Who the hell are you anyway . Who am i . You will find out very soon. Very soon. [ernie] then we became lead actors. We dont run. Okay, we stick together and we fight. Get out of my house. You are afr drama is where all of the conflict happens. [tisha] scandal is my favorite drama. How many times have i told you, you have to be what . Everything about it, the twist, the turns, the acting. Twice as good. Twice as good as them to get half of what they have. I love queen sugar, david makes man. I like the intimacy of that world thats being depicted. Definitely, New York Undercover. Waiting for the cops. You stupid . Turn around. Malik yoba, it was a positive role. It was a great thing to see someone who looks like you, very much a Pivotal Moment of growing, and trying to figure out who i was. American drama, it almost doesnt. It doesnt exist without black people now. upbeat music Smooth Jazz Music [hank] hey, you looking for somebody . Thats right, hank plummer. You know, i can find him . Yeah, hes right here. Its me. You know, for a long time, the only way that you could measure the drama genre, was if black actors got to participate in it. Not star, not have their own series, but participate in. And a lot of times it was as youre the sidekick, or youre the guest star, but not as the head honcho of a program. Dont come in, man. This aint no protest meeting. Integrated couples aint allowed. So, in the 1960s, america was changing. Were in the middle of the civil rights era. Black people are demanding things. And theyre demanding not only civil rights, but theyre demanding fair representation. And things were starting to change, they were starting to listen. So, in 1963, for example, the great cicely tyson starred in east side, west side, which is one of the first examples of a black woman starring in a drama. A little hope, a little bit help you get girl, get outta here before i. door banging when i was very young, still in baton rouge, i saw cicely tyson, east side, west side, a show that took place in new york, with her little afro and her, you know, just like, where did this woman hail from . This is early, and it was a time before the afro had widespread acceptance. And again, when audiences see her, this black woman, shes not playing a maid, shes a secretary, shes educated, shes poised. So, its a whole other thing that she brings to the tube. And i think it was important racially and socially in america that tyson did that. You want company . If you want to. [donald] and then, the real shift does come with i spy. The character that bill cosby played on i spy, alexander scott, was sharp, suave. Took these missions outside of the u. S, and was very much an equal to his white counterpart. And i spy does deal with these two spies who are working really for truth, justice, and the american way. And i suggest we use ec in dealing with these men . Extreme caution. Certainly. It is reflecting now that americas becoming more integrated, and becoming more integrated in different areas. The executives at nbc liked the pilot, but they said, can you get rid of the black guy . chuckles they didnt feel cosby would work. Sydney sheldon refused. He really stuck with cosby on that. And it proved to be right. This time, theres no element of surprise, no car crashes. [hannah] cosby won an emmy for that portrayal. And the series went on to receive a golden globe in 1967. Certainly, i think it was a landmark moment. Whats frustrating, is then you think about how much time passed from the time that he had that role, before there was the notion of equal billing, right . Between the two, it took forever to get back to that again. Also, White America had to acknowledge that something had changed, not just on television, but in america. And immediately after i spy, 1966 was called the year of the negro on television. You had shows like star trek, and you had uhura, this black woman on this mission into outer space. Daktari which was set in africa. And you had harry rhodes playing an important supporting role. You had mission impossible, and you had greg morris in there. And you had more black performers coming on series. Now, its being seen that tv should change, and African Americans are appearing in important significant roles. Supporting characters are fine, but the lead characters were still gonna be white. One show though, i actually didnt think about it, is different, room 222. Good morning. Good morning, mr. Dixon. Room 222 was set in a incredibly Diverse High School in los angeles. And the lead character was played by lloyd hayes, and he plays pete dixon. Mr. Butcher. Sir . Theyll be expecting me in the detention room. If i dont show up, theyll think something happened to me. It was ambitious. And you get very much the sense that the character is probably very much influenced by Sidney Poitiers character in to sir, with love. The black teacher who sort of teaches his students, not just their lessons but about life. But that again, was an important show because you had black performers in nonstereotypical roles in dramas. Two of my patients died, one after Nurse Gilling is late with a medication order. That didnt kill him mrs. Perez. [ernie] so, the 1980s, while giving us these great shows, also gave us great characters and Great Performances like Denzel Washington in st. Elsewhere. Diane carol in dynasty, Blair Underwood in l. A law, and even mr. T in the ateam. He aint a mute anymore. Just like you aint a warden anymore. The 80s was such a great, interesting decade