Come on, let's get some black people in here!
And I remember watching television and then,
kind of gradually realizing that
I did not look like any of the people on there.
I was not a domestic. That was the problem.
The important issues are dealt with with some shows
very, very well.
That's the first time that a Latino
has been placed in that position, ever.
We must not forget the reasons why so many sacrificed so much
in the cause of freedom.
For Asians, the image of Asians,
it was a tremendous breakthrough.
Let's have the conversation, say, "Here's what it was."
it was a tremendous breakthrough.
contributions to your PBS station
from viewers like you.
They blazed a trail through American culture.
It was embarrassing to say that in the United States of America,
I was the first black actress to have her own series.
You know, Baker, you've got guts.
Thanks.
You didn't have to be black or white, or Asian.
He's talking to everybody.
The story is about something
that has nothing to do with color.
-Cliff! -Oh!
They overcame unimaginable obstacles.
Because basically they stereotype you.
And stereotypes are like the worst.
I mean, how to kill a culture.
They were going to take our show off the air
if we didn't get rid of Arthur because he was black.
Back in that time, you didn't even have commercials
with African American people,
except for Aunt Jemima on the pancake box.
They created some of America's
favorite characters.
I always felt, and I still feel to this day,
it's one of the greatest comedies ever written.
What do you think, Lightnin'?
This sure is a thin house.
These were actors and they were brilliant actors.
They made you laugh!
You can't do comedy, there's no Asians in comedy.
You can't do that, and I didn't care, I just did it.
Did my mother send you?
Pardon?
She's about so tall, kind of a Korean Bea Arthur.
Before Gene Roddenberry put together "Star Trek,"
there were no black people in the future.
I was always mindful of the fact that I had
a special responsibility in the roles that I played.
Maybe you ought to plot a course back to Vulcan, just in case.
It all sounds wonderful and I'm thrilled,
but what took us so long?!
There is less programming focused on people of color
than there used to be.
I don't know why that is.
Together, they broke through barriers
to make television better.
They are the pioneers of television.
By 1983, television sitcoms were in steep decline.
Of the top 10 shows, none were comedies.
Then, in the fall of 1984, one man --
almost singlehandedly -- revived the sitcom.
$300 a week, $1,200 a month, alright?
Great, I'll take it!
Yes, you will, and I will take $350 for taxes.
-Whoa! -Huh?
Now because, see, the government
comes for the regular people first.
When I heard Bill was going to do a show,
I knew exactly what it was going to be.
And I knew it was going to be a success,
because it was going to be Bill talking about
what he had talked about as a stand-up --
his kids, the home life, his parents.
Like many good storytellers,
he needed to go to the story that he told the best,
which was the family stories, and that's what he did
better than anybody -- still, you know.
Nobody tells a better story about their family than he does.
"The Cosby Show" quickly jumped to number one in the ratings,
lifting the entire network
and earning hundreds of millions for r NB
But Bill Cosby wasn't driven by the money.
He wanted to make a difference.
The shirt goes back.
But, Dad, I told Christine I was getting a Gordon Gartrell.
Tell Christine you lied.
Dad!
No 14-year-old boy should have a $95 shirt
unless he is on stage with his four brothers.
Bill Cosby wanted to make his point,
but it was a far different approach
from the shows that came before.
Norman Lear's "All in the Family," for example,
used in-your-face conflict to stir up audience emotions.
I want to know what your family is gonna do about him!
Well, I wanna know what your family is gonna do about her!
You ain't even the head of your family.
Why didn't Lionel's father come over here?
You don't want to know the answer to that.
Yes, I do.
Alright. He said he ain't never stepped into
a honkie's household and he ain't about to start
at the bottom of the heap!
That one black person that shows up -- with this group --
and all of a sudden, there's this white guy,
he doesn't like him.
And somebody else's always kind of protecting him,
because the black person showed up.
I'm very disappointed in you, Lionel.
I thought you was one of the good ones.
But I was wrong.
I thought I was your friend.
I mean, I have you into my house here,
and I mean through the front door as well as the back.
If you show enough of those films, films like that,
pretty soon, man, in a Pavlov sort of way,
you know we're a problem.
All these white people would be getting along just fine
if it wasn't for that one black guy
that showed up.
Cosby believed the better way to influence the culture
was to offer a positive role model...
a vision of what life could be.
Daddy.
-What? -What's this word?
Look, let's -- why don't we read this together?
"She played."
"She played...
with it all day."
Got it?
"The end."
Alright.
You want to read something else?
No, you're tired.
