I May Be Wrong But I Doubt It - Charles Barkley [50]
I know the ratings for golf have skyrocketed since Tiger came on the scene. But I’m saying if they took ratings in the ’hood the golf ratings when Tiger plays would be even higher because ain’t a black person I know who doesn’t build his weekend around watching Tiger play.
When I was growing up, I watched Good Times, Sanford and Son, The Jeffersons, Gunsmoke, What’s Happening!! Every black person in America, as far as I could tell, watched The Cosby Show. I know it was No. 1 in the ratings, but I’d bet the show was watched by so many more people than the Nielsen ratings suggested because it isn’t surveying the ’hood. Okay, people will say, “Charles is being paranoid.” Hasn’t it been proven that blacks and Hispanics have been consistently undercounted in the U.S. census? Wasn’t that a major point of the 2000 census, to make sure poor people were counted properly? Damn, how hard is it to find black and Hispanic people? Most of ’em are living in the biggest cities in the damn country. The census takers just didn’t want to find their asses because important stuff was at stake, like determining school districts and funding.
So if the U.S. government admits it undercounts black folks, why wouldn’t I think the Nielsen people undercount black and Hispanic and, for that matter, poor white viewers? Come on, now. Let’s not be naive about this stuff. The ratings system is flawed in two ways: one, they don’t know who’s watching, and two, they don’t care. As greatly watched as Alex Haley’s Roots was in 1977, I bet you the audience was a lot greater than we know because of the number of black viewers not even represented. Because of the importance attached to the ratings, because the ratings determine what shows stay on, I think it’s in our best interest to challenge the ratings. Good shows that black and white people watch have been canceled, and the reason given was low ratings. But how do we know? We’d have to trust the current ratings system and I just don’t.
So, we’re not represented in the ratings and we sure aren’t represented on the air. How can CBS and NBC have no blacks in lead roles on their shows? I mean, there are almost no blacks on their shows. Thank God for the WB and UPN or we just wouldn’t be on television. Some of these shows with all-white casts, I’m wondering if they don’t have black friends or coworkers. Damn, real life is more integrated than most of these TV shows. You look at these shows, there’s no way of telling that black and Hispanic and Asian people make up more than 25 percent of America. Prime-time network TV in no way reflects the diversity of America, and really doesn’t reflect who is watching the most TV. Those are the most underrepresented groups.
And I don’t know what’s worse, TV or Hollywood.
On the Turner broadcast before the Oscars I had predicted Halle Berry and Denzel Washington would win best actress and best actor. And I was happy not only for the both of them, but for all the black actors and actresses who came before them and had brilliant performances in movies for the past fifty years and never got a sniff of a nomination.
As deserving as Denzel is of that Oscar, I don’t know if he deserved it for Training Day. My movie fascination began later in life, when I had time to go to the theater. But I see a whole lot of movies now, and I thought he deserved the Oscar for Best Actor for The Hurricane and for Malcolm X. It was silly that the problems with the historical accuracy of The Hurricane wound up penalizing Denzel. How stupid and how unfair is it to hold The Hurricane to this lofty standard when every picture made in Hollywood is dramatized to some extent. All these movies that are “based” on real life or a script or something historic in nature . . . in every one of those damn movies the producer or the screenwriter has taken liberties with the original work. So please don’t tell me The Hurricane should be treated differently, or that Denzel’s portrayal of Hurricane Carter didn