because it was a decade of excess. I like being different. I like being ahead in shows above everybody else. [ernie] mr. T was a great character that people still talk about today. upbeat music Blair Underwood, i think for most black women who were of certain age, laughs back then, he was so handsome, he was fabulous. Tell us a bit about yourself . Well, lets see, my, my mothers an attorney. My fathers a professor of economics at uc riverside. I mean, i like the show anyway, but the addition of his character to the show was just amazing. He was our heartthrob. Gentleman, its been a genuine honor and a pleasure. Thank you very much. L. A law ran for eight years. Well, it was just a huge hit outta the box, outta the gates. It was a huge hit. And i was on that show for seven years, and it wasnt until maybe my sixth, the last year of the show, i even had a Love Interest on the show. Everybody else had whole lives, well rounded, fully fleshed out characters, and lives. And i knew my fan base was as big as the other ones. And you only see Jonathan Rollins in the courtrooms for first four years. Part of it, is what do people feel comfortable doing . And my whole thing was just write the humanity of it. Ill bring the blackness, dont worry about that. Well bring the specificity to it, but dont deny us access to that part of our humanity and our character. So, its been a journey. smooth bass line we have to get to the point where we have the privilege and the right as artists to play all kinds of characters. Thats my, cause i know how far weve come. We still have a ways to go, but i know how far weve come, and thats exciting. upbeat music lowes knows a Style Refresh is even more refreshing. When its at the right price. Thats why, weve we pull our favorite looks together instore and in in the app. So it is easy to get the look you want for less. You got this. We got you. Off clean feel. Protection from mosquitoes. Off clean feel. Prevention is the best protection. S. C. Johnson. Put a smile on your plate with new pancake tacos. Because when you fold a pancake in half, you get a taco. Or in this case, 3 for 6. Try all four flavors. Here for a fun time, not a long time. Only from ihop. Comfort. Deluxified. Kraft mac cheese deluxe evas about to learn her fear of missing out leads to overeating. I totally eat stuff to not miss out. And thats just a bit of Psychology Eva learned from noom weight. Sign up now at noom. Com upbeat music yeah, ive always found it interesting when america has these moments. And i mean, as a society and as an industry where it has a lot of guilt around black people, and what we have struggled through in this country. Never gonna sing again [man] yes you are never and so, i think the mini series was a way for wellintended executives, wellintended networks to allow for these stories to be told on a limited budget. Jane pitman was really a film that my family and i were really identified with. Its a story of racism through the prism of a woman. Its based on a novel by ernest gaines. They was here looking for you tonight, nate, fixing to kill you. It was very powerful. Cicely tyson had jane pitman, she was in roots. She was sort of the first black dramatic actress to gain a real, i think, stature in hollywood, and then also in the eyes of the White Community as well as the black community. So, that jane pitman was a big deal when it came out. Part of me went with him to his grave. The tv landscape just changed when the mini series first appeared, and it comes on in the 70s. It was a fuller expression than you could get in one or twohour tv movie. Rich man poor man might have been the first, but when people think of miniseries in the 70s, they think of roots. Roots became the very first of what we now call appointment tv. Fighters GruntingWhip Slashing it is hard for people today, to understand how important roots was, because it was the first time that you followed the journey of an African American family. You saw it up close and personal from kunta kinte, getting his foot chopped off to kizi getting sold off. Mama mama mama [kevin] it was so groundbreaking that both black and white people were watching it. Its assumed that people dont want to see black lives treated with any kind of seriousness. And i dont really believe thats true. I mean, i think that the success of jane pittman and roots does indicate that americans white, as well as Black Will Watch Blacks in significant dramatic roles. It was a game changer. They tried to get rid of it and discovered it was their gold mine. I think part of what made it so special and unique, was it was a show that was on every single night of the week in one week. And as ive heard it, one of the reasons that that happened, was because at the time the network was unsure of how the show was gonna perform. But i remember them doing a show called Rich Man Poor man and they put it on the air, and it tanked. Other networks were in trouble. So, they tried to air it all before sweeps. And so, they inadvertently created a phenomenon. And that was a key that turned the lock. [lorraine] roots was not just a television event, it was an event. An estimated 100 Million People watched the finale of roots, which is amazing, which is super bowl numbers. [announcer] Roots Part Eight was the third highest rated show in tv history. Three more parts of the miniseries ranked in the top 25 of all time. Roots debuted eight episodes over eight nights, it had 37 emmy nominations. People kept tuning in. And what was