Can an Animated Series Help More Minorities Find Jobs on the Small Screen?
Several minority actors and actresses have difficulty finding work or seeing strong role models on the small screen. Find out how the cast and creators of The Cleveland Show plan to change that.
Since the NAACP called into question the lack of sufficient minority roles on television in 1999, various minority organizations have continued to monitor how many minorities were gaining or losing positions on the small screen each fall. At the premiere for FOX’s The Cleveland Show, a new animated series which follows Quahog’s favorite soft-spoken neighbor Cleveland Brown, we caught up with the cast and got their opinion on the lack of minorities in television and found out how The Cleveland Show might be changing that.
With a predominantly African-American cast (Sanaa Lathan, Raegan Gomez-Preston and Kevin Michael Richardson are among the five regular voices featured in the series), The Cleveland Show challenges claims that too few minorites are employed on the small screen.
In the October issue of Latina, industry experts weigh in on why there are so few roles out there and site a lack of minority writers and directors as part of the problem. If there are no minorities behind the camera, there’s no one concerned with getting minorities in front of the camera. Raegan Gomez-Preston, who provides the voice for Cleveland’s step-daughter Roberta, recognizes the struggle for black actresses but has faith that things are changing. In addition to acting, Gomez-Preston also writes and is trying to create more opportunities for black actresses.
L to R: Voice of Cleveland Jr. and Lester, Kevin Michael Richardson; Co-Creator Rich Appel; New York Television Festival Founder Terence Gray; Co-Creator Mike Henry; Voice of Roberta, Raegan Gomez Preston
(Photo Credit: Vinnet Bradshaw)
Traditionally, an animation series such as The Cleveland Show allows you to go beyond reality. Co-creator/Executive Producer Rich Appel views this as “a great thing to help level the playing field and get minorities on television.“ Unfortunately the same ideals that made this show work don’t translate as easily into shows that feature real actors. If the premise of the show is about a white family living in a predominantly white neighborhood, it’s difficult to insert random actors with distinct African, Latin or Asian roots without being too unrealistic. So while the cast and staff of this series remain confident that they are doing what they can to support actors of all races and ethnicities, can their ideas really translate into other series, or do young struggling minority actors still have to deal with not actually seeing any role models that look like themselves?
Aside from trying the racial make-up of the actors how does The Cleveland Show measure up after its first episode? It’s pretty much like Family Guy - just with a black family as the main characters. It’s full of racially, religiously and sexually-charged jokes and appears to have the potential to keep us laughing. According to Co-creator/Executive Producer Mike Henry, we can expect a lot less “black guy” jokes than we’ve seen on Family Guy. Let’s just hope the network keeps it long enough for us to find out.