Thank you.
May I have a kiss, please? Bye-bye.
"The Cosby Show" centered on a family
that valued education,
with a father and mother who loved all five children,
but weren't afraid to discipline.
You are afraid to try because you're afraid
that your brain is going to explode
and it's going to ooze out of your ears.
Now I'm telling you, you are going to try as hard as you can
and you're going to do it because I said so.
I am your father.
I brought you in this world and I'll take you out.
The word is "correction"
and people don't make corrections.
There is too much going on with children in our hands
and we don't make corrections.
And grownups have excuses.
Bill Cosby's interest in children
began long before "The Cosby Show."
He earned a doctorate in education
and even when he was breaking through
in the mid 1960s on "I Spy,"
he expected to leave television and get into teaching.
Bill's deepest thoughts that he revealed to me were,
"I'm going to go back and teach.
When this is over, I'm going to go back and get my degree
and I'm going to teach."
And I started laughing.
He said, "Why are you laughing at me?"
He grumbled something and he said,
"Well, that's what I'm going to do anyway."
Well, the end result of that is that
he didn't do it exactly that way,
but he did it better --
because he has become a teacher to the world.
After "I Spy" ended in 1968,
Bill Cosby was drawn to projects
with educational value, like "Fat Albert"
and "The Electric Company."
Sometimes it sounds like JA as in giant, as in magic.
-Why? -Why?
Yeah, why does G have to have two sounds
when you already got
a perfectly good J for the JA sound?
Don't ask me. That's just the way it is.
An education will open up avenues for them,
so that they can say they can do something --
instead of saying, "I want something but you
have to give it to me, because I don't know how to do anything."
Throughout the 1960s and '70s, Cosby's comedy albums
and standup performances cemented his place
among America's favorite comedians.
And the children get up to go upstairs
and I kiss them good night and I try to warn them.
Please!
Do what your mother says
or somebody's gonna get it tonight.
I mean, nobody tells better stories than he does,
when it comes to the family unit,
and that's why it works, because it was about us.
Think I carried you in my body for nine months
so you can roll your eyes at me?
I'll roll that little head of yours down on the floor.
Nobody tries to emulate Bill Cosby.
You know why? They can't do it.
There's nobody even on his level, they can't do it.
He just had a skill level.
Just a ridiculous amount of gifts that he had,
of all kinds -- writing, performing, voices, faces.
He was like the '27 Yankees.
Just very powerful, powerful stuff.
While Bill Cosby's first attempt at a sitcom
failed to get traction,
another television project was an unqualified success --
a series of commercials
for Jell-O Pudding.
Hey, Bill Cosby, what's that?
New Jell-O Pudding Pops. Frozen pudding on a stick.
Mmm. Tastes good.
Yep. It's a home run
with your taste buds
and won't strike out
with your mom
like some snacks do
'cuz it's made
with real pudding.
The commercials reminded Americans
of Bill Cosby's humor, his gentle style,
his love for children.
By the early 1980s, he ranked
among the most popular people in America
and was perfectly positioned for one more try
at a television sitcom.
All I want is his name.
Dad, please don't do this to me.
Denise will kill me.
Well, you're going to tell me his name
because everybody knows you can't keep a secret.
Look at your face.
It's sliding out of your face.
It's David James.
Rudy!
Just slid out of my face.
"The Cosby Show" was a major landmark,
but it wasn't the first sitcom to portray African Americans
in white collar jobs.
Sixteen years earlier, Diahann Carroll
blazed that trail in "Julia."
-You see, Cory... -I know, Mom.
What do you know?
Like in school, there are some kids
who just don't like other kids
if they're not the same color or religion,
even if they don't know anything about them.
And I guess there are some grown-ups like that, too.
It's pretty dumb if you ask me.
You are too much, Cory Baker. You are really too much.
And you're right.
It is very dumb.
Television's track record with African Americans
became painfully clear
on the very first day of production on "Julia" in 1968.
The studio had no makeup for African Americans.
The studio had only dealt
with the little American girls or European girls --
all the same color.
How could you have a make-up department
and you don't have make-up for every skin
in the United States of America?
Although "Julia" was launched in the turbulent 1960s,
the character stayed far from any racial activism.
For Diahann Carroll, just the presence of
a person of color on television was enough of a first step.
The racial involvement was very minuscule
on all television shows.
It was absolutely "let's stay away from that."
Uh...
"That is too controversial."
So, we knew that going in -- that first you make the success.
After you've done that, then you could make other steps.
There was nothing like
this young successful mother on the air.
