Review by Choice Review
Rather than simply cataloging and critiquing representations of black characters in mainstream (i.e., predominately white) network and cable television, this collection of essays concentrates on black cast television targeted at black audiences. Using a variety of approaches, these scholars bring much-needed attention and analysis to recent shows such as Girlfriends, The Game, and The Boondocks as well as reconsiderations of older television texts such as Roots, A Different World, and Fat Albert that attempted to reach black audiences while also navigating the ratings game by appealing to white audiences. The book's contributors, both young and established, highlight the ways that blackness is articulated in a television landscape where it is typically either absent or rendered as tokenism. As it addresses US network and cable television as well as global television, this book will provide scholars interested in black television with valuable historical, theoretical, and critical material and demonstrate useful approaches for further research. This is sure to be an essential text. Summing Up: Essential. Undergraduate, graduate, and research collections. S. Pepper Northeastern Illinois University
Copyright American Library Association, used with permission.
Review by Choice Review
