latka: you took the tongue right out of my mouth. danny: outsiders help us relate as an audience. penny: what are you some kind of nerd? leonard: i m not some kind of nerd, i am the king of nerds. tina fey: they re seeing everything with fresh eyes. lurch: you rang? jaleel white: that dynamic is pretty awesome, it s special. melissa joan hart: that confidence really made people feel like they could be ok to be whoever they are, urkel: did i do that? melissa joan hart: and i think, if i believe in who i am and own it, i can still be cool. mork: hello? anybody in there? fly, be free! john lithgow: the absolute essence of a successful sitcom is one word and that is emotion. mork: we abolished emotions on ork a billion bleams ago. they took a vote, and everyone said all in favour? [noise] john lithgow: we have a great love for these alien characters who were struggling with the same human dilemma that we all struggle with. how do we behave like good human beings? alf: yo kay, w
people. black people were just so absent in science fiction, and it s a blind spot. black panther was a massive moment in our culture. they thought it was going to make 700 million. but it actually made 1.3 billion. so, it had a business impact. it had a community impact. it opened up doors. it showed that these kinds of stories, looking at black speculative fiction, looking at black looking at horror was also highly profitable. sci-fi is really a conversation about our humanity and man s relationship to technology and exploring other worlds. it s really exciting to know that more black-centric science fiction is making its way onto the television screens finally. black people have always loved science fiction and have always loved fantasy. we just didn t know it. when you think of how broad that landscape is, to not include every single individual that is participating in the world, then it s a lie. we have millions and millions of stories that need to
Genre is black actors are now front and center. we re just automa authentica the middle of stories like everyone else. we re in all of these places where folks may be thinking of the future, may be thinking of the past, seeing us saving the day, but also living in a world that has extra powers in it, more myth around it. it allows us to dream, to continue to dream, and to know that we re a part of the dream. there is no end to this journey, for our capacity for growth is infinite. dick solomon: i suppose to the outsider we might seem a little unorthodox but what does this outsider know anyway? who is he to judge us? john lithgow: the whole notion of the outsider. i mean, it s a strand that goes through most sitcoms, i think.