What Happened to Positive Black Television?

I grew up determined to be Hip-Hop Journalist, Khadijah James, from the popular 90’s sitcom “Living Single”, the free spirited Freddie on “A Different World” and the fun, vivacious relationship that Martin and Gina had on “Martin”. As time moved forward, black television slowly declined, however, you could still catch hilarious shows like “The Bernie Mac Show” and “My Wife and Kids,” which were humorous, successful, and relatable.  “The Cosby Show” opened doors for all black shows; however Cosby was farfetched and almost perfect; most blacks at this point in time could not relate to “The Cosby’s Show”. “Family Matters” broke the Cosby effect by creating a middle class family whose father was a cop in Chicago’s inner city. Steve Urkle became a household name with his big red glasses, clumsy persona, and genius experiments.

Let’s not forget shows like “All of Us”, “Girlfriends”,” Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”, “Sister- Sister”, “The Steve Harvey Show”, and “Hangin with Mr. Cooper,” which all were entertaining shows that the black community could relate to. When we entered the 2000 century, black shows took a huge decline and eventually disappeared.  When the black television market began its comeback we saw things like “The Game” and reality shows, like “Basketball Wives”. When did black television become artificial and creatively horrific?  It’s impossible to find a Khadijah or a Gina in today’s television. Now little girls want to marry an NBA player so she can have all the materialistic things they see on television. Hey, I am not bashing NBA wives. There are plenty of them who stay out of the public eye and maintain a positive image for example, Tamia who’s married to Grant Hill.

I happened to read a FaceBook status the other day that said, “I hate going to the club now, because all the women think they are on basketball wives and want to fight!” I cannot grasp the fact that this is black television today. The audiences have changed; and want to see scandal, money, cars, tons of makeup and sex. The only show I can think of that has any potential to keep hope alive is “The Boondocks,” which is a black empowerment cartoon that spares no feelings in the black community, as well as other races and cultures. (Thank goodness season 4 is in the works!). Please see the below trailer of a new show that is being passed around for a network home entitled, “The Real Mistresses of Atlanta” and hit me up on twitter @JamillaAli when you’re ready to vibe with my pain.