TV Casting May Feel an Obama Effect

It may say something about the state of American television that there is one more black president-elect of the United States than there are black actors with individual lead roles in a network television drama.
But after years of ensemble dramas sprinkled with nonwhite supporting actors, the excitement surrounding the election of Barack Obama could help to open doors for more minorities in leading dramatic roles, executives from television production studios said.
Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment who oversees the network’s television studio, said that he and the head of the diversity initiative for NBC Universal, Paula Madison, have been pushing for projects starring minorities.
Mr. Silverman said, “We were going after this regardless, but I don’t think you can deny the power that Barack Obama brings in magnifying this direction in our world.” He added, “We’ve all been colorblind for years, but the results don’t necessarily match up to our intentions.”
Ms. Madison said that NBC’s approach was at least as much about business as about social responsibility. “People are not living in single-race silos anymore,” she said. “We said, ‘Let’s try to develop a world that looks like the world we’re living in.’ ”
The evidence seems to indicate that race neutrality has not produced a surge of black lead performers, at least in network dramas. While comedies with black characters have been something of a network staple — from the much vilified “Amos ’n Andy” in the early days of television, through shows like “Sanford and Son” with Redd Foxx, “The Jeffersons,” and Martin Lawrence’s sitcom “Martin” — historically, blacks in lead television drama roles have been rare.
Bill Cosby, whose 1980s hit sitcom revitalized that genre after a period of decline, famously broke through in drama as the co-star of “I Spy” in 1965. He won three Emmy awards in the role of Alexander Scott, an espionage agent. Exactly two black actors (and no actresses) have won Emmy awards for drama series since: James Earl Jones, who played the title role in the short-lived “Gabriel’s Fire” in 1991, and Andre Braugher, who was part of the ensemble in “Homicide” in 1998.
Dennis Haysbert, who played President David Palmer on the Fox series “24,” is featured in the CBS ensemble drama “The Unit” (produced by Mr. Newman’s Fox studio). Also this season, the venerable NBC drama “ER” added Angela Bassett; executives at its studio, Warner Brothers, now identify her as the lead in that show.
But both “ER” and “The Unit” are ensemble shows, a genre that has for decades — going back to performers like Michael Warren in “Hill Street Blues” and Denzel Washington in “St. Elsewhere” — been the route for black drama actors to break through.
“ER” has featured black actors (including Eriq La Salle) since its inception in 1994. ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy,” whose creator and executive producer, Shonda Rhimes, is black, has similarly offered a notably diverse cast.
But there is no dramatic series spotlighting a single star — like “House” on Fox, “Chuck” on NBC, “Eli Stone” on ABC or “The Mentalist” on CBS — now led by a black actor. Hispanic actors have fared somewhat better. Jimmy Smits has starred in several series, and America Ferrera is now the star of “Ugly Betty.”
Cable’s recent list of single-star dramas is also notable for its roster of white stars, including shows like “The Shield,” “The Closer,” “Saving Grace,” “Dexter,” “Monk,” “Burn Notice,” “Breaking Bad” and “Damages.”
Tim Reid, who was the star and an executive producer of the Emmy-winning comedy series “Frank’s Place” for CBS in the 1987-88 season — and who recently wrote, with the white comic Tom Dreesen, “Tim and Tom: An American Comedy in Black and White” about their days as a stand-up team — has been outspoken about the continued limited opportunities for minorities in television.
“If the president-elect should have any positive influence over the so-called liberal base of Hollywood, it will be by focusing their attention on the reality of the kind of multicultural world we actually live in,” Mr. Reid said in an e-mail message. “This doesn’t just mean putting another person of color in front of the camera, but giving them an equal opportunity in having a say-so in what is created for the camera.”
“In my opinion,” he continued, “we’re far more likely to have a black president in my lifetime ... oh, yeah ... I can stop saying that now.”
The most significant hiring of a black actor for a television series has been long in the works: next month the film star Laurence Fishburne will assume the lead in CBS’s biggest hit show, “CSI.” That move was not connected to the ascendance of Mr. Obama, though CBS and studio executives expressed hope that the timing would help in the transition from William Petersen, the current “CSI” lead, to Mr. Fishburne.
David Stapf, president of the CBS Paramount Network Television studio, which produces “CSI,” said of Mr. Fishburne’s selection: “If you have a chance to get an actor like that, you go for him. It wouldn’t matter what ethnicity he is.”
Paramount also has a deal in place to find a project for the rap star L L Cool J.
NBC Universal said it has a number of projects in the works tailored for blacks, including development deals with the director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) and the actor and writer Ice Cube.
Among shows already in production, Mr. Silverman cited the buddy comedy “Off Duty,” with Bradley Whitford, who is white, and Romany Malco, who is black. The network also has a thriller script from Frank Spotnitz, the “X Files” writer and producer, with Gabrielle Union, a black actress, signed to star.
And NBC Universal announced with some fanfare “Making Friends With Black People,” a sitcom that is to star the author of the book of the same title, the comedian Nick Adams.
If these projects are only tangentially tied to the arrival of a black star in the leading political role in America, Gary Newman, co-chairman of the Twentieth Century Fox television studio, suggested another potential influence stemming from the election of Mr. Obama.
“We may see more chances taken on comedies that feel more hopeful rather than the sarcastic, cynical style we’ve seen a lot of recently,” Mr. Newman said. “The Obama success seems to have put people more in touch with their more hopeful side.”