And we thought that it might be a very good stepping stone.
While the Julia character was insulated
from the Civil Rights movement,
Diahann Carroll was not.
She actively supported
Shirley Chisolm's run for president
and hosted fundraisers for the controversial Black Panthers.
It was not really the thing that one said
that you are maybe in agreement with the Black Panthers.
But then I had a party at my big Beverly Hills mansion
and invited several people from the Black Panthers
to be a part of it,
to allow them to meet some of the people that I knew.
Everything they did was not wonderful.
I could see some of the good things in the Panthers.
What made "Julia" different was that it was
the first sitcom to portray an African American woman
with a college degree, in a professional position.
At about the same time, Asian Americans
were seeing their first positive role model
on network television --
a physicist and helmsman named Hikaru Sulu.
How do you figure it, Chekov?
First, we go to Vulcan. Then, we're going to Altair.
Then we're headed to Vulcan again.
Now we're headed back to Altair.
I think I'm going to get space-sick.
For me as an individual Asian American actor,
it was a personal breakthrough.
But for Asians, the image of Asians,
it was a tremendous breakthrough.
We're dead still, Captain. Helm doesn't answer.
We can't move.
For the first time on television,
Americans saw an Asian American speaking without an accent.
It was not a stereotype role.
I was without an accent,
part of the leadership team of the starship Enterprise,
the best helmsman in Star Fleet, you know.
And that was at a time when there was this whole stereotype
about Asian drivers being terrible drivers.
Well, I showed them.
I was the best driver in the galaxy.
Progress, Mr. Sulu?
Sectors 1 through 25 charted and examined.
No chance at all of power originating in those areas.
Throughout the history of certainly movies and television,
Asians were seen as "the other,"
and usually the scary or the threatening.
That stereotype of Asian Americans as "the enemy"
was all too real for George Takei
from his very youngest days growing up in Los Angeles.
I remember that morning and, in fact,
I can never forget that morning,
it was a terrifying morning.
I was in the living room looking out the front window
and I saw two soldiers come marching up our driveway
and I saw, at the end of their rifles, shiny bayonets.
They stomped up to our front door,
at our two-bedroom home on Garnet Street in Los Angeles,
and banged on the front door.
It was terrifying.
My father answered, and we were ordered out of our home.
George Takei's family had committed no crime.
Along with thousands of other law-abiding Japanese-Americans,
they were taken from their home in California in 1942
and forced to relocate to an internment camp.
The reason was this...
On December 7th, 1941, Japan bombed the U.S. Navy base
at Pearl Harbor.
Overnight, America was at war with Japan
and the U.S. government became suspicious
of anyone of Japanese heritage.
As a group, these U.S. citizens were labeled
by their government as "enemy non-aliens."
What's a non-alien?
That's a citizen.
They couldn't even call us citizens then,
we were enemy non-aliens.
Why?
Because of this.
We were taken to the horse stables.
And thinking back now, I can't imagine how degrading
and humiliating it must have been for my parents
to take their three children, one a baby,
from a two-bedroom home and told to sleep
in that narrow, smelly horse stall.
I remember the barbed wire fences and the sentry tower,
the search light that followed me
when I made the night runs from our barracks to the latrine.
It was a racist act, pure and simple.
And it was an unconstitutional act.
You can't imprison people for their race,
and that's what we were imprisoned for.
Because of the internment, the Takei family --
like many others -- lost their home and their business.
But George never lost his dream.
In the early 1950s, when he saw an ad in the newspaper
to dub a Japanese monster movie, George Takei boldly took
his first steps into show business.
It was a thrilling experience.
Look. Right out there. There it is!
[Godzilla roaring]
Get the squad in position.
[Roaring]
I did about not quite a dozen voices in that.
ANNOUNCER: This was war.
A war of life and death between man and an enemy
who seemed indestructible.
And I had a lot of fun and they paid me for it to boot.
And I thought, "Hm, this is what I enjoy doing."
Soon George was landing on-camera roles,
but in the early 1960s, parts for Asian Americans
were hard to come by.
Takei had a small role in "A Majority of One."
The lead character, a Japanese businessman,
was played by an English actor, Alec Guinness.
I came in a taxi
and I got out
and he disappeared.
I've been looking all around.
There are no numbers.
Now it is you who will cash call (catch cold).
Please do me the honor to enter my house.
It is customary to remove your shoes.
Oh, I don't mind.
The make-up that he wore, it was so heavy handed.
He looked reptilian
with that layer of plaster or whatever he had on.
