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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| 'Empire' Flops Overseas as Foreign Viewers Resist Hollywood's Diversity Push |
| 2016-03-31 |
| [HOLLYWOODREPORTER] Driven by the ratings success of shows with mainly nonwhite casts — Empire, Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat — along with political pressure to make shows better reflect their diverse audience, American TV outlets increasingly are greenlighting series that feature black, Asian and Latino leads. Fox's 24: Legacy, a reboot of the Kiefer Sutherland series, stars Corey Hawkins, famous as Dr. Dre from Straight Outta Compton. CBS has Rush Hour, based on the action movie franchise, starring Jon Foo and Justin Hires, and has cast Sarah Shahi, a former NFL cheerleader of Persian and Spanish ancestry, as Nancy Drew in its reboot of the lily-white mystery franchise. "It's color-blind casting," says Sony Pictures TV casting director Dawn Steinberg. "There used to be a time when it had to be written that way to look for an actor with a specific ethnicity. Now it's just who is the best actor for the role." But when trying to sell overseas, American shows are finding the color barrier is still there. Why? Insiders say it's because international audiences have yet to truly embrace diversity on the small screen. "These shows are a reflection of our society, but [they are] not a reflection of all societies," says Marion Edwards, president of international TV at Fox. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #14 Empire's problem, and all current American soap operas, is it is over stylized. It does not matter how good the script is or how well it is acted, if a person is not totally into the style, in this case wardrobe, it is unwatchable. Or zombies, or drugprouction The reality shows as they call themselves are so select in the topic, that if you took the topic and add "...walk into a bar." You wonder what the punchline is. "Two naked people living in the woods walk into a bar..." "A family of Comedies are regional, and a lot of American comedy is topical/satire so the joke is lost. News, they have the locals to tell them how mushrooms grow. Sports is local. Any takers on Legacy receiving a shitpot of awards, especially lead actor? Dawn Steinberg is lying to your face. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2016-03-31 20:37 |
| #13 "TV show is designed to appeal to the simple aesthetics of a Yemeni goat FTFY, Joe. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2016-03-31 16:19 |
| #12 TV cares less about foreign than Movies. In fact the TV market has shrunk and become far more selective in their audiences while movies have done the opposite. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2016-03-31 15:05 |
| #11 How about a black steampunk coffee house in Capetown? I don't know about mass appeal... but I'd go there every damn day! |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2016-03-31 14:01 |
| #10 argh. _something_ useful. Which my phone is not. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-31 11:43 |
| #9 How about a black steampunk coffee house in Capetown? Would that have world mass appeal? |
| Posted by: 3dc 2016-03-31 11:21 |
| #8 ...wasn't that in an episode of "Modern Marvels" on the History/Discovery/TLC channel? |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-31 11:03 |
| #7 It would be like watching a TV series about a crescent wrench. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-31 10:46 |
| #6 They dont look at this stuff and see diversity. They see peopls.fro. the more narrow minded and dysfunctional parts of American society. To the Putins, the Sauds, the Xis,and their aristocracies and other hangers on, there's so.etbing USEFUL about anti-american American, but not INTERESTING. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2016-03-31 10:42 |
| #5 TV show is designed to appeal to the simple aesthetics of a Yemeni goat herder. That highly elevated is it ? |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2016-03-31 09:13 |
| #4 Overseas box office is everything. Note that virtually every big-money movie and TV show is designed to appeal to the simple aesthetics of a Yemeni goat herder. |
| Posted by: regular joe 2016-03-31 09:04 |
| #3 Actually, this is bad (too bad) for Hollyweird as more and more of their products are oriented in deriving revenue from overseas markets. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2016-03-31 08:18 |
| #2 Oh how the Worm has turned - how often over past decades had the Euros criticized the US for its lack of "diversity!? OH-THE-EMPIRE-MANITY! |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2016-03-31 02:47 |
| #1 Never seen it and know it sucks. Boardwalk Empire on the other hand.... Where is that? |
| Posted by: newc 2016-03-31 02:22 |