What happened to black family sitcoms on network TV?

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share via Email
• Copy Link

  Link Copied

Scouting out fresh comedic talent

Without incubators shows, Sumner believes it’s harder to get network support for new comedians.

Back in the day, a lot of comics spawned their own programming after debuting on variety shows, such as Dave Chappelle, Martin Lawrence, Bernie Mac, Tracy Morgan and Mo’Nique, to name a few.

“There’s not really a platform,” he points out. “Kevin Hart isn’t new. Kevin Hart won a contest I had along with DeRay Davis and Mike Epps back in the mid-’90s, but everybody’s looking at these guys like they’re fresh off the block. Deon Cole has a show on TBS now; Deon’s been around forever.”

Looking inside the casting scene provides more insight.

David Hunter, an African-American actor based in Los Angeles, feels creating his own material has been the best way to break ground in Hollywood.

Hunter stars in a new sitcom pilot, Very Smart Brothas, a show about two twenty-something black guys based on a blog of the same name.

It was initially developed as a web series before early buzz led creators to gear it for television. It will premiere at New York Television Festival in October, where the aim is to be picked up via a less traditional approach.

“We felt like having the control in our hands,” Hunter remarks. “To be seen in a different light, you have to write the material yourself and you have to show people on your own.”

Specifically, Hunter learned about Hollywood expectations during one of his first auditions six years ago, when he performed a monologue in a British accent for casting directors.

“After my monologue, the casting director told me ‘Wow, I wasn’t expecting that. I can really see you on a show like Prison Break,’” the actor recalls. “In my mind, I was like what about my British monologue says Prison Break? It was something I didn’t understand at the time, and something that stood out to me.”

The ‘Housewives’ create collateral damage

Hunter believes reality shows have altered the field of network comedy.

The success of series like Basketball Wives and Love & Hip Hop indicates to producers that this is the image of the black family America wants to see.

“Those shows are cheap to make, and they keep getting ratings for us,” he comments. “Why should we put a Fresh Prince out when you guys will keep watching this? Not to knock those individuals, but you think about real actors…Actors aren’t getting work because of those particular shows.”

Love adds, “The reason black reality shows are a success is because urban people want to see urban people. They do. They will see them in any type of form.”

A Shonda Rhimes for comedy?

From Love’s perspective, comedy needs a producer like Shonda Rhimes to champion African-American sitcoms in the way she’s diversified the dramatic field.

“That’s what’s not happening in comedy,” Love points out.

Further, while beneficial, it’s not enough for a black sitcom to be on smaller cable channels because the quality and scope don’t compare due to budget limitations.

Sumner says he’s working on a platform through his LAFF MOBB comedy venture, which will nurture new talent and hopefully steer networks in a fresh direction.

“I really, really think the opportunity for the African-American in a sitcom is available if people would just take a chance,” he believes.

Acknowledging the popularity of The Real, a talk show led solely by young, progressive women of color, Love says public demand is there, too.

“We have to show the networks that we are interesting and we are funny and we are marketable,” she says. “We’re not going to stop. We’re not going anywhere. I’m going to keep trying.”