LB: TV’s White Guy Crisis

by Larry Brody

Speaking of the 2021 Cultural Revolution (as we were on this very site just yesterday), a TVWriter™ frequent visitor has sent me a link to another insightful analysis of the problem.

Kathryn VanArendonk’s article comes at the inclusion situation from a new angle, starting with the masterful heading:

TV’s White Guys Are in Crisis

And taking it from there with:

One conundrum has kept cropping up in various genres and iterations: The white guys who used to be default protagonists on TV and in American life, all of the beleaguered dads, bad bosses, authoritative leaders, and wild-card mavericks, are no longer the main characters. So what happens to that guy now? Should he be erased? Can he be rehabilitated, his entitlement washed away? Where is he supposed to go?

Ms. VanArendonk focuses on a key problem in the entertainment world’s attempt to create a brave new world of true inclusion, which is the fact that even when women, blacks, Asians, and other non-white males are the protagonists (as demonstrated by the way the stories flow from their POV), the white guys are always right there at their sides either going “WTF?” or being the problem instead of the solution – because the still mostly white male writers-creators-producers are still locked in what I think it’s safe to call the “King of Queens-Hawaii Five-0” mentality.

But enough from this particular WTF-problematic white male. Read the article here. Tell ’em Larry Lasso sent ya.

#tvwriting #screenwriting #writingtips #writerslife

Author: LB

A legendary figure in the television writing and production world with a career going back to the late ’60s, Larry Brody has written and produced hundreds of hours of American and worldwide television and is a consultant to production companies and networks in the U.S. and abroad . Shows written or produced by Brody have won several awards including - yes, it's true - Emmys, Writers Guild Awards, and the Humanitas Award. View all posts by LB