Fun Friday: Character Demographics This Season

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

For seventeen years now, GLAAD has been tracking the number of LGBT characters in scripted programming. You can see their entire report here, which is full of fantastic facts and figures. I wanted to share some highlights, though, as the numbers are pretty interesting.

Their estimate for the 2012-2013 television season (defined as any show premiering 6/1/12-5/31/13) is that 4.4% (of 701, meaning 31) of all regular characters (on new shows and returning shows) on the five major networks are LGBT. An additional 19 recurring characters are LGBT as well. Cable adds another 35 regulars and 26 recurring.

Where We Are On TV 2012-2013 Season
http://www.glaad.org/files/whereweareontv12.pdf

For comparison, they counted only 1.1% of all regular characters on network programming being LGBT in 2007.

Some other facts from the report that stood out to me:

- Women make up 45% of television characters this season.

- Of the network LGBT characters, 61% are gay men, 20% are lesbian women, 14% bisexual women, and 4% bisexual men. On cable, 49% are gay men, 27% are lesbian women, 15% are bisexual women, and 8% are bisexual men. Of the cable LGBT characters, 4% are transgender, a category not addressed yet this year on network TV.

- Glee and True Blood tie for the highest number of LGBT characters at six each!

- Showtime has 12 regular LGBT characters, the highest of any cable network.

- The CW only had one LGBT character at the start of the 2011 season, but now they have four. Speaking of The CW, 83% of their characters are white. (For comparison 72% of NBC's characters are white.) Latinos are specifically under-represented, with only 4% of the characters on network programming being Latino, despite the US being 16% Latino!

- Last year, only five LGBT characters were "people of color," (POC) but this year there are 14.

- The only network shows this year to have LGBT POC are Bones, Don't Trust the B---- in Apt. 23, Emily Owens, MD, Glee, The Good Wife, Grey's Anatomy, The LA Complex, Malibu Country, The Office, Smash, and Suburgatory. Four are Latino, three are Asian/Pacific Islander, and seven are Black.

- On cable, LGBT POC can be found on Anger Management, Army Wives, Enlightened, House of Lies, Major Crimes, Pretty Little Liars, Single Ladies, Superjail!, Teen Wolf, True Blood, and White Collar.

- The number of disabled characters (a population we've looked at before) decreased this year, to just four - one on each of the four largest networks. GLAAD counts characters with "non-apparent disabilities such as cancer or HIV/AIDS" (as does the ADA). [Because the number is so low, I'll name them for those interested: Dr. Robbins on Grey's Anatomy is an amputee, CSI has a character using prosthetic legs, Parenthood has a character with Asperger's, and Artie on Glee uses a wheelchair. Dr. Robbins will be one of only two LGBT characters with disabilities, the other is the diabetic Thor on Nurse Jackie.]

How do these numbers compare with what you thought they were or where you think they should be? 

For starters, I know that I was surprised to see there were shows featuring six LGBT characters, and I'm surprised at how many of the depicted LGBT characters are white.  

Was it Canceled?

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

When I was a kid, I didn't understand much of why a show was canceled or renewed. I generally thought that the writers had no more stories for a specific set of characters, and that's why so many series finales were big, all-out episodes. The randomness of Michelle's amnesia on Full House comes to mind. Later, I thought that they ended shows when the characters got past the age that the show was designed to portray - like when the Saved by the Bell gang graduated from high school. That made perfect sense to me, especially because Saved by the Bell: The College Years was a completely separate show, as was Good Morning, Miss Bliss, when Zack, Screech, and Lisa were in middle school. When I got to high school, however, I started to learn (the hard way, of course), that it wasn't so much to do with the writers or the characters - it was the ratings. Somewhere around 1998 I began to "try out" new shows, as opposed to catching ones that were already established and joining the crowd. I loved a show I've written about before, which was so forgettable that nobody has ever been able to tell me what it was called... I suspect it lasted about five episodes, and was about teenagers going to high school while pursuing Olympic dreams. In 1999 I thought that Get Real was an awesome show, and I became a fan of Anne Hathaway even before The Princess Diaries. It lasted a single season. Just like last year's Better with You. A lot of shows don't last that long, though... 10-13 episodes are all they get, like Miami Medical, Sons of Tucson, and The Goode Family.

