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The new fall season: how women of color on TV are portrayed and perceived

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This fall season’s new shows introduced 179 new characters to the major networks. Out of that total, 16 were women of color. That number alone is an indication of where women of color stand as far as representation goes. In this article, I will take a look at each of those characters to assess the quality of what little representation women of color are getting. I’ll look at things like how prominent the character is in their show, how important they are to the storyline and how well-defined their personalities are.

Melinda May

Show: Agents of SHIELD (ABC)

Played by: Ming-Na Wen

“You guys talk a lot.”

Agent May rarely speaks and her background isn’t elaborated on. This, admittedly, makes her fall somewhat into the “nameless dangerous assassin” and “mysterious Asian” tropes found in action movies. (Although it’s worth noting that the part wasn’t originally written for an Asian woman). But, her silence is pointed; it’s a strong stoicism that defines her character. The show makes it clear that her mysteriousness is meant to be intriguing and more details of her backstory will almost definitely follow. In one key scene, the other members of her team are all discussing ways to break through a barrier and as they speak she drives a car through the barrier. Then she turns to the others and says, “You talk a lot.” This shows her quiet nature is part of a developed character and not simply a manifestation of the show pushing her aside. Of course, Ming-Na Wen’s strong performance helps sell this, but the writers and directors giving her something to sell aided it. She’s also developed a fandom, an important measure of both the impact of the character and the attitudes of the viewers. For example, there’s already a Tumblr for fuckyeahmelindamay, with the description: “A blog devoted entirely to the admiration and appreciation of Melinda “The Calvary” May. Oh and the people she works with I suppose.” However, the viewership interest on her isn’t as strong on other sites as it is on Tumblr and Twitter. In a thread on Reddit discussing the pilot, only one of the first several hundred comments mentioned her and she’s not one of the latest topics of discussion on the IMDB message board for the show. She’s also only mentioned in four comments on the AV Club’s reviews of the show, but three of those comments point to her as one of the best characters and suggest they would like to see more of her. It’s also nice to see that both this character and Maria Gonzalez on Hostages are women of color over 40 that aren’t mothers or mother figures.

Skye

Show: Agents of SHIELD (ABC)

Actress: Chloe Bennett

“What happened with you and Reyes? You guys totally did it back in the day, right?”

The politics of Skye’s role on the show are strange. She speaks out against the secret government organization and the two white men on the show reassure her that what they’re secretly doing is in everyone’s best interest. That said, as a character she’s fairly well defined. She’s good-hearted and wants to take action to do what’s right, but so far it’s unclear to her what exactly is right. Based on the cliffhanger of episode two, her inner-struggle seems central to the overall story of the show. Much of the discussion of the character on Tumblr, Reddit and IMDB is centered on how physically attractive she is, but there’s also some positive discussion of the character and speculation on what her role in the ongoing story might be. On AV Club comments on the episodes many people repeatedly called her annoying and defenses of the character were often tepid—calling her “okay” or saying that it’s okay because she’s hot.

Gigi Fernandez-Lovette

Show: Back in the Game (ABC)

Played by: Lenora Crichlow

“You have issues. We’re gonna be great friends.”

This seems like a case of a minority character being added as an afterthought. While lead character Terry, her father, her son and her primary rival are all central to the action, Terry’s new friend Gigi shows up for a scene or two each episode to be quirky. She actually has a couple of the only genuine laughs in the series, but there’s no attempt to give her the emotional depth of the white characters on the show. Despite okay ratings for the series debut, and Lenora Crichlow having built up a considerable fanbase with her work on Being Human, neither the show nor the character have garnered an online fandom. There are two threads dedicated to her on the IMDB forum: “British mom so hot” and “The British mom character is TERRIBLE.”

Rosa Diaz

Show: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

Played by: Stephanie Beatriz

“RoboCop. It’s got everything I like: gratuitous violence.”

Rosa is a street-smart, tough cop and often described as “scary” by the other characters. Her character is clearly defined within the first scene she’s in and keeps building from there. Both the writing of the character and Stephanie Beatriz’s acting make Rosa one of the funniest characters on this strong ensemble and she also feels like a genuine human being. The character developed a good size fandom on Tumblr almost right away. The show’s subreddit is fairly barren, with only two comments discussing the pilot. Only one of these mentions Rosa—it states, “I feel like the ‘scary’ cop chick is too much like Aubrey Plaza’s personality and doesn’t do much for me in this show.” Two threads on the IMDB forum mention her, one says, “Rosa is a lot like Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy” and the other says “Rosa, Gina and Amy all three hot and sexy ladies only reason I’m watching.” Rosa is only discussed in a handful of comments on the AV Club’s reviews, with half of those people enjoying her and the other half complaining that she seems like a rip-off of April Ludgate from Parks and Recreation.

