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VOLUME 18 No. 886
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TV’s “chitlin circuit
Rush for white viewers pushes black sitcoms aside
By James Sterngold
The New York Times
LOS ANGELES
Last year Seinfeld, the top-rated
television show in white house
holds, ranked 50th in African-
American homes, according to
Nielsen Media Research, while the
comedy Between Brothers, No. lin
black households, ranked 112th
among whites.
Similarly, according to Nielsen,
in the first two months of the cur
rent prime-time season, The Steve
Harvey Show, a comedy, ranked
No. linblack households,but 118th
in white households, while Friends,
the No. 1 comedy and No. 2 show
overallin white households, ranked
just 91st for blacks.
Prime-time television has rarely
been as racially divided as it is
today, both in terms of casts and
audiences, a fact most strikingly
true in network television’s domi
nant form of entertainment, com
edy. Networks, under enormous
pressure to maximize dwindling
profits, have been focusing on the
morenumerousand generally more
affluent white households that
advertisers prefer. Because whites
rarely watch shows, particularly
sitcoms, with largely black casts,
the networks broadcast relatively
few with black or even integrated
casts in prime time, the three-hour
block from 8 to 11 p.m. that is the
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PRESIDENTIAL REASSURANCE:
President Clinton speaks to Pauline
Jones, 90, at a White House event Mon
day, Dec. 28, 1998, dealing with the
year 2000 computer bug and Social
Georgia prices average
86 cents for regular unieaded
(AP) Motorists can look for
ward to paying an average of 86
cents per gallon of self-serve
regular unleaded gasoline this
week in Georgia, according to
AAA Auto Club South.
With the price down an aver
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Shows with mostly black casts generally don’t attract white
viewers, network executives say. Above (L-R) Kim Wayans,
Maia Campbell, LL Cool J, and Alfonso Ribeiro of the UPN
comedy series In the House.
most lucrative and competitive
portion of television programming.
Given the growing popularity of
cable, the four major networks,
ABC, CBS, Fox and NBC, plus the
Security. Clinton said that the millen
nium bug will not delay the payment of
Social Security checks. Jones was one
of the people attending the ceremony.
(AP Photo/Susan Walsh) A |
age of 14.6 cents from last Christ
mas, there will be more holiday
travelers on the road, the club
said. ;
Nationwide, travel by car is up
2 percent from last year. This
holiday season, 35.5 million mo-
R R T T R
upstarts, WBand UPN, haveseen
their share of overall viewers re
duced tolessthari6opercent.-But
cable’s audience is fragmented by
dozens of channels, and the net-
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Kentucky minister and
=2 & -
his wife sue police
LOURSVILLE, Ky.
(AP) A lawsuit filed by a Chicago minister and his
wife seeks more than $5 million from Shepherdsville
and two police officers, alleging that the preacher was
tortured, assaulted, falsely imprisoned and defamed
when arrested in May.
The Rev. Abraham Lincoln Washington and his
wife, Lisa Washington, filed the civil rights com
plaint Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Louisville
and requested a jury trial.
The suit alleges that Abraham Washington’s ar
rest was based largely on the fact that he is black.
The couple contend in court documents that the
“Shepherdsville Police department has engaged in a
pattern of practice of arresting or detaining African
Americans at a significantly greater rate than it does
the rest of the population,” and Abraham
Washington’s “detention was a part of this pattern or
practice.”
Police Chief Joe Rogers, one of the defendants,
denied Abraham Washington had been abused.
“It’s all baloney. He never was tortured,” Rogers
said during an interview Tuesday. “I just think it's a
bunch of bull. This man was never assaulted or
nothing else.” :
The suit names Mayor Sherman Tinnell and city
council members Larry Hatfield, Terry Edwards,
Don Cundiff, Tony Miller, Margaret Moore and Steve
Troutman as defendants.
Rogers and Lt. Logan Haycraft are being sued as
city employees and individually, according to court
documents.
The Washingtons and their three children were
returning from a Florida vacation when they stopped
to get gas at a station on May 20 and to phone their
business in Chicago.
Shortly afterwards, Abraham Washington was ar
rested and charged with disorderly conduct, resisting
arrest and domestic assault, after two 911 calls
reported a disturbance at the station.
When Haycraft and Rogers went to the station,
Washington was sitting on a picnic bench waiting for
his wife to return from shopping in Shepherdsville,
court documents stated.
torists are expected to hit the
road compared tolast year’s 34.9
million, according to AAA esti
mates.
The West and Southeast are
expected to have the greatest
number of auto travelers. Since
1990, travel has jumped 66 per
cent, said Judy Reville of the
auto club. .
During Thanksgiving week
end, 33.6 million people traveled
works still reach the largest audi
ences by far, making their viewing
patterns an important reflection of
popular attitudes.
The growing racial divide re
verses a trend toward greater inte
gration of actors and toward the
production of more crossover shows
in the 70s and 80s, when path
breaking series with heavily black
casts like Good Times and The
Cosby Show achieved great popu
larity. In addition, many of the
current shows featuring blacks are
increasingly bunched together and
segregated from the rest of the
prime-time schedule.
This has led to bitter feelings
among many black producers, writ
ers and actors, who say they are
often asked to make their shows
less overtly black in a largely vain
effort to attract white viewers.
These requests often take the form
of demands to “broaden the ap
peal” of the shows, code for adding
more white characters.
“There is always a concerted ef
fort by white executives to place
white faces on black shows,” said
Steve Harvey, whose show is on
the WB network. “We have had to
place white faces on our show this
year. We didn’t ask for it. It came
down on us. We happen to like
those characters, and they've
workgd out well. But how often do
See AUDIENCES, page 3A
more than 100 miles from home.
An expected 45.2 million people
will travel between Christmas
and New Year’s Day, according
to AAA.
Public Safety Commissioner
Col. Sid Miles predicted 38 traf
fic fatalities and more than
4,600 crashes in the state dur
ing the Christmas and New
Year’s holiday periods, with
each period being 78 hours long.
Young era dawning
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with an inaugural celebration this weekend. Photo by Charles Jonés
Mayor-elect Bob Young takes office on January 1 and the next day
he will enter into a round of private and public appearances.
Public schedule:
-January 2, 1999, Sat. Youth Inaugural Reception, 2 p.m., at the
Garden City Convention Center, 1241 Gordon Hwy. The purpose of
this youth reception is to let young people know they are “included”
in this administration and the reception will promote a strong
message of “Just Say No” to drugs and violence and “Say Yes” to
education.
-January 4, 1999, Mon. Invocation, 10 a.m., at St. Paul’s Episcopal
Church. Swearing in will take place on the steps of the City/County
Municipal Building at noon. In case of rain, this event will move to
the Bell Auditorium. There will also be a Mayor Young “Unity
Celebration,” 7 p.m., at the Bell Auditorium. Hosts will be Tim
“Minnesota Fattz” Snell and Cher Best of Foxie 103 FM of the Davis
Broadcast Group. Also Fish and Zeh, morning hosts of 96X Breakfast
Show of the Cumulus Broadcast Group. Scheduled to perform are
Augusta’s own Tony Howard, Steven Chapel, William Johnson Jr.,
Impulse Ride, MTV/Laface recording star Persha, and MCA record
ing star Jesse Powell. ;
For more information, contact Larry Fridie at (706) 722-6755.
Bushwick Bill
A Night of Stars
See ARTbea; on pagel I/B
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