But, the time has come and the hammer is down... the majority of the 2011-2012 shows on the broadcast networks have now been renewed. We knew that the time was coming, what with the network up-fronts this coming week, but the vast majority of renewals and cancellations have already been announced, so here ya go. Hope you're not too upset! After the announcements I'll post a few thoughts.

First, the cancellations. Because, otherwise, you'll just scroll down to read those first anyway. I know you. :)

NBC really has the boatload of cancellations. Chuck is the only show that "just ended" while they have also pulled The Playboy Club, Free Agents, Awake, Bent, Best Friends Forever, The Firm, Harry's Law, Prime Suspect, and Are You There, Chelsea?. If you haven't heard of some of them, you're not alone. Many are blaming poor marketing and bad timeslot placement for several of these shows failing, particularly Bent.

From ABC, many of these were already known, but they've canceled Charlie's Angels, Man Up, Pan Am, Work It, Missing, GCB, and The River. Desperate Housewives has ended as well.

FOX has canceled Allen Gregory, Terra Nova, Breaking In, Alcatraz, I Hate My Teenage Daughter, and The Finder. They've also pulled the plug on House. They have not yet announced the futures for Napoleon Dynamite or Bob's Burgers.

CBS is holding onto the announcements for seven of their shows (including both CSI spin-offs and Two and a Half Men), so stay tuned for more on those, but they've actually canceled A Gifted Man and How to be a Gentleman.

If you care about the CW, they've canceled The Secret Circle and Ringer, and One Tree Hill is also finally ending. An announcement is pending for The LA Complex.


Now, onto the renewals!
On NBC, you'll see more of 30 Rock, Whitney, Up All Night, Smash, The Office, Grimm, Community, Parenthood, Parks & Recreation, and Law and Order: SVU.

ABC will bring you more Modern Family, The Middle, Suburgatory, Once Upon a Time, Last Man Standing, Grey's Anatomy, Castle, Body of Proof, Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23, Happy Endings, Private Practice, Revenge, and Scandal. Cougar Town has not been canceled, but you'll have to have TBS to watch new episodes next season.

FOX has decided to renew Bones, Glee, Fringe, New Girl, Raising Hope, Touch, American Dad, The Cleveland Show, Family Guy, and The Simpsons.

Over on CBS, look forward to more NCIS, NCIS: LA, CSI, How I Met Your Mother, 2 Broke Girls, Mike & Molly, The Big Bang Theory, Criminal Minds, Person of Interest, Hawaii Five-0, Blue Bloods, The Good Wife, and The Mentalist.

And, if you're a CW person, have fun with additonal 90210, Gossip Girl, Hart of Dixie, Nikita, Supernatural, and The Vampire Diaries.


Now, some thoughts...
None of the announced cancellations truly upset me this year. Perhaps if ABC would have officially canceled Pan Am a few months ago I would have cared more, but I've made my peace with it by this point. I'm a tad bummed that Terra Nova won't see the light of day again, but I didn't think it would get renewed so I wasn't crossing my fingers there. Alcatraz's cancellation does bum me out a bit, and I was hoping for an eleventh-hour renewal, but I can handle it going away, too. I'm downright thrilled that GCB is off the air and I'll wave goodbye as House finishes up in a few weeks. I do think that Bent deserved more of a chance, but it's too late now, anyway. I hope you're able to make your peace with the future of your favorite show (and hang in there, folks banking on one of the remaining few to be saved!), but we're going to have a lot to look forward to with the rest of the new pick-ups coming this week!

News Roundup: End of March 2012

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

Renewals, Cancellations, & Scheduling:
BBCAmerica's Being Human will return for a fifth season of six episodes.

FOX's Q'Viva: The Chosen is being shortened from two hours to ninety minutes... and it's moving to 11pm instead of 8pm on Saturday nights. Cops and Bones will fill the gap.

The CW's The LA Complex (which doesn't premiere in the US until April 24th) will expand its first season from six episodes to nineteen. The new episodes will air over the summer.

FOX has renewed Bones for an eighth season.

Animal Planet has renewed Pit Boss, My Cat from Hell, and Pit Bulls & Parolees.

MTV renewed The Challenge for a 23rd season and The Real World for a 28th season.

Nickelodeon will present Dora's Easter Adventure for the first time this Wednesday, April 4th at 10am ET/PT.

