9 Diversity On The Small Screen

By Peter Fazari

Why Representation on Screen Matters

Ever wonder if the most popular TV show’s cast have become more diverse over time? From the 1980s-2010s most individuals would have assumed that the most popular shows on television included more diversity in their casts. A research study was conducted to find evidence on whether this was true or not. The research conducted aimed to answer the question of whether the cast of the most popular network television shows had become more diverse in recent years? The purpose of this research question was to understand if the common misconceptions that Hollywood has become more diverse were true or false. The importance of conducting this study lies in the growing demand and call for media diversity, indicating that viewers are becoming increasingly aware of the identities and backgrounds of the actors in popular television shows. As society around us is becoming more diverse, it is crucial to look at what is most influential in today’s society to see if everyone is being properly represented. Looking into the visual world of diversity needed to be addressed and used as evidence to create a new ideology that Hollywood needs to become more diverse.

Method: Tracking Visual Diversity in Top TV Show

Five shows from each decade (80s-2010s) were looked at and followed a simple visual analysis. The shows were chosen from the website Rotten Tomatoes and their lists of the best Tv shows from each decade. The top five were gathered from each. No talk shows, game shows or reality shows were looked at. The categories looked at the leads of the shows, the supporting cast and the creatives and counted visual diversity. The leads looked specifically at the top billed actor from each show. The supporting cast looked at the top ten billed cast members and the creatives looked at who was credited as a creator. Visual diversity counted individuals’ race. The analysis that was used was an empirical analysis. This method looks at evidence gathered through observations and experiments to create conclusions. The five step empirical research cycle was used (Induction, Deduction Testing, Evaluation, and observation). The shows examined were purposefully chosen. The shows from the 1980s, Miami Vice, Magnum PI, The Golden Girls, The Cosby show. 1990s, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, ER, The X Files, Friends, Seinfeld. 2000s, 24, Lost, The Sopranos, The Office (U.S), Breaking Bad. 2010s, Orange Is The New Black, The Walking Dead, The Big Bang Theory, Stranger Things, Game of Thrones.

Findings: Has Hollywood Really Changed?

It’s hard to picture Tv shows lacking diversity. Although there are many shows that air on TV, not all were used for this study. This focused on the most popular programs that individuals were the most familiar with. The findings were shocking. While you may have expected diversity to be more prevalent in today’s television shows than in the past, these findings will surprise you. It was revealed that despite public perception of increased diversity overtime, the most influential shows of the past forty years have shown little improvement in representation across the categories. A common call to action is to include more diversity in Tv shows, but the most popular programs based on user’s voting on rotten tomatoes, showed a lack of change from Hollywood. The supporting cast showed the highest results of diversity. However, in that supporting cast it was mainly one to two diverse actors. This was a common theme throughout the decades. There were twelve TV shows that had more than one diverse actor. Only one show had an entirely diverse cast, that being The Cosby Show, which aired in 1984. Coincidentally The Cosby Show is one of two shows that had a diverse lead out of the 20 shows studied, the other being Lost. The Cosby Show was also the only one that was made by a diverse creative team. There were rarely any shows with a full ensemble of diverse creatives and supporting cast members.

Conclusion and Future Directions

Future studies could build on this work by examining how diverse characters are portrayed, the impact of streaming platforms, screen time, and audience perceptions of representation. A larger sample size could be incorporated and looking at the most popular shows by rating could be beneficial in contradicting the conclusion and finding more data.

This work was conducted by four students from Brock University, Peter Fazari, Josh Dziver, Daniel Jaja, & Parker Lampman, who all contributed to this research. Each member was given a specific task and participated in creating a codebook and collecting data. They presented their work in class and have decided to present their findings to the public. Although this was a first attempt for most of the members, the results that were brought up are important to bring attention to and encourage others to conduct similar research.