, a former general manager of a college radio station in New York, began this project as part of his doctoral work at Rutgers University. He focuses on what he calls the “new normal,” the time in the late 1990s and early twenty-first century when black shows became a standard part of the network TV repertoire. Adamo argues that the success of shows like Sister, Sister and Everybody Hates Chris was due to five factors: the Fox network’s strategy to gain viewership by appealing to an urban market, the creation of the UPN and WB networks in 1995, the expansion of cable channels, the mainstreaming of hip-hop culture, and the African American writers themselves, who, seeing the opportunities, seized them.
It is the last point on which this book is primarily focused. Through the interviews, Adamo tells how these writers and producers started in show businesses and fought their way to positions of influence. Although Adamo is white, he says that the interviewees spoke candidly about their experiences within the Hollywood system. Some of the revelations are not surprising: college connections and internships do matter; network executives are reluctant to take risks with unknown talent and unorthodox ideas; and well-placed mentors can steer novices to success. These keys to employment and promotion are true regardless of race.
The strength of this book lies in its description of less obvious aspects of the black experience in Hollywood, particularly those issues on which the interview subjects disagree.
One of those issues is the role of affirmative action in aiding the careers of black television industry professionals. Rose Catherine Pinkney, senior vice president of Comedy Development at Paramount Communications, tells Adamo that she is proud that she is a product of affirmative action because her experience is proof that such programs can work to provide the industry with talented workers. But Shirley Salomon says that she was offended when she found out that she was hired as a director’s assistant on the soap opera One Life to Live primarily because she was a minority. “The variety of opinions and experiences concerning affirmative action is a reminder of why African Americans cannot and should not be viewed as being united on any issue, even an issue that can bring employment to the group members,” Adamo states.
Likewise, the writers and producers featured in this book express conflicting feelings about working for television shows in which most of the cast and crew are white. The African Americans say that they often resent being called on by their white colleagues to represent the “black” point of view. At the same time, they recognize a responsibility to speak up and educate white producers who might otherwise give TV characters unrealistic or stereotypical attributes and dialogue.
Shows with primarily black actors and crew present other challenges for African Americans. These writers and producers say that the workplace culture on such shows is often more collegial and that they welcome the chance to produce quality shows that speak to black audiences; however, they fear they will be pigeonholed into working on black shows.
The interviews in this book hint at the complexity of issues facing African Americans in the television industry. It is difficult to tell how representative the views of these seventeen professionals are. While Adamo makes frequent references to Bill Cosby and Charles Dutton, some of television’s other famous African Americans are not mentioned—including producer/directors Paris Barclay (NYPD Blue, CSI, Glee) and the late writer/producer David Mills (Homicide, The Corner). Perhaps it is expecting too much for one book to present the definitive picture of African Americans working behind the scenes in the TV business.
Adamo says that his book is about stories, and the varied stories of the writers and producers featured are the book’s strength. The book is less successful when Adamo attempts to draw awkward summaries basing those personal stories on the media studies of Joseph Turow and Stuart Hall. Adamo’s text also has not been carefully edited. For example, Adamo says that ABC canceled the cartoon Capitol Critters after seven years, when really it canceled the show after seven episodes.
Nevertheless, the book does bring insights into the professional lives of African American producers and writers in the post-Cosby television world. It would be a suitable supplementary text in a television history class.