The unwritten rules of Black TV

October 3, 2021 10:33 AM

For [Felicia D.] Henderson, working on Family Matters offered an introduction to a defining feature of her long career in Hollywood. Negotiated authenticity is the phrase she uses to describe what many Black screenwriters are tasked with producing—Blackness, sure, but only of a kind that is acceptable to white showrunners, studio executives, and viewers. Not Enough Has Changed Since Sanford and Son, by Hannah Giorgis.
posted by The corpse in the library (9 comments total)

This is a FANTASTIC survey of American sitcom history. Thanks so much for posting, The corpse in the library!
posted by cgc373 at 1:12 PM on October 3, 2021 [9 favorites]

that was a great read!
posted by wellifyouinsist at 1:34 PM on October 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

"negotiated authenticity" is a great term and applicable elsewhere, too. A subtler form of Xsplaining, or a worse one, making the marked group do it themselves.
posted by clew at 1:52 PM on October 3, 2021 [11 favorites]

She was interviewed on the Longform podcast when this came out! It was good to hear her perspective and put a voice to the writing.
posted by crossswords at 5:14 PM on October 3, 2021 [1 favorite]

> Soylent Green is always people.

It's the secret ingredient.

I don't understand why you wrote this here.
posted by The corpse in the library at 5:20 PM on October 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

When I was growing up my quite white family in the quite white suburbs of northern Virginia watched a lot of Black sitcoms together. Granted, there were only a couple of channels; we didn't get cable until my mid-teens. We (including two future Trumpies) watched The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Good Times. There wasn't enough TV for there to be Black TV, it was just TV.

Now that I think about it Sanford and Son's regularly addressing racism was probably one of my first steps in learning about inequality. Plus, that show was funny AF. (I know Redd Foxx was an extremely profane and hilarious nightclub performer. I'm kind of afraid to listen to his standup stuff because it seems like it would be weird.)

Good Times was great and I loved it because of the deep emotional resonance the show had sometimes. I empathized with the family even though their socioeconomic position and challenge were very different than the ones I faced in the affluent suburbs.

The Jeffersons was hilarious and Sherman Hemsley was great as the oblivious fool George Jefferson.
posted by kirkaracha at 6:52 PM on October 3, 2021 [3 favorites]

I was struck by the notion that a lot of things I had thought of as being Black storylines are actually showing Blackness in proximity to whiteness. That's a change in my worldview. Thanks for posting!
posted by hippybear at 7:34 PM on October 3, 2021 [13 favorites]

Great post, thanks!
posted by a snickering nuthatch at 8:40 PM on October 3, 2021 [2 favorites]

Thanks for this post. It's interesting how things have moved from not discussing racial issues (Julia) to only discussing them and now something a bit more in the middle.
posted by matildatakesovertheworld at 12:11 PM on October 4, 2021