In her article, "Pilots 2015: The Year Of Ethnic Castings – About Time Or Too Much Of Good Thing?", she discusses her thoughts on TV pilots that include minority actors (African Americans, Latino, Asians, ect.) starring in them. What gets the backlash for sure (and deserved) is that she believes it has started because of shows like Fresh Off the Boat, Black-ish, How to Get Away with Murder and Empire, all of which are big hits, especially for minority viewers, and thinks that it's too much for the practice of TV pilots.
You see, I get where she's going at. To a point. But the execution still sounds bad. And of course some people are going to find this ignorant and racist. I honestly don't and do.
She does makes some good points: it's definitely not a coincidence for the networks to start producing pilots with minority actors after Black-ish and Empire became big hits. Because of those successes, the broadcast networks began taking pilots with minorities almost in droves. And an interesting point: some pilots that had characters originally portrayed by white actors are now switched to being portrayed by minority actors. Including the cast of characters in the small-screen adaptation of Uncle Buck being played by African American actors and a pilot called The Advocate, which has one white and one black character, while based on two white founders of a healthcare consulting company.
But here's another thing: It still feels wrong to publish this.
Take for instance, her mention of this picture.
It felt uncomfortable, strange and too detailed. And it didn't need to be used.
In fact the article itself is too detailed and uncomfortable. I myself am known for too detailed blog posts and such, and even I find this too much too handle. Even if this was used to mention ABC's drama pilot Broad Squad (fine title, by the way), it still came off as strange and not needed.
Oh and that title: Too Much of A Good Thing.
How in the ever-hating Hell is group of TV Shows and Pilots with minorities "too much of a good thing"?! That makes no fucking sense!
Even putting together the number of TV shows starring minority actors in lead roles or TV pilots with minorities attached and it's still a small number of them against the other TV shows and/or pilots involving white actors. So it's never too much of a good thing, especially when there was never too much of a good thing having many TV shows and pilots with predominately Caucasian casts for years, at least to you. It's good to have pilots with ethnic casts. It shows that television has progressed with not just ethnic actors, but also with those with different sexual orientations. You cannot say this when you've reported stuff like this for years.
When I read this, I was as pissed as those who also read it. I don't find it right for a title and it will get clicks and views, but for all the wrong reasons. And rightfully so. This is a very bad, yet intentionally good. Some parts are true and all fine and dandy, but others are too much and creepily uninteresting.
This was a fucking stupid article, and it should not have been made. Andreeva should not have put her fingers on her keyboard to write this down, even if some parts did make sense. It shouldn't matter if a show should be talked about because of the race of the cast; it should matter because of what the show is about, the characters, the content, the story and the popularity. And if you, an editor for a TELEVISION/ENTERTAINMENT REPORTING WEBSITE, can't notice that, then you should be fired or suspended or should not have gotten the job in the first place.
Nellie Andreeva, I believe you have some 'splainin' to do about this. This article will ruin your credibility as a good online commentator, and it's gonna take a damn long time before you ever get most of it back and for the people who loved your work and respected you to love your work and respect you again.
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