Mixed Couples on TV

[naamagatus]

Hi,

Thanks a lot to everybody who responded. I read all the posts and 
found them fascinating. After years of watching American culture 
filtered and simplified through the telelvision, it's fascinating to 
get the opinions of real people on these issues. 

There were just a few points I wanted to clarify and respond to.


Amy Z quoted me:

>I have a question to the Americans amongst you. I couldn't help 
> noticing that on practically all the American TV shows (sitcoms, 
> dramas, soaps) there are no mixed - black and white - couples. I 
> know it's not an expression of racism 

And replied shortly:

I would say it is.  What else should we call a discomfort with 
interracial relationships if not racist?

Me:

I'll try to explain a bit what was the background (of my mind) when I 
asked that question. Obviously, I know there was and is a lot of 
racism in the USA. The thing is, that American TV, at least, always 
seems very eager to present the most advanced, least prejudiced 
attitude available. I see quite a bit of American T.V. shows and most 
of them strike me as painfully politically correct. Almost as though 
the screen writers have a "PC without Tears" manual they are required 
to consult before each episode. You can see how changes in what is 
considered PC are almost immediately reflected in TV shows 
(particularly, of course, in court dramas). When it comes to race, 
each show is careful (or so it seems to me) to have at least one 
black character who is a paragon of virtue. (Oh, and did you ever 
calculate the percentage of black judges based on their number in TV 
shows? And doctors? And lawyers? One would have to urge that 
affirmative action is taken on behalf of white students in all the 
prestigious law and medicine schools, since black students must 
outnumber white students by a factor of 1 to 100.) 
So, with this in the back of my mind, I thought that maybe there was 
some PC reason for the dearth of interracial couples on TV. The Eric 
LaSalle incident also seemed to lend support to that idea. I started 
to wonder whether the black community (or parts of it) did object to 
interracial marriages (based on, I don't know, ethnic pride or 
something?). 
Anyway, that's why I asked the question, instead of simply assuming 
racism as the operating factor.


Ebony:

>Actually, Eriq La Salle was quoted in several national black 
> magazines (Ebony, Essence, Savoy, Jet, etc.) as saying that *he* > 
>was the one who didn't like the plotline, and felt as if the 
> writers/producers were forcing it on him.  So unless he was lying > 
> to the black community, he's the one who requested the change.


Me:

I know. That's what caught my attention - that he, as a black person, 
felt uncomfortable with the affair. I was puzzled at what seemed a 
kind of inverse racism. 


Kimberly:

>I was a little disappointed with Eriq LaSalle 
>myself, because ER is one of the few shows that has had an inter-
>racial romance in the recent past, and I though he had far more 
>chemistry with Alex Kingston than Anthony Edwards.


I so agree! Kingston and Edwards just aren't as believable as a 
couple, are they? 



Naama