Sunday, April 16, 2006

Essay 537


There’s a small revolution happening with Black actors taking leading roles in television series outside of UPN and BET. This season has Dennis Haysbert (The Unit, pictured above), Andre Braugher (Thief) and Adrian Lester (Hustle) heading critically-acclaimed dramas on CBS, FX and AMC.

“It may be insubstantial and soon melt away, or it may be the beginning of something significant. I really can’t tell,” said Braugher. “My hopes are that it’s the beginning of something significant.”

“The fact that I’m an African-American man as a lead, it really doesn’t surprise me at all because I’ve never seen myself as a victim or any of those things,” said Haysbert. “I just thought that when I wasn’t a lead before, it was just shortsighted.”

Television Reporter Maureen Ryan wrote about it for The Chicago Tribune. Click on the essay title to read the full story.

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