Segregated sitcoms: Institutional causes of disparity among black and white comedy images and audiences

Throughout U.S. television history, comedy has been the narrative form to first offer representations of those aspects of society outside of the hegemonic norm. Situation comedies offered some of the first portrayals of working women, gay and lesbian characters, and non-White characters, because sitcoms could both introduce and contain content and ideas within their twentythree minutes of narrative time and because laughter softens difficult issues. By the end of television's first fifty years, women had achieved diverse and complex representation in a variety of genres, and sophisticated gay and lesbian characters began to find a presence in dramas as well as comedies; yet, stories about people of color, particularly Asian Americans and Latino/as, mostly remained limited to comedic fare. African American characters have been somewhat plentiful in various eras of sitcom history, yet fairly monolithic in their characterization, with clear trends emerging in certain periods. Some argue the Black sitcom exists as a distinctive subgeneric form, although defining features of the Black sitcom beyond the presence of Black actors remain contested and varied (Means Coleman). Much of the debate and controversy about the form has resulted from the need for these sitcoms to address both White and African American audiences throughout most of U.S. television history, forcing Black sitcoms to "walk a thin line to attract White Americans while not alienating African Americans" (Havens 37). Many scholars have delimited and analyzed the complicated history of the Black sitcom, and while their analysis is too extensive to recount here, their critical perspectives greatly inform the situation of the late 1990s that I consider (see Bogle; Gray; Hamamoto; Havens; Means Coleman; Riggs). The multiplication of distribution outlets, beginning with cable in the 1980s and later broadcast networks such as FOX (1986), The WB (1996), and UPN (1996), reduced the imperative for Black sitcoms to appeal to both African American and White audiences. The spread of audience share from three broadcast networks to a multitude of cable networks allowed the development of series specifically hailing the Black audience, a strategy particularly viable for emerging broadcast networks in their first years, such as FOX in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and The WB and UPN in the late 1990s. As a result of this more particularized address, the more established networks (NBC, CBS, ABC) gradually reduced their use of series designed to attract an ethnically mixed audience and instead developed comedy series with overwhelmingly White casts (Seinfeld, Friends, Frasier). As reports of "segregation" in comedy audiences became increasingly frequent, these competitive industrial practices had clear effects on comedy audiences, (Freeman; "Gap Between"; Poniewozik; "Study Shows"; "Who's Watching"). This chapter explores the institutional and formal causes of comedic audience segregation in the 1990s and examines one series as a case study in order to expose the industrial practices that lead to ethnically bifurcated series and audiences. The case of For Your Love is an anomaly in many aspects, but it illustrates how ironclad the rules may be. For Your Love premiered as a midseason replacement on NBC in March 1998. In the series' eight episode run it slipped from a 9.3 rating/15 share, to a 6.7 rating/11 share and fell from placing second in its time slot and twenty-fifth for the week, to fourth in the time slot and sixty-third for the week.1 This ratings performance ended its run on NBC, but emerging network The WB (owned by Warner Bros., the company that produced For Your Love) purchased the series for the 1998-99 season and continued it through the spring of 2002. For Your Love is not only atypical in its two-network history, it is also one of the few recent sitcoms to feature Black and White characters in lead roles. The series depicts three couples at different stages of "couplehood." The multiethnic ensemble includes: Dean and Sheri, a White couple, married five yea s, who were childhood sweethearts; Mel and Malena, African American newlyweds who are friends with Dean and Sheri and move in next door in a Chicago suburb; and Reggie (Mel's brother) and Bobbi, both African American, as a somewhat commitment- phobic dating couple, who marry, then divorce in the series' last season. Considering For Your Love as a case study creates a complex context for analyzing the institutional causes of segregated viewing, as the ethnically integrated cast defines the series as different from most comedy series. The disparate promotional and scheduling strategies used by NBC and The WB reveal the process through which programmers define the intended audience for television programs. The underlying goal of this chapter, then, is to explore how institutional practices, such as scheduling, promotion, executive corps, demographic imperatives, and the competitive environment, lead to dichotomous audience segregation in sitcom viewing. © 2005 State University of New York. All rights reserved.