The difficulty of cracking the mainstream media is illustrated by a conversation film critic Elvis Mitchell had with Roger Greenblatt, president of Entertainment at Showtime Networks on his radio program, "the Treatment."
http://www.kcrw.com/cgi-bin/db/kcrw.pl? show_code=tt&air_date=4/27/05&tmplt_type=show Mr. Greenblatt, while at FOX green-lighted such shows as "the X- files," and "In Living Color." As a producer he has produced "Six Feet Under" for HBO and "The Hughleys" for UPN. He is friends with John Ridley, and he acknowledges that "Soul Food" was one of the highest rated programs ever broadcast by Showtime. He recognizes that there is a dearth of good programming for black audiences, yet the best he can do, after talking about how important it is to take chances and try new ways of telling stories, is translating the Barbershop movies into a television show. Which, I guess, is not so surprising when his contributions to black television are "The Hughleys," "One on One," "Eve" and the short-lived John Ridley hip- hopera, "Platinum." ~(no)rave! --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, "Keith Johnson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Like many of y'all have said--better than me, I might add--it ultimately > boils down to us controlling our own. Between whites that are > prejudiced, whites that aren't prejudiced but let market factors shaped > by *other* whites influence their decisions, and whites that simply > don't get it, we're always fighting an uphill battle. Why are so many > Blacks in scifi often used as aliens that are either weird looking, or > "noble savages"? I've complained more than once that Stargate SG-1 and > Atlantis each use the noble savage in Teal'c and Teyla. Did you know > that Rodney's character (the nerdy, grouchy, scary genius on Atlantis) > was originally written for a Black man? The producers claim they > couldn't find a Brother to really fit the role, so they brought in > Rodney! Even then, what was odd was that the man they wanted was > described as "an elderly Black man". I have *nothing* against older > actors. Indeed, I celebrate their usage, which is too infrequent. But > it's strange that so often white geniuses (Daniel Jackson, Samatha > Carter) are often depicted as young, vibrant, and attractive, but Black > ones--when depicted--are often older, nerdier, unattractive. Strange. > We could go on asking questions such as why someone like Will Smith > still can't make a movie where he has a Black love interest, but again, > it's back to us doing our own... > > -----Original Message----- > From: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On > Behalf Of DJ VIBE > Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 09:16 > To: scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com > Subject: [scifinoir2] Re: What does Sci-Fi have against Black people? > > > --- In scifinoir2@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > i posted about this during Season one of Galactica and did a count > of Blacks. I counted about three or four, incuding the comm officer > and some nameless pilots (I assume) used in the background. I then > found a lot of Blacks existed afterall: on the prison barge! When > Apollo was sent over there to quell the riots, the place was lousy > with Big Black Man, most of them dark-skinned as hell and bald... > > > > > See, you guys have me ROFLMBAO! I'm gonna double-check for that when > I get the Season 1 DVD in September, but you're probably right and > IIRC, Saggiterion, where Zarek and his followers are from, is > considered the ghetto of the colonies. Go figure. > > > > > > _____ > > YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS > > > > * Visit your group "scifinoir2 > <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2> " on the web. > > > * To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > <mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > * Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of > Service <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> . > > > _____ > > > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> <font face=arial size=-1><a href="http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12h3nkgou/M=362335.6886444.7839734.2575449/D=groups/S=1705034827:TM/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1123284338/A=2894362/R=0/SIG=138c78jl6/*http://www.networkforgood.org/topics/arts_culture/?source=YAHOO&cmpgn=GRP&RTP=http://groups.yahoo.com/";>What would our lives be like without music, dance, and theater?Donate or volunteer in the arts today at Network for Good</a>.</font> --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/scifinoir2/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