remarkable about it, was that it provoked these conversations. And i can certainly remember watching it and we would go to school the next day, and we would talk about it. But there was also a weird underlying racial tension. And we werent spending quite as much time with our white classmates cause we were a little pissed off. And i think we were also pissed off because we hadnt learned this in school. Chicken Clucking bad chick. One of the things about roots, is that it was a Book Adaptation by alex haley, which led to other mini series, which were adapted by books by black authors, like the women of Brewster Place, which was produced by Oprah Winfrey and starring Oprah Winfrey. So, whats your idea of enjoying life butch fuller . Running after every woman you see . Glory naylors book, women of Brewster Place was a part of black feminism, which was a huge thing that started happening in black literature. So, when oprah got the rights to women of Brewster Place, it had a track record that it was a significant enough piece. And because oprah was a big enough star at that point, she could populate it with people who had some name recognition. I bet you got a new fellow . I do have somebody. The women of Brewster Place in 1989 really broke some new ground in terms of the kinds of women that were represented in that show. upbeat music its a drama about women, black women, and their tensions, their conflicts, their problems with men, their friendships with one another. It was very kind of cutting edge and forward. What could black women, who are typically invisible in this country, what could we be going through . What could be some of our hardships . What could be some of our joys and our vulnerabilities . And i think we could be doing a lot more on television and drama, but it did open up a pathway, i think, to what we see today. [announcer] main Negro Beauty CulturistMadam Cj Walker is americas first selfmade female millionaire. Self made is a story of Madam Cj Walker, who was the first female millionaire, not black, white, asian, the first female american millionaire. She made her fortune, of course, in hair care. Of course, she came along at a time, it was post civil war, post slavery. Give me 110. When black folks had a need to present themselves. We now call it the politics of respectability. That was like a dream team of incredibly talented women, between casey lemons and Jeanine Sherman barrois, and octavia spencer. The idea that they were all involved in self made, and were able to bring their sense of the history, their desire to be authentic in the storytelling, to really be able to have that kind of creative collaboration. You cant replicate that with somebody who doesnt understand the experience of what it is to be a black woman in america, right . upbeat music Indistinct ChatteringBlows Thudding man grunting when they see us is about the harrowing case that involved five black and latino youths who were falsely accused of beating and raping a white jogger in central park in 1989. No kid gloves here. These are not kids, they raped this woman. Our lady jogger deserves this. The brilliant mini series that ava duvernay, show ran and led and produced. But not only her experience as a filmmaker, as a writer, director, was incredibly helpful, impactful with making that and having it resonate in the way that it did. But also, the fact that shes also a ceo of her own company. The question is, can we interrogate whats happened in the past to safeguard ourselves from it happening in the future . Thats why im such a student of history. We get stories like when they see us. But sometimes you have to tellf itt, not just exactly how it happened, but how it was felt, how it was metabolized. They beat her with their fists. She was raped by four of these group, four of these youths. [announcer] the Savage Attack Unleashed A Cry of outrage in new york. I was in new york city in 1989. And i have to say, that being caught up in the moment of everything that happened, and the way it was designed for me to process and take it in. I mean, it did its job, so much to the degree that it wasnt until i watched the mini series, that i really understood the whole story. Ava duvernays work in general, changes the landscape, as it gives us new language. We no longer call the central park five, the central park five, and thats for good reason. Thanks to ava duvernay, and many others who helped her make when they see us, we now call them the exonerated five. What has been really encouraging to watch, is our evolution when it comes to how our stories are being told on screen. For the longest time, we were footnotes in history. We were used as props to tell other peoples stories, to tell white stories. We should be the keepers of our stories. We should be the lens through which that truth is filtered. And were seeing that now. bright upbeat music ive never been healthier. Shingles doesnt care. But shingrix protects. Proven over 90 effective, shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. Shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. An increased risk of guillainbarre syndrome was observed after getting shingrix. Fainting can also happen. The most common side effects are pain, redness and swelling at the injection site, muscle pain, tiredness, headache, shivering, fever, and upset stomach. Ask your doctor or pharmacist about shingrix today. Living with Metastatic Breast Cancer means i cherish my memories. 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