In Japan, there's a festival for almost everything.
In the spring it is Sho-non-noi.
We have the same. In the spring, it's Shavuot.
And the way he played it --
the smile looked reptilian -- you know, that...
Isn't that strange, Mrs. Jacoby?
TAKEI: It made me shiver, that very cavalier attitude
toward the accent that he had, the whole thing was grotesque.
Four years later, George got his chance
to help break down stereotypes
when he landed the role of Sulu on "Star Trek."
You are Lieutenant Sulu.
You were born on the planet Earth.
You are helmsman for the Enterprise.
How do you know this? Where did you get this information?
Are you from this planet?
I am from here.
Then the planet is hollow. Who killed Lt. Diamato?
Alright, the captain will want to talk to you.
That way.
I was always mindful of the fact that I had
a special responsibility in the roles that I played.
The Sulu character was a great step forward
for Asian Americans on television,
but it would be another quarter century
before the nation saw the first TV series
centered on an Asian American family.
What do you think your mom would say if she could see us now?
Oh, I know what she'd say -- "No tongue kissing!
No tongue kissing!"
Well, I guess I'd better take off.
Thanks for the movie.
That was good, huh?
That was weird, though, with all those empty seats,
the way that Korean guy sat right next to you.
"All American Girl" premiered in 1994
as a vehicle for comedian Margaret Cho.
From the beginning, Cho faced enormous pressure
to deliver a mainstream hit.
I didn't have these attributes that they think of
when they think of a female star of a show.
I wasn't thin, I wasn't white --
I think that because I wasn't white,
they had to somehow make me conform in other ways that
would make me more palatable to an audience.
The major problem was that I was too overweight
to play the role of myself,
which is insane if you think about it,
but I didn't know that then, I just wanted to keep my job.
Just before this first episode was filmed,
Cho was encouraged to go on a crash diet,
losing 30 pounds in two weeks.
Her kidneys shut down, leading to long term health problems.
Oh, she makes me so crazy. Why does she make me so crazy?
Maybe because you're so much alike.
-Alike? Mom and me? -Oh, yeah.
Please, how are we alike?
For starters, you're both very beautiful, very smart.
Well, yeah, in that way.
When you're the first person
to kind of cross over this racial barrier,
then you're scrutinized
for all these other things that have nothing to do with race,
but they have everything to do with race.
It's a very strange thing.
The scrutiny extended beyond just Cho.
Although the series portrayed a Korean family,
some of the actors were Chinese and Japanese.
There was like an issue with that,
that they weren't all Korean.
And yet, there's always actors --
white actors doing different accents,
doing things that are not of their origin.
And so for some reason, we were held up
into this sort of scrutiny or this need
for cultural authenticity that white people were not.
"All American Girl" lasted just two seasons,
a casualty of too much pressure from too many forces.
Decades later, Cho's sitcom remains
the only broadcast series ever to focus
on an Asian American family.
So much emphasis was put on our ethnicity
and the fact that we were Asian-American.
That took us out of comedy.
It took us out of the job that we were supposed to do,
which was to be 22 minutes of comedy.
Unlike Asian Americans, Latinos were visible
in TV's earliest years,
thanks to a leading role on the biggest show of the era.
Lucy, before I kill you,
would you mind telling me the details?
Well, you were so smart last night and you knew
all the answers and I thought you were a cinch
to win all the money so I called the radio station...
And why did you call the station without asking me first?
Well, how did know that you were faking?
I thought you were an overgrown Cuban quiz kid.
"I Love Lucy" made Lucille Ball a beloved icon,
but, at the time, few understood the key role
her husband, Desi Arnaz, played in Lucy's success.
She said, "I used to come in.
Desi would have done everything with the scripts
and this and that and all I had to do is be Lucy."
Desi oversaw every aspect of production,
including the creation of the first sitcom
filmed in front of a live audience.
In the early 1950s, the technical challenge
of coordinating three cameras and an audience in real time
was considered insurmountable.
But Desi found a way.
And bless Desi Arnaz for creating three camera.
Because I think Lucy liked an audience.
You could find out what's funny or not with an audience.
They're faster than anything.
From scratch, Arnaz built Desilu into a powerhouse studio
that would go on to produce "The Untouchables,"
"Mission Impossible," "Mannix," and "Star Trek."
But it was "I Love Lucy" that made Desi Arnaz
a household name.
¶ I'm on my way to Cuba ¶
¶ That's where I'm goin' ¶
¶ Cuba, that's where I'll stay ¶¶
Given Desi's role
as the highest profile Latino in America,
Ball and Arnaz worked hard to ensure "I Love Lucy"
didn't perpetuate ethnic stereotypes.
