Black Television Travels: African American Media around the Globe

228 Pages·2013·2.22 MB·English

by  Timothy Havens

Black Television Travels
CRITICAL CULTURAL COMMUNICATION
General Editors: Sarah Banet-Weiser and Kent A. Ono
Dangerous Curves: Latina Visualizing Atrocity: Arendt, Evil,
Bodies in the Media and the Optics of Thoughtlessness
Isabel Molina-Guzmán Valerie Hartouni
The Net Effect: Romanticism, The Makeover: Reality Television
Capitalism, and the Internet and Reflexive Audiences
Thomas Streeter Katherine Sender
Our Biometric Future: Facial Recognition Authentic™: The Politics of
Technology and the Culture of Surveillance Ambivalence in a Brand Culture
Kelly A. Gates Sarah Banet-Weiser
Critical Rhetorics of Race Technomobility in China: Young
Edited by Michael G. Lacy and Kent A. Ono Migrant Women and Mobile Phones
Cara Wallis
Circuits of Visibility: Gender and
Transnational Media Cultures Love and Money: Queers, Class,
Edited by Radha S. Hegde and Cultural Production
Lisa Henderson
Commodity Activism: Cultural
Resistance in Neoliberal Times Cached: Decoding the Internet
Edited by Roopali Mukherjee in Global Popular Culture
and Sarah Banet-Weiser Stephanie Ricker Schulte
Arabs and Muslims in the Media: Black Television Travels: African
Race and Representation after 9/11 American Media around the Globe
Evelyn Alsultany Timothy Havens
Black Television Travels
African American Media around the Globe
Timothy Havens
a
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
NEW YORK UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York and London
www.nyupress.org
© 2013 by New York University
All rights reserved
References to Internet Websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor New York University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.
An earlier version of chapter 4 was published as Timothy Havens, “The
Biggest Show on Earth: The Cosby Show and the Ascent of American Situation
Comedies in the International Market,” in The Columbia History of American
Television, by Gary Edgerton (New York: Columbia University Press, 2007),
390–409.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Havens, Timothy.
Black television travels : African American media around the globe /
Timothy Havens.
pages cm. — (Critical cultural communication)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8147-3720-0 (cl : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8147-3721-7
(pb : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-8147-6076-5 (e-book) — ISBN 978-0-8147-5944-8
(e-book)
1. African Americans on television. 2. Television programs — Social aspects —
United States. 3. Foreign television programs — History and criticism. I. Title.
PN1992.8.A34H38 2013
791.45'08996073 — dc23 2012042160
New York University Press books are printed on acid-free paper,
and their binding materials are chosen for strength and durability.
We strive to use environmentally responsible suppliers and materials
to the greatest extent possible in publishing our books.
Manufactured in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Rita, Robi, and Reni
who are my very world
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Preface xi
Introduction: African American Television Trade 1
1. Roots and the Perils of African American Television
Drama in a Global World 29
2. Integrated Eighties Situation Comedies and the
Struggle against Apartheid 57
3. The Cosby Show, Family Themes, and the Ascent of
White Situation Comedies Abroad in the Late 1980s 79
4. The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Channel Fragmentation,
and the Recognition of Difference 101
5. The Worldwide Circulation of Contemporary
African American Television 119
6. Black Television from Elsewhere: The Globalization
of Non-U.S. Black Television 147
Conclusion: Transnational Televisual Aesthetics and
Global Discourses of Race 171
Notes 189
References 195
Index 209
About the Author 215
>> vii
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Acknowledgments
In one guise or another, I’ve been working on this book for the past fifteen
years, during which time I’ve received encouragement, advice, critique, and
assistance from more people and institutions than I can remember. I have
received funding from the Indiana University Center for International Busi-
ness Education and Research, the Institute of International Education’s Ful-
bright Program, the Old Dominion University Research Foundation, the
Office of the Vice President of Research at the University of Iowa, the Uni-
versity of Iowa’s International Programs, the College of Liberal Arts and Sci-
ences at the University of Iowa, and the National Association of Television
Program Executives.
Several television professionals have graciously shared with me their time,
ideas, and access to industry materials and gatherings. Without their assis-
tance, this book could never have come together. Bruce Johansen and Pam
Smithard of NATPE served as my initial industry informants and introduced
me to most of the television professionals I interviewed for the book. Gary
Marenzi patiently explained to me how the business of trade works over the
course of several conversations. Peggy Refford of Reed-Midem and Patrick
Jucaud of NATPE-DISCOP kindly permitted me to attend their trade mar-
kets when I had no official business there. Finally, dozens of television mer-
chants, programmers, and producers have been willing to speak frankly with
me about subject matter that is oftentimes controversial. I am grateful for
their candor. I would also like to acknowledge the assistance of the curators
of the David Wolper Archives at the University of Southern California.
As with all intellectual undertakings of this scope, this project benefited
from the input of many people: Christopher Anderson, Michael Curtin,
John Lucaites, Roopail Mukherjee, and Radhika Parameswaran all provided
valuable feedback on the early stages of this project, and have continued to
encourage and enlighten me as it has progressed. Mark Andrejevic, Bruce
Gronbeck, Kembrew McLeod, John Peters, Deborah Whaley, and Rita Zajácz
at the University of Iowa, and Gary Edgerton, Dana Heller, and Avi Santo
at Old Dominion University have been invaluable colleagues and collabo-
rators on the ideas contained herein, as have Mary Beth Haralovich and
Barbara Selznick at the University of Arizona, David Hesmondhalgh at the
>> ix