Where’s the Color on Primetime TV?

The Right Rev. James A. Pike, then the Episcopal bishop of California, wryly observed in 1960 that “the 11 o’clock hour on Sunday is the most segregated hour in American life.” He was referring, of course, to church, and the fact that most congregations in the U.S. tended to be composed of one race or another, but not integrated. But that was 30 years ago, when we didn’t watch as much TV as we do now.

Now, we’ve progressed from the time when black folks on TV were a true rarity, when we used to call each other up and hiss, “Quick, there’s colored on Channel 2!” We’ve evolved from the 1960s, when every Negro person felt it was his sacred duty to watch “I Spy” or “Julia,” to make sure that Bill Cosby and Diahann Carroll were properly supported by The Folks. There’s lots more of us on TV now--but with two exceptions, we’re in isolated little pockets, video Sowetos studding an otherwise white landscape.

Most of the highest rated, most popular shows on network TV reflect a world in which ethnic minorities simply don’t exist. Jerry Seinfeld lives on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, one of the most ethnically diverse slices of New York. Yet there are no black folks in his apartment building. We hardly see them--or Latinos or Asian Americans, and there are plenty of both in New York--on the streets or in the background. Caroline lives in the city--but the equivalent of a neutron bomb dedicated to ethnic cleansing must have gone off just before the series began. Don’t even get me started on where Ross, Rachel and their “Friends” live or the irritatingly whiny Buchmans in “Mad About You.” And Cybill, I’ve been to the Valley: There is actually ethnic diversity there, not that we’d know it from your show.

“Frasier” is one of the funniest, most sophisticated half-hours ever to grace the little screen. To its credit, the show has chosen to delve into the messy discomfort of less-than-noble human impulses such as vanity, lust and infidelity. I’ve waited for “Frasier’s” writers to address race in some way, but so far, no luck. How come, guys? It can’t be for lack of nerve.

The question, I suppose, is whether television reflects or affects reality. More than 98% of American homes own at least one television set, the little boxes that once were amusements for the wealthy few have become necessities for all. As sociologist Marshall McLuhan predicted decades ago, the medium has become the message.

And the message seems to be that an ethnically homogenous life is a desirable life. Maybe the high ratings for such shows as “Mad About You” and “Friends” reflect a wish for more ethnic isolation on certain Americans’ part. With demographics in the real world changing so quickly, perhaps the bland sameness of these shows is a psychic safety blanket, a cherished retreat into someplace where “they” can’t intrude.

The alternative networks have made great strides in filling the gap, but it is a dubious distinction: The most successful lineups for UPN and the “Dubba, Dubba, Dubba, Dubba-Yoo-Bee” are black and mindlessly antic, the programming equivalent of a For Coloreds Only drinking fountain.

Happily, there are two exceptions to color-stratified network TV: cop/lawyer shows and medical shows. If you’re in enough trouble or in extremis, apparently it doesn’t matter who gets you out of jail or off the respirator. So Emmy-winning shows such as “ER,” “Law and Order,” “NYPD Blue” and “Chicago Hope” have integrated ensemble casts and story lines that reflect the overlapping complexities of real life, where issues of race and gender and justice and politics often collide and aren’t resolved to everyone’s satisfaction.

Maybe that’s a good place for President Clinton to begin his vaunted national dialogue on race. He should hop on Air Force One, take a lunch with Hollywood’s network heads and have a little chat about the America they’re beaming, every night, into our living rooms. Network programming in full color could go a long way toward creating an atmosphere in which more meaningful racial interaction could occur. If in fact the networks care about that.