Ricky Ricardo was an intelligent,
successful businessman.
And the only person allowed to make jokes
about his accent was his wife.
Lucy, this is absolutely fantastic.
It's just unbelievable.
I would like a logical explanation of it.
Well, I'd like a lo-gical 'splanation of it, too.
Desi and Lucy divorced in 1960,
but they remained friends for decades.
Betty White was with Lucy on the day Desi died.
And it was such a shock to her, because, let's face it,
there's a certain part of a real love that never goes away.
And it was an experience to see her react to that.
After Desi Arnaz left the air,
Latinos found themselves relegated to secondary parts.
Television wouldn't see another Latino in a marquee role
until the 1980s.
-Listen, Lou. -No, you listen!
I haven't heard word one from you for a whole stinkin' week.
No case reviews, no updates,
no progress reports and no backups!
In the first few episodes of "Miami Vice,"
Gregory Sierra played the lieutenant in charge.
But the Crockett and Tubbs characters
had so so little respect for their boss,
Sierra left the series.
Go home, you guys, get some rest.
I mean it.
Replacing Sierra was Edward James Olmos.
Lieutenant, I want you to meet my boss.
This is Lt. Martin Castillo, Lt. John Malone.
Good to meet you, Lieutenant.
Olmos had negotiated
for creative control over his character,
and he didn't want to see a Latino authority figure
get disrespected.
And the very first scene that I did,
I was supposed to say one thing,
and when Philip Michael Thomas gets into my face...
Hey, whose side are you on?
I'm supposed to say one thing, and I say,
"Don't ever come up into my face like this again, Detective."
Don't ever come up to my face like this again, Detective.
And that's not written. It was not written.
So, I say that, and he is standing right in front of me
and now he's stuck, because he wasn't expecting that.
C'mon.
From that day, for the next 12 shows,
I never looked at either one of those two guys
on camera again -- ever.
Everything was like...
you know, they'd come walking in and I just listened
to the things that they were talking about
and I'd talk to the wall.
C'mon, let us in on the sweep.
Go home. Get some rest.
I would stand up and talk to the wall --
literally talk to the wall.
Gentlemen, we're looking at about $75 million on the street.
Is it Jorgensen's?
-It's somebody's. -Let's sit on it.
So, the tension was built
and it became a beautiful, beautiful example
of really construction of scene
and it really worked very well.
The show took off.
Before "Miami Vice,"
Edward James Olmos had mostly played ethnic "bad guys."
To land better roles, one casting director suggested
he change his stage name from Eddy Olmos
to something more "Anglo."
"Don't use Eddy Olmos."
I said, "Excuse me?"
He says, "That's not a name. It's not a star name.
It's not a name that's gonna get you
any kind of recognition, and it's kind of ethnic."
I said, "Oh, I get it, oh my god.
You're absolutely right.
What am I doing here, you're so right.
My name, thank you, I forever will thank you for this, man.
From now on, everyone is going to have to use
Edward James Olmos -- write the whole thing out."
And I walked out the door and the guy just shook his head
and said, "Well, you didn't get it at all."
After "Miami Vice,"
Olmos starred in a range of important Latino themed roles.
But it was his starring turn on "Battlestar Galactica"
that Olmos believed had the greatest impact
in changing racial views.
Commander Adama.
Thank you very much.
The Silon war is long over.
Yet, we must not forget the reasons
why so many sacrificed so much in the cause of freedom.
"Battlestar Galactica" is the best use of television
I've ever been a part of, ever.
You know, when we fought the Silons,
we did it to save ourselves from extinction,
but we never answered the question "Why?
Why are we, as a people, worth saving?"
There's only one race and that's what the show is really about.
It's the human race. Period.
That's the first time that a Latino
has been placed in that position, ever.
How long until you storm the ship?
I'm hoping that won't be necessary.
I think that you and I can come up
with some kind of an understanding.
This is not the only crisis that I'm dealing with.
Water shortage affects the entire fleet.
Your men are on their way even as we speak.
There's still time to work this out.
Have the president step down and call for elections.
That's not gonna happen.
Then I look forward to meeting your men
That's not gonna happen.
I'll never forget the phone call I received
from a very close and dear friend.
She was crying on the phone, and I said, "What's the matter?"
She goes, "My nephew just called
and he's 12 years old and he was so excited.
He just couldn't, he just kept on saying,
We're in the future. We're in the future.
I saw it.
