Dianne, that show was Spin City! I remember an episode where the mildly homophobic character (whoever it was with a brush cut) kissed the gay one in a dark room, and the episode was about him admitting he enjoyed it. At the end of the ep he does, and gets the gay dude to kiss a woman through trickery. Oh pomosexuality, will you ever come back to TV?

The fact that children’s programming does a way better job is in some ways great, and reflects to some extent the handling of gender roles too (in kids’ shows, girls can do anything, and do – in adult programming, often not so much). I wonder if this means that we’re expected to have one relationship with other races/genders as children, and a different one as we grow up. I’m sure a lot of it is down to different corporations owning these different audience blocks, but the message is still there.

I think you answered your own question. In my opinion, The Wire is the best thing television has ever done, no question.

Granted I wasn’t around in the 70’s. But I did recently rewatch Columbo (isn’t that a 70’s show?), and I’m sure I haven’t seen anything as racially offensive these days as some of the stuff I did there. Like white people in black wigs talking in faux-Asian accents and acting the part of Asians. It was unwatchable. And whenever a black character did appear, um… wow.

So I don’t think things as overtly racist as that appear on networks these days. Which is an improvement. But the dearth of roles for POC today is really problematic.

And come to think of it, even though you don’t have the sort of yellow-face today like in those Columbo eps., things like Tropic Thunder are similar. It’s excused by the mainstream because it’s supposedly “satire” … :/ So maybe we haven’t made much progress. We just disguise it differently.

There does seem to be some diversity in crime drama types of series. And Ugly Betty seems to have done well (though I had real issues with the show’s depictions of heavy black women). I don’t know. Two steps forward, one step back? Maybe something like that.

U.S.-wise, I think, and feel, there are SLIGHTLY more PoC in television mainly due to the increase in number of shows and channels available. However, it does not seem that status/roles and stories/character fates they’re given has changed much in the slightest to me.

Anything beyond and/or better than what we’re usual given is few and far between in and of themselves. Not often long lasting and seem as sudden blips on the radar compared to the mass of other shows where our places in them are rather typical.