Amy Santiago

Show: Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

Played by: Melissa Fumero

“Yes, sir. I will make better mouth.”

At first it seemed like Amy might be stuck as the straight man to Andy Samberg’s goofy Jake Peralta. Simultaneously, it seemed like she might always be proven less competent than him; at one point Jake even says, “I’m Detective Right All the Time and this is my partner, Detective Terrible Detective.” But by halfway through the pilot, Amy’s strength as a detective and her brand of humor are firmly established. In one scene, someone tells Amy to be careful about how hot the sauce she’s eating is. She defiantly dumps an excessive amount of sauce onto her sandwich and takes a big bite before cringing. It’s a great bit of physical comedy on Fumero’s part that also demonstrates Amy’s key characteristic—she doesn’t like people implying that she’s weak. In the first three episodes, it’s not only firmly established that she is just as competent as Jake, but she’s also given a clear main conflict as she tries to get in the new captain’s good graces. Amy has a fairly strong fandom on Tumblr, but isn’t discussed at all on Reddit. The only thread discussing her on the IMDB page for the show is the one discussed above about how all the female characters are hot. She’s mentioned in one comment on the AV Club reviews of the show. The commenter observed that at first it seemed that Jake/Amy would be the center of the show, but episodes seemed to spend less time on her.

Veronica

Show: Dads (Fox)

Played by: Brenda Song

“I’m glad you’re comfortable enough around me to talk about your ragdoll-like participation in your wife’s sexual activities.”

Veronica’s first line was “You guys are lucky your dads are American. My dad beat me with a math book until I was 16.” The pilot got worse from there as main characters Eli and Warner told her she’d be dressing up as a sexy Asian school girl, including covering her mouth while she giggles. Her level of agency then became completely unclear—she was reluctant, yet she went along with it for no given reason. It’s baffling that the writers didn’t realize how problematic this storyline is (not just for the overt racism and sexism, but also from a simple story and character perspective), but the good news is that Veronica becomes a much better character after that initial episode. She’s not deep—no one on this light sitcom is—but she consistently shows agency and power in her career, while often getting to deliver the biggest punch lines of her scenes. There’s almost no fandom for this show online, so it’s hard to get a feel for how the character is perceived within the viewership, but one notable indicator is the Dads Wikipedia page, which describes Veronica as an assistant even though she’s actually an animator.

Edna

Show: Dads (Fox)

Played by: Tonita Castro

“Warner, you have family and beautiful kids. Eli have nada.”

It’s great to see Tonita Castro get another role so quickly after Go On, considering how difficult it is for actresses who aren’t young and thin to get roles, especially if they’re women of color. I enjoyed watching Edna being a real presence and landing her share of the punch lines. However, the episode focusing on her (“Clean on Me”) is rough. The episode has Edna choosing to clean for Warner instead of Eli and it’s all played with sexual euphemisms. (“We have an open relationship. She’s free to sweep around.”) Treating a non-sexual thing as though it’s sexual is a typical sitcom trope for farces like this, but in this case it was uncomfortable because of the actual danger of American men taking advantage of their Latina staff. Furthermore, Eli and Warner both talk about Edna at different points as though she’s property. When Warner introduces her to his wife, he says, “I got you something.” Even the attempt to show how much Eli cares about her as he tries to get her to come back and work for him blatantly evokes the Mammy archetype, as he talks about how she takes care of him. He states, “She’s like a mother and a friend and a Mexican laborer all rolled into one.” Importantly, even though what they set up is Edna choosing who she’ll work for, it’s never about what Edna wants. She’s won back because of Eli’s speech about how much he needs her—not a promise of better treatment, not an increase in salary. The fact that an entire plotline would revolve around who a maid chooses to work for without a single discussion of money shows that the writers are deeply out of touch and unable to register Edna as a person with basic needs.

Camilla

Show: Dads (Fox)

Played by: Vanessa Lachey

“Well, you know, he has no sense of scale and I’m just not letting those skinny-ass blonde bitch moms stare down their Meg Ryan duck lips at this chica.”