You know, I saw 'Battlestar' and we're in the future."
Shows like "Battlestar" and "Star Trek"
visualized a future in which
people of every ethnicity worked together.
But an alien watching
the first 30 years of American television
would have drawn a very different conclusion
about America's past.
Because television of the 1950s and '60s
portrayed a nation where people of color
were all but invisible.
From its beginnings in the late 1940s,
television was a nearly all-white medium.
Yet even in its infancy,
there were forces pressing for integration.
For example, Milton Berle
championed African American acts,
beginning with the Four Step Brothers.
Here they are,
the dynamic Four Stepbrothers.
[Cheering]
Ed Sullivan fought to book African Americans on his show,
as did daytime talk show host Betty White.
And I had this wonderful dancer, Arthur Duncan.
And all through the South there was this whole ruckus.
They were going to take our show off the air
if we didn't get rid of Arthur because he was black.
So I said, "I'm sorry but, you know,
he stays or... live with it."
In most TV shows, people of color were visible
only in highly stereotyped roles --
like the Mexican banditos of "The Cisco Kid."
So why do we have to ride so far to look for trouble
when we had plenty trouble where we was?
A little trouble here and a little trouble there.
Yeah, a little trouble here, a little trouble there.
You put them all together they spell Cisco.
Ha ha ha! Come on! iAndale!
"Oh Poncho, oh Cisco, oh Poncho, oh Cisco!"
It was like "Ohh, Cisco!"
And then he would be smoking his little cigarillos --
and then he would put it in the back here
while it was lit.
I remember seeing "Secrets of the Sierra Madre," you know,
in which...
"I don't need no stinking badges"
was, you know, put forth.
And that was like the epitome of the stereotype of the bandito.
We are federales, you know, the mounted police.
If you're the police, where are your badges?
Badges? We ain't got no badges.
We don't need no badges.
I don't have to show you any stinking badges!
Native Americans faced an even bigger obstacle.
Not only were they portrayed on television as stereotypes,
the acting jobs often went to Caucasians.
Nowadays, by the way, the chances are --
and rightfully so --
they probably would have got a very good Indian actor
to play that part, but in those days, they didn't do that.
They used Caucasian guys to play Indians.
The exception was Jay Silverheels,
a Mohawk who landed the role of Tonto on "The Lone Ranger."
Here hat.
Me wash in stream, dry in sun, make whiter.
Thanks, Tonto.
Here gun to kill bad men.
I'm not going to do any killing.
You will not defend yourself?
Oh, I'll shoot if I have to,
but I'll shoot to wound, not to kill.
That's right, Kemosabe.
Silverheels was never content
with Tonto's one-dimensional personality,
but when the series ended, other roles were scarce.
When you think of all the cowboy and Indian movies
that were made,
that they would not have even asked him to be part of.
And I don't know that he would have wanted to be part of it,
because it told a very skewed story.
You all alone now. Last man.
You are Lone Ranger.
Yes, Tonto, I am a Lone Ranger.
In the '50s and early '60s,
African Americans were also marginalized
in largely one-dimensional roles...
nearly always playing the servant.
Eddie Anderson on "Jack Benny,"
Ethel Waters on "Beulah,"
Amanda Randolph on "Make Room For Daddy."
Louise is going to play for you
now a selection from
her latest album entitled
"Music to Fry Pancakes By."
¶ I can't give you anything ¶
¶ But love, baby ¶
¶ That's the only thing ¶
¶ I've plenty of, baby ¶¶
Asian Americans faced similar stereotyping.
Even martial arts master Bruce Lee was relegated
to the role of subservient houseboy on "The Green Hornet."
We're heading for another clash with the Caped Crusaders
and I don't like it.
Why not? We've never run away from trouble before.
Yes, but this double identity poses extra problems this time.
We know they're heroic crime fighters.
They think we're criminals.
We must come out on top
but they mustn't suffer.
Kung Fu is Kung Fu.
It's not child's play.
The fact is that Asian Americans were so invisible in television
that when one does appear,
they can't just appear on their own,
there has to be a whole back story
to justify their existence.
And you see this on crime shows,
like when you see an Asian person,
there is always a "trouble in Chinatown."
In the 1950s and '60s, just one network show
featured an all-black cast --
and it quickly became a lightning rod for controversy.
What kind of fur is this anyway, Kingfish?
Andy, that's the rarest of all wildlife,
the rare and beautiful and elusive mink.
Mink?
Yeah, Andy, just like this animal here.
That looks more like a fox to me.
