A favorite parlor game in Hollywood these days is guessing what the new CW network will look like when it premieres this fall, replacing the soon-to-be-defunct UPN and The WB.
Trade journals and TV critics are betting UPN shows such as “Veronica Mars,” “America’s Next Top Model” and “Everybody Hates Chris” will make the cut from UPN. From The WB, “Gilmore Girls,” “Smallville” and “Reba,” among others, are favorites for the 13 hours of primetime programming planned for the new network.
But one development few people are talking about is another likely change in the CW’s complexion: It might be a whole lot whiter than the UPN network it is replacing.
“The demise of UPN … will result in the loss of more than half of all African-American primetime characters who appear on the screen” for a significant amount of time, said Darnell Hunt, a professor of sociology at UCLA who is in the midst of a five-year study of blacks in broadcast network primetime television. “This is a major effect.”
The new network, a 50-50 venture between CBS and Warner Bros, was announced Jan. 24 by Les Moonves, chief executive of CBS Corp., which owns UPN.
The WB and UPN have struggled since their launch 11 years ago, losing money steadily. Network insiders put the figure at about $1.8 billion – and analysts generally greeted the merger news as a smart move, since neither network had good prospects for profitability.
The WB and UPN set out initially to woo minority audiences. Over the years, the WB gravitated toward a young, suburban white audience with shows like “Dawson’s Creek” and “Felicity.” But the UPN has long been the most popular network with African-American audiences, with shows such as “Girlfriends.”
For the week ending Jan. 29, for example, “American Idol” topped the Nielsen ratings for black and all audiences alike, but two UPN shows – “Girlfriends” and “All of Us” – also made the top 10 for blacks.
The reason is obvious, Hunt said. Audiences gravitate toward characters to whom they can relate, and UPN has by far the most black characters in central roles. The Big Four networks had an average of 16.2 percent black characters compared with 31 percent on UPN, based on Hunt’s 2002 data, the most recent available.
“I’ve been somewhat ambivalent about the implications of a UPN when you have so many African-American portrayals concentrated there,” he said, adding it would be preferable to have a variety of rich portrayals of black characters spread across the broadcast networks rather than segregated to a network that has been called a primetime ghetto.
Without that, he said, UPN has at least provided one place where there is a proliferation of black characters. Without the network those “portrayals will not exist at all. … I think we’re worse off without it.”
Shows on UPN, the least- watched network, have lagged miserably in the ratings. Shows such as “Half & Half,” “One on One” and “Love, Inc.” all ranked 100 or worse in the Nielsen ratings for the week ending Jan. 29. Even “Everybody Hates Chris,” UPN’s top- rated show with an average 5 million viewers, would probably not make the cut at the Big Four networks.
Exactly which existing shows the CW will pick up from UPN and the WB, and what new shows will be ordered, remains up in the air. UPN president Dawn Ostroff is set to head entertainment at the CW and will be in charge of programming. Her office referred all questions to Chris Ender, a senior vice president for communications at CBS who is serving as CW spokesman.
“Successful programming that appeals to African-American audiences is one of the great achievements at UPN, and we intend for that to carry over to the new network,” Ender said by e-mail. “In fact, executives involved with the CW clearly stated in the network’s opening announcement that an ongoing commitment to serving a diverse audience is a priority.”
He added that until the development process is completed the network will not know “exactly which shows will return and which will not. … The concerns expressed about the minority programming are understandable, but at the end of the day, we believe those concerns will be assuaged.”
Hunt is not so sure.
“Everything suggests that major African-American portrayals will no longer” be represented on the CW, he said. “It’s not just about ratings, it’s about the demographics. … They are going for a mainstream – read ‘white’ – audience.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton expressed a similar sentiment in a recent story in the Chicago Defender, saying that “usually when there’s a merger, a haircut in the white corporate world, blacks are decapitated. I fear we will end up with a season that becomes as white as the Rocky Mountains.”
Looking down the road, Hunt said the issue of getting African- Americans fully integrated into the broad swath of network television will not be easy.
“I think it’s a situation where the market is not going to solve it. The reality is that those who have made the decisions on what’s greenlighted, who is hired … have remained almost uniformly white and male” despite the increasing diversification of the society. “I’m not very optimistic that things will naturally change.”
Staff writer Edward P. Smith can be reached at 303-820-1767 or esmith@denverpost.com.
Blacks on TV
The UPN network has almost twice the percentage of black characters as the other broadcast networks:
ABC: 15.7 percent
CBS: 17.8
NBC: 12.5
Fox: 18.9
UPN: 31
WB: 8.3
Source: “Prime Time in Black and White,” 2002 study, Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA
The ranking of TV shows for the week of Jan. 23-29 for African-American audiences and all audiences:
African-American audiences
1. American Idol- Tuesday (Fox)
2. American Idol- Wednesday (Fox)
3. Jamie Foxx: Unpredictable (NBC)
4. Without a Trace (CBS)
5. CSI (CBS)
6. Wife Swap (ABC)
7. Girlfriends (UPN)
8. CSI: Miami (CBS)
9. Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
10. All of Us (UPN)
All audiences:
1. American Idol- Tuesday (Fox)
2. American Idol- Wednesday (Fox)
3. CSI (CBS)
4. Without a Trace (CBS)
5. CSI: Miami (CBS)
6. Dancing With the Stars (ABC)
7. Grey’s Anatomy (ABC)
8. Lost (ABC)
9. NCIS (CBS)
10. Two and a Half Men (CBS)
Source: Nielsen Media Research
