Work or Play Setting Dictates Integration

The Times article “A White, White World on TV’s Fall Schedule” (by Greg Braxton, May 28) posed an interesting question: Why is minority representation in the new crop of network TV shows for fall so low? But rather than asking, “Why are

there so few minority shows on television next season?,” we should really ask, “Why do the casts of comedies such as ‘Seinfeld,’ ‘Living Single’ and ‘Friends’ remain racially segregated, while dramatic series such as ‘Homicide,’ ‘ER’ and ‘NYPD Blue’ feature integrated casts?”

Instead of discussing the balance between “white shows,” “black shows” and “Latino shows,” we need to question why there is still so little integration in the majority of mainstream television.

The answer can be found by looking at the nature of the character relationships on dramas vs. those on situation comedies. Dramas such as “Chicago Hope” or “Law & Order” are set in hospitals or law enforcement departments--that is, where the characters work--while comedies such as “Mad About You,” “Moesha” and “Frasier” are set in their characters’ homes.

To be more precise, the interaction of interracial casts in dramas arises from their working relationships, whereas the casts of comedies interact based on their social relationships.

The most disturbing aspect of this observation is that television is accurately mimicking the segregated social nature of our country. Although we may work together in integrated environments, blacks and whites seldom spend leisure or social time together.

Members of different races rarely come together on what I will deem a “tertiary” level of closeness. This level of closeness typically occurs within families, in romantic relationships and among friends. By “friend,” I mean those people with whom we make the effort, despite our busy schedules, to associate. The personal time spent with a friend does not arise from a work, or an otherwise obligatory, relationship. We seldom pick who we work with, but we do pick who we spend our personal time with.

The definition of “friend” I am asserting does not apply to a co-worker with whom you work side by side, have lunch with 10 times a year, or occasionally accompany to “happy hour” directly after work. A co-worker may be a friend if you go to ball games together (not with tickets purchased by your employer), or if you take in a movie together on the weekend. A friend is a person you invite to your home to watch football on Sunday afternoon over a couple of beers. It is not the co-worker with whom you watch “Monday Night Football”--along with all the other co-workers who happened to make the junket from the office to the nearest bar with a television set.

You may disagree with my definition of the word “friend,” but these are the types of relationships portrayed between the characters of an average sitcom. The casts of “Friends,” “Living Single” and “Seinfeld” spend countless hours hanging out together in each other’s homes. This is why dramas, which primarily revolve around work environments, are much more diverse than comedies, which revolve around social relationships. Those dramas that center primarily around social, family relationships--such as “Dawson’s Creek” and “Providence”--also remain racially homogeneous.

In this instance, television is mirroring reality. It is rare that blacks and whites spend time hanging out together unless it is somehow work-related--that is, obligatory. It would be hard to imagine Jennifer Aniston’s Rachel or any of the other characters on “Friends” voluntarily spending hours hanging out with Queen Latifah’s Khadijah or any of the other characters portrayed on the now canceled “Living Single.”

In order to explain the low minority representation on TV, we should spend less time examining the motives and actions of television producers, and more time examining ourselves and our own relationships, and the segregated nature of our society, which is being reflected back to us every day on television.

*

James K. Autrey is a labor and employment attorney based in Manhattan Beach. He can be reached at [email protected].