Documentaries are not supposed to be able to attract huge, mainstream audiences. Just ask all the TV networks that don't make them any more, claiming attention spans are too short for such long-form programming.

But CNN turned that notion on its head a year ago with Black in America, a documentary reported by Soledad O'Brien that was seen by 16 million people in the middle of the summer and helped ignite one of the most intense and widespread discussions of any TV production of the year. And most of the talk it generated was about race, a subject that TV had a long history of mostly trying to avoid until last year and the arrival of the nation's first black presidential candidate of a major party.

CNN returns to the topic this week for four hours across tonight and Thursday with Black in America 2, a sequel with every bit as much power and passion as the original. In fact, Black in America 2 might prove to be an even more moving TV experience for some viewers.

Continue reading "CNN's Black in America 2: TV that makes us smarter" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 6:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)
Categories: CNN, TV and race
        

So, now the Rev. Al Sharpton is a media critic. Well, let me tell you something. He is a very reckless one  -- making racially-charged allegations without having his facts straight.

Sunday, standing in the pulpit of the First African Methodist Episcopal Church of Los Angeles, Sharpton called coverage of Michael Jackson's death "disgraceful."

"I am here because of the disgraceful and the despicable way some elements of the media have  tried to destroy the legacy and image of Michael Jackson," he told the congregation, charging the media with using different standards for black and white performers.

"You have had other entertainers that have had issues in their life," he said. "But you [the media] did not degrade and denigrate them... Show the same respect for Michael and Michael's family that you showed Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley."

From what planet was Sharpton following Presley's death if he thinks tawdry aspects of Presley's life weren't reported? There was no shortage of reporting about the details of how and where Presley's body was found, the cocktail of drugs to which he was addicted and the weirdness in general of Presley's life at Graceland. And in 1977, we didn't have the vast landscape of Web and cable outlets that we do today.

Continue reading "Rev. Al Sharpton recklessly attacks media on Jackson " »

Posted by David Zurawik at 12:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (38)
Categories: TV and race
        

In 25 years of writing about TV award shows, I have never seen one with the energy of Sunday’s BET Awards Show. Refashioned in the wake of Thursday’s death of Michael Jackson into a tribute to him, the live telecast brilliantly tapped into the wellspring of admiration, love, hurt and shock over his death that engulfed the show business community – particularly among Jackson’s fellow black performers.

Race was a part of the energy in Sunday’s tribute – let’s not ignore it. Host Jamie Foxx certainly put it out there on the table from his first words.

Following a show-stopper of an opening that featured New Edition doing a medley of Jackson 5 songs as images of the Jacksons flashed on giants screens behind them, Foxx opened the event by telling the audience at Los Angeles’ Shrine Auditorium, "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us. We shared him with everybody else."

Continue reading "BET Awards soar on memories of Michael Jackson" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:23 PM | Permalink | Comments (26)
Categories: TV and Pop Culture, TV and race
        

The Open Society Institute of Baltimore is launching a yearlong dicussion about race in America, and TV is at the heart of that conversation in two upcoming events.

Tuesday, the series offers a showing of the HBO documentary The Black List: Volume Two, and a question and answer session afterward with the filmmakers, photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and former New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell.

The Black List is a series of interviews featuring persons of color talking about their lives, careers, achievements and challenges. The mix ranges from filmmaker Tyler Perry to physician Valerie Montgomery-Rice. The screening starts at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Brown Center at the Maryland Institute College of Art at 1300 Mount Royal Ave. in Baltimore.

Continue reading "Open Society uses TV to talk about race in Baltimore" »

Posted by David Zurawik at 11:22 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: TV and race