At first Camilla seemed like she’d just be every cardboard cutout nagging, inexplicably hot wife from every second tier sitcom. But, after the pilot they began to give her some pretty awesome traits. In particular, in the second episode Warner mentions that he knows from her Internet history that she watches a lot of porn. Soon after that, she’s about to go upstairs with her laptop when he suggests, “Let me be your laptop tonight.” Seeing his wife sexualized in a way that was about her needs and not his totally took me by surprise and I hope that if the series continues, they don’t forget the first steps they took towards making her a character in her own right.

Maria Gonzalez

Show: Hostages (CBS)

Played by: Sandrine Holt

“My father didn’t give me enough attention.”

Maria is part of the team of criminals that take Ellen Sanders’s family hostage. I expected these characters to just be masked criminals as we focus on the family, but their inner emotions and motivations are actually explored a fair amount in the first two episodes. Maria is particularly interesting because she tells one of her partners in crime that she was told this was a typical blackmail that would only take 24 hours. When it turns out it’s an assassination that will take at least two weeks, she presents a strong front but you can see she’s conflicted. This means that the decisions Maria makes could end up being a major turning point. As a supporting player, she hasn’t gotten much dialogue in the first two episodes, but the moments she has had make a big impact in developing her. In a particularly outstanding moment, she’s asked why she’s doing this and sarcastically responds, “My father didn’t give me enough attention.” This is a sly comment showing that both the character and the writers don’t want anyone thinking of her actions different because of her gender. Because there’s almost no online following for this show and Maria isn’t referred to by her name on the show, it’s very hard to get a gauge of viewer reaction to her.

Samira Rajpur

Show: Lucky 7 (ABC)

Played by: Summer Bishil

“You never even asked if I liked him.”

It’s unfortunate that Lucky 7, which was one of the most diverse shows of the season, was also the first cancellation. Samira’s central conflict was perhaps a little predictable for a South Asian American character—her father is pressuring her to marry a family friend but she’s torn between him and a white character who’s more of a bad boy. Although this conflict is somewhat expected, I don’t think I’ve seen this situation explored from the South Asian woman’s perspective on a network show—Cece’s storyline on New Girl last season was peripheral in many episodes and often shown from the perspective of the white man pursuing her. Although we see how much Samira wants to make her father happy and the pressure she feels, the storyline is very much about what she wants and her own agency and inner struggle were highlighted throughout the first two episodes. It’s disappointing to see this character’s story cut short so soon. As you might expect from the first cancellation of the season, there’s almost no online following for the show. However, a few commenters on the IMDB page mentioned liking Summer Bishil and feeling she deserves a more successful show.

Kay Costa

Show: The Michael J. Fox Show (NBC)

Played by: Ana Nogueira

“I know a thing or two about unrequited love.”

This is another instance where it feels like a sitcom threw in a woman of color in the last minute as an afterthought. While everyone else on the show is immediately defined both as a person and as a part of the story, Kay shows up in only a couple scenes each episode and so far is defined solely by her obsessive crush on protagonist Mike Henry. Hopefully as the show goes on, giving Kay a stronger role will be a priority for them. Although the show has a moderate online following, Kay does not come up in discussion of the show. There has been no mention of her in the AV Club reviews or the comments of them. The lack of reaction speaks to how underwritten and inessential the character is.

Sophie Devereaux

Show: The Originals (The CW)

Played by: Daniella Pineda

“You got me into this, Jane. Give me the strength to finish it.”

Although the title Originals are billed higher because of their Vampire Diaries fame, new character Sophie Devereaux is actually central to the story. The first episode both defines her character right away and makes it clear she’ll be a major player in the show. She’s included in Tumblr discussion by the fandom, but doesn’t stand out as much for the viewers on the IMDB forum. One person complained that the many female characters on the show seemed disposable and wrote, “I think they should have combined the witch (can’t remember her name was it Sophie?) and Camille as just one character.” Others agreed with the original by grouping Sophie in as one of the least important characters and one person suggested she seems disposable enough that it’s likely she’ll die.

Abbie Mills

Show: Sleepy Hollow (Fox)

Played by: Nicole Beharie

“I’m not afraid anymore!”

Abbie is almost definitely the strongest, most prominent, most well-defined woman of color of the new season—and her show was the first to be picked up for a full season. Although Fox played it safe by billing Tom Mison’s Ichabod Crane higher in all of their materials, the actual show presents Abbie as a protagonist by every possible measure. She has a rich emotional backstory, a clearly defined personality and is an active and central part of the story. The Abbie Mills fandom on Tumblr sprung up almost immediately and is not only strong in numbers, but analytical and very engaged in their discussion of the character. The Reddit discussion of the show is much smaller, but includes discussion of Abbie. There’s also been a fair amount of discussion of the show on Twitter, including people lauding the amount of backstory and development Abbie has gotten. The IMDB discussion is less rich. There was some discussion of what her storyline might bring, but also the usual “she’s annoying” or “she’s hot” discussions that have come up with most of these characters.