Oh, Andy, that's a long legged mink.
I seen a mink in a window once
but it didn't look nothin' like this.
"Amos 'n' Andy" premiered on television in 1951.
It was hysterical.
It was not just funny, it was hysterical.
Amos and Andy, of course, were hysterical.
I think I know a lot of people like Amos and Andy.
Amos and Andy -- these are actors
and they were brilliant actors, they made you laugh.
First and foremost, yeah, it was funny.
I mean...
they were good.
Would you mind telling the court
under just what circumstances you met the defendant?
Well, it was about 18 years ago at a carnival.
I reached into my pocket to get my wallet
and shook hands with Mr. Stevens.
[Laughter]
My mother would make me watch it from outside the house.
I mean, I'd have to watch it in the backyard,
looking through my bedroom window at the TV,
because I would laugh so hard, I mean, it got physical.
My mother said, "Amos 'n' Andy is coming on, you go outside.
You're not going to break my furniture tonight."
Despite its popularity,
"Amos 'n' Andy" was seen by many
as perpetuating racial stereotypes.
Pressure from the NAACP and others
led to the series' cancellation.
So I didn't see that
as perpetuating a negative stereotype, some people did.
And then the NAACP got involved
and they got "Amos 'n' Andy" taken off the air
and they wanted every black character on television
to carry an attache case and wear a suit and a tie --
which, that's just taking it to the extreme in the other way.
How about a little ditty called "Just You, Just Me"?
In 1956, Nat King Cole became the first African American
to star in a network variety show.
¶ Just you ¶
¶ Just me ¶
¶ Let's find a cozy spot to cuddle and woo ¶
Ratings were good, and NBC did all it could
to keep Nat King Cole's series on the air
but no national advertiser
would buy commercial time on the show.
In an era when ad agencies controlled television,
it was Madison Avenue that killed Cole's show,
after just one year.
¶ Pretend you're happy when you're blue ¶
¶ It isn't very hard to do ¶
¶ And you'll find happiness without an end ¶
¶ Whenever you pretend ¶
Gradually in the 1960s,
producers began to push networks
to allow more roles for people of color.
But the networks were nervous.
When producer Bruce Geller
cast Greg Morris on "Mission Impossible,"
the network wanted to ensure
there would never be even a hint of romance
between Morris' character and Barbara Bain.
It became an issue of panic for the network
before we went on the air.
They just were really frightened.
The network repeatedly instructed Bain
to avoid getting anywhere near Morris
when the camera was rolling.
So we managed to get them together
in the apartment scene all the time as much as we could.
Will there be any flames?
Yes,
an effluence
of carbonaceous opaque material.
Thanks.
A lot of smoke.
Nobody likes a --
Sorry.
When Bruce Geller took the reins on "Mannix,"
he pushed the envelope further,
by casting Gail Fisher in a lead role
opposite Mike Connors.
CBS balked, but Geller was persistent.
He said, "CBS is not too hot on it."
He said, "They're giving me a bad time."
And I said, "Why? He says, "Well, she's black."
And finally they said, "Okay, I'll tell you what.
If we get any mail from the South or any place
that is negative about her, she's off the show."
No such letters came, and in 1970, Gail Fisher became
the first African American woman
to win an Emmy Award.
So we look for somebody with the name Kelly Green.
That's, uh, what the computer said.
I took the liberty of going to a certain organization.
Now, don't be angry because it worked.
Intertec put Kelly Green through the computer
and what do you think?
That I'm gonna strangle you.
Well, there's a girl named Margaret Green
who is the daughter of a prominent judge,
Francis M. Green, and her nickname just happens to be...
-Kelly. -Right.
Premiering a year before "Mannix" was "Star Trek,"
presenting, for the first time on a television drama,
a leadership role for an African American woman.
The first important non-traditional role,
non-stereotypical role -- the first.
Lieutenant Uhura,
take over navigation.
She was a smart, intelligent part of the crew.
Ship to ship, Uhura. Put this on the screen.
Hailing frequencies open, sir.
On that bridge,
as part of the command crew, she was always business.
It was always about the mission.
Things could not happen without talking to her as well,
so I loved that.
You know, I loved that,
that it wasn't just, "Oh, she's cooking."
By the mid 1970s, producer Norman Lear was bringing
a new wave of African Americans to television
in "Sanford and Son," "The Jeffersons,"
and "Good Times."
Mama, Daddy can I ask you an important question?
Uh-huh.
If you meet a brother on the street who was tired
and hungry and had no place to go, would you help him?
I guess so -- that would be the Christian thing to do.
