A Quote by Jussie Smollett
When a television show like 'Scandal' becomes the biggest show in recent history, suddenly advertisers and networks want to jump on that. And what it's showing is that people want to see diversity.
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Maybe the biggest award show of the largest entertainment importer in the world needs an economic incentive to embrace diversity. Indeed, maybe we should boycott the show and pressure advertisers to do the same. Or maybe the Academy should learn the lesson of history and change because it's the right thing to do.
Shows like 'Empire,' 'Black-ish,' 'Scandal,' and 'How to Get Away With Murder' are expanding viewers' perspectives on what people of color can be like. They're showing more range. They're showing more diversity within diversity.
It's a combination, I think they want to know - it's for every show, which is I think networks want to know that you have a vision for where the show could go to make sure that it really is a show, that it's not just a one-off forty minute pilot, that it's an actual series.
As I start to think about what I want to do next, there are eight or nine networks I would be thrilled to work with. I remember developing at FX and the executives there telling me, 'We don't want to do shows that 20 million people kind of like; we want to do the show that 2 million people really like.' That's such a refreshing thing to hear.
You want good ratings, you want people to like the show, you want to be appreciated for the hard work you put in. You don't always get it. Every show is not beloved.
The movie, if I recall, didn't have to do with the television show because there were concerns from everyone that they didn't want it to be like the TV show.
You know, when you've idolized something, you put it on a shelf, lift it up, and when King Day comes out, you pull it out and show it. Or when Black History Month comes out, you show it, or when April 4th or other times, you show it. But, you see, Dad wouldn't want us to idolize.
You don't want to jump in on your first day on a show and start improv-ing and changing the show.
I sat down with CBS, and we talked about me developing a show for them. At the time, I was meeting with a lot of networks. And I told them, 'I don't want to be acting on your show as the token black guy. I want to do something that will change a network and will change the way people view African-Americans on TV.'
The show isn't about screens, and we don't have any video content or lasers or things blowing up. I want people to come to our show to listen. I want the show to be the music.
I do think image is important in a band, because when I go see a show, I want to see a show; I don't want to just listen to the music.
If you're a host of a video show and you're on the cleanest show on television for eight years, people want to say, 'Well, that's what that person does.' That was the dilemma for me, career-wise.
Television isn't inherently good or bad. You go to a bookstore, there are how many thousands of books, but how many of those do you want? Five? Television's the same way. If you're going to show people stuff, television is the way to go. Words and pictures show things.
The U.S. is telling the Northern Alliance to kill Taliban prisoners. It's totally a breach of all the known conventions of war. Western television networks aren't showing this, but Arab networks are showing how prisoners are being killed and what's being done to them. Instead, we're shown scenes that are deliberately created for the Western media: a few women without the veil, a woman reading the news on Kabul television, and 150 people cheering.
We are in a diversity age. I talk about the lack of diversity for black Americans, but what about the Asian Americans? You don't see them very often. They have a show called 'Fresh off the Boat.' No one is talking about that show. I saw it, and I found that show completely offensive, but I'm not Asian American.
I'd rather make a show 100 people need to see, than a show that 1000 people want to see.
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