Helen-Alice

Show: Super Fun Night

Played by: Liza Lapira

“Hey, hey…hey! If I were a pony, what color mane do you think I would have?”

The admirable goal of this show is to present women who don’t look exactly like every woman you see on network TV as lead characters and it’s great to see a woman of color included in that. Helen-Alice is almost as funny and clearly defined as her white best friends, although there’s a slight disparity because she was given fewer lines. So far the show has a small fandom on Tumblr and Helen-Alice isn’t given much attention within that fandom. None of the discussion of the show on IMDB focused on Helen-Alice.

Meg

Show: Trophy Wife (ABC)

Played by: Natalie Morales

“He’s no victim!”

Because it’s so difficult for people of color to get roles, it’s common to see powerhouse actors cast as peripheral characters. There are two examples of that this season with Being Human’s Lenora Crichlow on Back in the Game and Natalie Morales, who starred in The Middleman, cast here as the barely present Meg. Despite being lead character Kate’s best friend, so far she hasn’t been a part of an A-plot and she wasn’t in the second episode of the series at all. This is a busy ensemble, but hopefully as they experiment with different character groupings they find a place for Meg. Even if Meg isn’t given her own plotlines, shouldn’t there at least be episodes about Kate spending time with her supposed best friend? Further demonstrating what little impact the character has had, she rarely comes up in online discussion of the show. One IMDB thread discussing the show stated “Quit trying to make Natalie Morales happen!” Even those responses that disagreed were tepid, simply saying that she’s cute. Only one person of the 7 commenters replied that Natalie Morales is actually funny. None of the comments on the AV Club reviews have mentioned her.

Lisette Hernandez

Show: Welcome to the Family (NBC)

Played by: Justina Machado

“Stand by your idiot.”

This show is all about the conflict between Dan Yoder (Mike O’Malley) and Miguel Hernandez (Ricardo Chavira), with the relationship between Molly Yoder (Ella Rae Peck) and Junior Hernandez (Joey Haro) presented as a secondary plot. The pilot unfortunately shows Lisette and Caroline Yoder (Mary McCormack) given one scene together, where they simply say that the conflict between their husbands seems pointless. In this scene, Lisette says, “Stand by your idiot”, which could be the tagline for every underdeveloped wife in sitcom history. It would be possible to let Lisette and Caroline take the high road and have more maturity than their husbands while still giving them story potential—after all, they’re dealing with unexpectedly becoming grandmothers. But while Caroline is at least given a pregnancy of her own in the family scene to set up what her arc will be, Lisette has absolutely nothing defining her or hinting at what her major conflict might be other than playing the role of patient wife, mother and in-law to the more developed characters. Because only one episode has aired, it’s possible Lisette will be elaborated on, but it’s worth noting that all of the promotional materials focus exclusively on the rivalry between Dan and Miguel. There’s essentially no online fandom for this show. Most of the discussion that does exist centers around Mike O’Malley.

Overall Thoughts

While the miniscule number of women of color in the crop of new shows is disappointing, I feel positively about most of these characters to at least some extent. While we still have a long way to go, characters like Abbie Mills, Sophie Devereaux and the women of Brooklyn Nine-Nine are women of color that are getting key roles. At the same time there are problem characters. Gigi (Back in the Game), Kay (The Michael J. Fox Show), Meg (Trophy Wife) and Lisette (Welcome to the Family) feel tacked on, underdeveloped and periphery so far. Then there’s the strange case of Dads. The show consistently relies on racism for humor and so far two out of the three episodes have had the degrading objectification of a woman of color as major plot points. Yet, these three women are an active part of the main cast and they’ve all had moments to shine. So far in different moments these women have veered from being fun and interesting characters to being walking punch lines and back again. Finally, of course, there’s the fact that Samira’s potential was squashed out right away simply because of the cancellation of her show. Next season I’m hoping for more women of color, for more of them to be featured prominently, for them to not be defined by what they can do for the male characters and for the shows that have diversity to also be the shows people actually watch. In the meantime, I’m excited to have Abbie Mills on my TV every week.


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