Representation on TV: Highlights for April Include ‘A Black Lady Sketch Show’ and ‘The Owl House’
Diversity and inclusion are crucial parts of television’s ability to reflect the rich multitudes of experiences and perspectives that make up the communities we live in and beyond.
Because of how much these things matter, every month, we’ll be highlighting representation news from the industry and shows expanding representation on TV.
We’ll also take a closer look at a specific topic each month to better understand the state of representation on TV today and celebrate changemakers in the industry.
This month we have new research from the Writer’s Guild of America West, we are excited about A Black Lady Sketch, and we’re putting the spotlight on Luz Noceda from The Owl House.
In the News
The Simpsons Feature First Deaf Voice Actor and Use of American Sign Language
- For The Simpsons Season 33 Episode 17, “The Sound of Bleeding Gums,” the series introduced viewers to Monk, the deaf son of Bleeding Gums Murphy.
- Monk is voiced by deaf actor John Autry II and utilizes American Sign Language (ASL) on-screen to bring his story to life.
Elliot Page’s Character Will Come Out as Trans in The Umbrella Academy’s Third Season
- Following the actor’s own coming out announcement in December of 2020, Page revealed the news on social media with a post, simply saying, “Meet Viktor Hargreeves.”
- Viktor will make his debut when Season 3 of the Umbrella Academy drops on Netflix on June 22nd.
The First Round of GLAAD’s 2022 Media Awards Announced
- TV winners included Hacks, Saved by The Bell, and It’s a Sin. Special recognition awards were also announced for Jeopardy champion Amy Schneider and Michaela Jaé Rodriguez, among others.
- The remaining awards will be given out during GLAAD’s NY ceremony on May 6th.
WGA West Releases 2022 Screenwriting Inclusion Report
- The report showed BIPOC screenwriters increased from only 5.2% in 2010 to 22.6% in 2020, up from 20.2% in the prior year.
- However, the report also showed that white men remain predominant in high-level positions in TV and feature employment.
- Despite gains for many groups, Latinx writers and writers with disabilities remain severely underrepresented and did not see the same gains as other groups.
On TV Screens: A Black Lady Sketch Show
Robin Thede’s groundbreaking and irreverent series, A Black Lady Sketch Show, returned in April for its third season. If you haven’t already checked it out, do yourself a favor and get on that.
The series is exactly what the name suggests, a sketch comedy show made by Black women.
Boasting an incredibly talented writers’ room, including break-out star Ashley Nicole Black, A Black Lady Sketch show effortlessly blends boisterous, brash humor with shrewdly clever satire. It is just the right amount of ridiculous and insightful.
The series is also known for its cavalcade of guest stars. These include Angela Basset, Issa Rae (a producer on the series), and Ava DuVernay, to name a small fraction. Part of the fun of watching the series is seeing who shows up each week and how.
Whether it’s fan-favorite characters like Dr. Haddassah Olayinka Ali-Youngman, pre Ph.D., or the ongoing, multi-season end of the world saga, A Black Lady Sketch show is always a joy to watch.
Spotlight: The Owl House’s Luz Noceda
The Owl House’s Luz Noceda — created by Dana Terrace — is one of the best fantasy protagonists on TV, animated or otherwise.
Luz is kind, loyal, brave, and optimistic. She’s flawed and vulnerable, making for great character-driven storytelling that viewers can connect and empathize with. She is also Disney’s first bisexual lead character in an animated series.
The Owl House unapologetically embraces all the parts that make Luz who she is, including that she is bisexual. They’ve even given her an adorable relationship with Amity Blight that became official by the middle of the second season.
Instead of having to wait until the end of a series to confirm romantic feelings, viewers get to see Luz and Amity navigate the challenges of first love with the same care and attention that straight couples have gotten for decades.
We get to see them grow together and help each other be the best versions of themselves officially as girlfriends. The importance of that kind of representation can’t be understated, especially right now.
In addition to being a queer character, Luz is also Dominican American and neurodiverse, offering representation for two other woefully underrepresented groups.
UCLA’s 2021 Hollywood Diversity Report found that even as representation for marginalized groups has increased significantly, the numbers for Latinx representation remained dismal.
Despite being 18.5% of the population, Latinx characters made up only 7.1% of lead roles on broadcast TV and fewer than 5% on cable. That context makes Luz being a bisexual Latinx character even more significant.
Neurodiverse representation is growing on television in encouraging ways. However, many examples still tend to fall into shallow tropes, and most examples are male characters.
Luz is not only a rare example of a neurodivergent female character, as confirmed by Terrace herself. She is also written in a way where that part of her identity is seamlessly woven into Luz’s larger arc.
Sometimes those traits are a source of strength, and sometimes they are a challenge for her. Most importantly, they are always a part of who Luz is and embraced as fully as anything else about her.
Representation of all sorts has come a long way in children and family programming. Our expectations have moved beyond cheering simply seeing diverse characters on TV.
We want more than one-note supporting characters, and we want complex quality characters that represent different experiences and intersecting perspectives. We want characters exactly like Luz Noceda.
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Sarah Fields
Sarah is an obsessive geek who likes to get into the weeds and over think things. She is passionate about Sci-Fi and comics and is a giant classic film nerd. Sarah cares deeply about media representation and the power of telling diverse stories. When she's not writing or watching her favorite shows she spends her days working in the non-profit world trying to make life a little better for those that need some extra help.