I thought so, Mama.
Come on in, brother!
Ned the wino? Oh, not in my apartment today.
Norman Lear made a special effort
to include people of color in all facets of production.
Norman did more
for black writing, black behind the scenes,
black behind whatever --
producers, directors, associates, hair girls,
makeup people, writers, grips, whatever --
he did more for that than anybody.
Lear also introduced
television's first interracial couple,
on "The Jeffersons."
Remember when you first told your mother about us, Tom?
I never heard such yelling and screaming.
That was my father. My mother didn't say a word.
Because she fainted.
Then there was the disinheritance.
The folks cut us off without a cent.
Oh, that's terrible.
Were your folks that mad, Tom?
Oh, not my folks -- hers.
Norman Lear is such a genius, you know.
He wanted them to be
a real couple,
and they treated each other
like anybody else would.
People could believe it was a normal relationship.
I'd like to speak to my wife if you don't mind.
Helen, I can't find my fountain pen.
Use one of the ballpoint pens.
There are lots of them on your desk.
Ballpoint pens are not for writing.
They're for making marks. I need a pen with a point.
Now, what have you done with my pen?
I don't know, I might have taken it to do the marketing list.
You wrote with it?
In 1977, NBC took a chance
on the most original African American comic of the era --
Richard Pryor.
The show would break new ground from the very first shot.
One of the greatest openings of all time, he said,
"Hey, it's me, Richard Pryor. I'm on TV.
I don't have to give up anything."
You know, there's a lot of things written about me.
People wondering if I'm gonna have a show,
if I'm not gonna have a show.
Well, I'm havin' a show.
People say, "How can you have a show?
You've got to compromise. You gotta give up everything."
Is that a joke or what?
And they pan and he's totally naked.
And you think, where'd they go?
Well, look at me. I'm standing here naked.
I've given up absolutely nothing.
"I didn't give up anything to be on TV."
And they get down to right about here,
he's a Ken doll -- there's nothing.
You know, at that point I went, Yes!
So enjoy the show!
And you see him running towards a white woman,
and then you see a shotgun come up, and he runs past her.
I mean, it's fantastic.
It's like seeing great jazz.
When you saw him kick it hard,
it was just like broken-field running.
Or he'd find a character that would just be so...
so painful... but at the same time so funny.
It's beyond comedy.
It's... there's another level.
It's uber-comedy or something, but it's beyond...
It's poignant, it's accurate, it's hysterically funny.
He has thrown what you realize is all these pill-looking things
out to the kids
And by the end of the piece, they're all done.
They're all down, and it ends with him just going,
"Heh heh heh!"
Let's hear it for Black Death!
[Silence]
Far out.
It...
was the scariest thing I'd ever seen,
but I totally understood it, like I got it.
Richard Pryor ranks among the most influential entertainers
of the 20th century,
but his footprint on television was small.
His show was cancelled after just one season.
It's a story repeated over and over for people of color,
often pushed to the sidelines of the biggest medium.
My parents told me that I was the first person,
the first Asian person that they saw on television
that they could be proud of.
It was people that looked like me.
And it was a joy just to see people like that on television.
It's strange how television is today
as compared to what it was then.
It's not out-and-out racism that we're dealing with,
it is that subtle non-inclusion that is very hard to overcome.
They have the one black cop on the show.
Boom, the end of it. Thank you, we're covered.
You know, that's the way it goes.
The indigenous, the Asian American
and the Latino are very, very...
they don't even exist in this culture of television.
At a time in our history when you cannot walk
into almost any neighborhood without seeing
varied people of different cultures and colors,
it seems strange that that should be missing on television,
which is the primary source of information.
The performers who have broken through
have made a significant impact on American culture.
Their contributions make them
true pioneers of television.
Next time on "Pioneers of Television"...
Since this is PBS, good luck using this.
Oh, God, I wish Ethel was there to see this!
I grew up in a house where we watched a lot of comedy
and we would imitate it.
I'm willing to be silly and dumb and foolish
and fall on my ass.
I came out to be funny.
I don't think anybody else on the show was trying to do that.
I got lucky. I won the lottery.
I don't think anybody else on the show was trying to do that.
contributions to your PBS station
from viewers like you.
To make it real,
and to get the audience to believe that we believe,
we had to personalize the panel.
And Warp 1 is there, Warp 2 is there,
Warp 3 is there, and so forth.
And all of the other buttons for me had a definite meaning.
And this director wanted me to go up there for Warp 9.
Which was not where it was.
[Chuckles]
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