TLC has yet another reality competition show in the world. Craft Wars will being its 10-episode run on June 26th, hosted by Tori Spelling.

Cast & Plot Updates:
Jason Alexander will have a role on an upcoming episode of Two and a Half Men.

Lindsay Lohan and Whoopi Goldberg will both guest on Glee this season.

Shows in Development & Other Fun Stuff:
Netflix has decided to pass on Terra Nova after all, so consider it gone for good.

FX is looking at potentially making Fargo into a television show.

You may have known that you can watch the pilot for Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 early on ABC's website and on Hulu, but the second episode will also be available on April 2nd, a full nine days before the official debut.

NatGeo's Bid & Destroy will "give viewers an unprecedented look into the cutthroat, rough and demanding world of demolition." Twelve episodes are expected later this year.

Way back in October, Scott Baio was cast as the lead in Daddy's Home, an original show for Nick at Nite, but the network has ordered 20 episodes, to start filming later this year.

FX will have six installments of the untitled late show with Chris Rock & W. Kamau Bell, premiering this summer.

NBC is launching "NBC Kids" on Saturday, July 7th. This three-hour block will help meet the development needs of 2-5 year-olds.

Disney finally beat Nickelodeon in "average number of total daily viewers." If took them nearly 17 years to do so.

News Roundup: Early 2012 Scheduling

by Amy K. Bredemeyer

This is our first news round-up of the year, so it covers nearly three weeks of entertainment fun facts. Ergo, the full post was very long. So, we split it up into three posts to cover three areas, hoping it'll be more digestible for readers. Next week we plan to return to our normal, one-news-post-per-week schedule.

Renewals:
Flashpoint has been renewed for a fifth season.

Giuliana and Bill has been renewed for a fifth season.

USA renewed Psych for a seventh season.

TVLand renewed Hot in Cleveland for a fourth season.

The Glee Project was renewed by Oxygen for a second season.


Last Man Standing will now have 24 episodes this season instead of 22.

Cancellations:
You'll also start seeing Last Man Standing more often, since ABC canceled Work It after just two episodes.

So You Think You Can Dance has had its results show canceled.

China has canceled 88 television shows since October.

The Martha Stewart Show has been cancelled, partly due to high production costs. After April, only repeats will be running.

Other Scheduling Updates:
Fairly Legal and In Plain Sight will move to Friday on March 16th.

Life's Too Short, a faux documentary starring Warwick Davis as a fictionalized version of himself, will debut on February 19th on HBO. Look for it on Sundays. HBO's Luck debuts on Sunday, January 29th. HBO's Game of Thrones returns Sunday, April 1st, at 9pm for its second season.

Disney XD is going to launch "Marvel Universe" on Sunday, April 1st. It's a programming block that will feature the new animated series Ultimate Spider-Man.

Mad Men will return for a fifth season on March 25th, starting with a two-hour opener. The Killing returning on Sunday, April 1st.

Swamp People's third season will premiere on Thursday, February 9th.

Cougar Town is back February 14th.

Degrassi is back on Monday, February 20th on TeenNick.

Some ABC premiere dates: Don't Trust the B--- in Apartment 23 will premiere on Wednesday, April 11th. The River will premiere on Tuesday, February 7th. Scandal will premiere Thursday, April 5th. 

Sunday, April 8th is a big day for Showtime - Nurse Jackie, The Big C, and The Borgias are all back that night!

Being Human comes to BBC America on Saturday, February 25th at 9pm ET/PT. Absolutely Fabulous comes to the network on Sunday, February 12th at 11pm ET/PT.


Netflix's original series, Lilyhammer, will have its entire first season available to watch in the US and Canada, starting February 6th.

Can't wait to see Smash when it officially debuts on February 6th? You don't have to - some American Airlines flights will have it in-flight through January 30th, it'll stream on NBC.com and Hulu from January 23rd thru February 6th, and it'll be available thru February 6th on iTunes, Amazon Video on Demand, Xbox, Zune, Playstation, Vudu, and Samsung MediaHub.
New Comedy Central series Key & Peele (with eight episodes to start) begins Tuesday, January 31st at 10:30pm. The duo is most known for their improvisation and celebrity impressions. [Comedy Central Press Release]