The Late Night TV White Boy Shuffle Continues!
Next to being President of The United States, a woman or a person of color becoming a late night television host on any of the big three mainstream channels, ABC, CBS, or NBC is virtually impossible.
I am not suddenly expecting a woman or a person of color to be placed in the Tonight Show slot, but it be nice to see a woman or a person of color placed in the rotation to have the opportunity to get there in the future.
Jimmy Fallon? Carson Daly? Jimmy Kimmel? These guys stink and they are just plain not funny! I don't get Craig Ferguson either and David Letterman's rating have been in free-fall for the last few years, why is he still on the air? I wish Jay Leno would really retire, dude is funny, but I am tried of looking at that over-sized jawbone of his. Conan O'Brien has earned his promotion, but he's not a great talent either. Truth is, none of these guys are and that's why it is so terrible that the discrimination against women and people of color on mainstream late night television continues.
None of the current guys on late night TV are fresh or innovative like Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. It's just the plain simple fact that white executives will continue the white boy shuffle on late night television because they are flatly unwilling to give a woman or person of color that lucrative, high profile opportunity.
4 comments:
Let us not forget Jon Stewart was part of the paramount television debacle where his show replaced Arsenio Hall. It didn't work, in fact it failed miserably and we haven't seen a person of color in a mainstram spot since. DL Hughley had a good show on cable as did Orlando Jones but both were late night on cable.
The Tonight show and The Late shows are only looking after the brand, they just need someone to hawk the commercials. The Brand is the important thing not the entertainment.
Jaycee
Sigh. This is why I miss Dave Chappelle so... And you're right. There's no way in hell the Ole White, Frat-Boys' Club-- also known as the MSM-- would ever give a Tonight Show slot to let's say Paul Mooney, Wanda Sykes, the Frangela duo, Monique, George Lopez, Margaret Cho, Carlos Mencia, and so on. They're just protecting their own interests-- in another words, control over the entertainment/media industry.
I'm with you, Prof. Tracey. I don't even watch the late night shows anymore. I'm still trying to figure out who Jimmy Kimmel slept with to get that show and then they gave him some prime time specials too! WTH??!!
And I swore when they were trying out
different hosts on CBS, that D.L. Hughley had the best ratings then they turned around and picked Craig Fergusson. Again I say WTH??!!!*sigh*
And I don't even want to think about Jimmy Fallon-the only thing I remember about him was he couldn't keep a straight face while doing SNL sketches. Whatever...More sleep for me.
Perhaps this should be addressed in other ways, like starting an email/letter campaign and calling the advertisers to complain. I am also curious to know what Oprah is planning for programming on her network. A late night show would be great! We need to get a better foothold in the media to make some changes - not just integration.
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