Why UPN’s Black Sitcoms Ended - Here's Why

throughout history arts and entertainment have been used as a way to express ourselves tell stories give us relief from oppression and as an escape from the harsh reality of daily struggles as history started to repeat itself in the early 1920s a distraction was needed and we got the harlem renaissance which became a social and artistic explosion and a mecca for black culture the harlem renaissance is widely considered as the golden age for african-american culture showcasing literature music art and live performances the harlem renaissance was a rebirth of black excellence similar to the harlem renaissance black sitcoms had also seen a rebirth after what seemed like an eternity with an absent of black faces on tv screens in the 70s we had samford and sun good times and the jeffersons in the 80s we had the cosby show and in the 90s we had fresh prince martin a different world and family matters tv executives noticed that these shows were not only enjoyed by blacks but they can also be enjoyed by almost anyone despite the success that these shows had seeing a black lead on screen was still a rarity it wasn't until the introduction of the upn and the wb network where we got to see another renaissance of black sitcoms on television but just as surprisingly it came the networks and its black sitcoms disappeared here's why upn and his black sitcoms came to an end before upn in the wb launch fox was a network that solved the trend of successful black sitcoms and capitalized on it with shows like in living color martin living single rock and the sinbad show the shows on fox were unapologetically black martin was a black show the cosby show on the other hand was a family that just happened to be black it may come as a surprise to many but upn wasn't the first network to implement shows with predominantly black casts the wb had made it a priority as the fox had cancelled all of his black led sitcoms in the late 90s most of the network's executives jumped ship to a new upcoming network the wb where they would try to appeal to black viewers the first show to debut on the wb was the waynes brothers and it set the tone for what the network was trying to be the show was a breakout success and immediately renewed for a second season following the wayne's brothers the wb premiered robert townsend's to parenthood and later picked up sister sister which was cancelled by abc in august of 1996 we would then get sitcom starring steve harvey and jamie foxx both harvey and fox began making names for themselves in their respected markets harvey coming off of his stint as the host of showtime at the apollo and fox was then known as a comedic actor who got a start on in living color in less than two years the wb had cemented himself in becoming the go-to place for black entertainment however this formula wouldn't last long as the network decided to expand by adding several shows that would cater to white teenagers shows like buffy the vampire slayer dawson's creek charm and seven heaven would become super popular and prove to be more profitable these teen dramas are what became priority for the network shifting its focus from black audiences to white ones around the same time upn took the wb's formula and started to focus on black audiences upn was launched in january of 1995 and one of the first shows the debut on the network was militia starring brandy norwood militia was originally ordered as a pilot for cbs's 1995-1996 television season but was passed on by the network so upn took the opportunity and picked it up as a mid-season replacement moisha not only went on to become the biggest success of the time for upn lasting six seasons but the series also paved the way for spin-offs militia was the first hit for upn averaging 3.5 million viewers per episode the series would achieve a ratings high of 4 million a week by its third season the show was an undeniable success for the network they ordered a spin-off series following one of his supporting characters ken parker played by countess vaughn the spin-off would be called the parkers and vonn would be joined by comedian monique in his starring role the parkers would be another hit for upn as his first season would average about 2.6 million a week by the time the series ended in 2004 its audience had grown to 3.3 million viewers in addition to moesha and the parkers european had comedies like in the house malcolm and eddie and the hugely to complete their lineup familiar names like ella cool j malcolm jamar warner eddie griffin and d.o hughley helped sell those shows upn had become a savior for some shows that were cancelled by major networks in the house originally aired on nbc for its first two seasons after low ratings the network picked it up where they aired an additional two seasons the same thing happened with the hughleys after being cancelled by abc after a second season upn stepped in and hosted another two seasons before it was cancelled again upn had become known as the black network from one perspective it appeared that upn found its audience their monday night lineup showcasing a night of black sitcoms would forever be remembered but a look inside the european offices tells a different story within two years of upn's launch paramount and viacom bought a 50 stake into upn from chris craft television in a deal that was worth around 160 million dollars according to the new yorker as a result of the lack of viewership upn started to lose money and reportedly lost around 800 million dollars by the year 2000 only five years after its launch why was upn losing money how was this even possible simple there was no consistency when it came to upn's audience a 2003 desert article would point out the upn's programming model would be a reason why the network wasn't holding on to viewers the article states upn is focusing on attracting viewers ages 18 to 34 and they're very proud of the minority audience that watches the network's programming but among the network struggles is the fact that it has a very little audience flow from one night to the next the fact that upn has five different audiences on five different nights viewers who watch the black sitcoms on mondays don't watch buffy the vampire slayer on tuesdays who don't watch enterprise on wednesdays who don't watch wwe wrestling on thursdays who don't watch the upn movie on fridays while many at home love the black sitcoms on monday nights the network behind the scenes was losing money going into the 2000s upn welcome shows like girlfriends one on one half and half all of us and eve shows that would resonate with a black audience girlfriends were going to become the network's longest running sitcom lasting 6 seasons and 137 episodes before moving to the cw where it ran for another two years the ratings for these sitcoms did well for upn but they still paled in comparison when it came to sitcoms on the major networks despite the launch of more black shows upn continued to lose money in 2003 upn's comedy lineup consisted of the parkers eve girlfriends and half and half on monday nights with one on one and all of us airing back to back on tuesdays all of those shows averaged around 3 to 3.5 million viewers in episode their competition varied throughout the years girlfriends in half and half aired opposite of everybody loves raymond and two and a half men on cbs for the 2003-2004 tv season raymond was the number 10 show on tv getting just over 17 million viewers an episode compared to girlfriends at 3.6 million which ranked as the 128th show that same year one on one averaged 2.9 million viewers his competition that 70s show averaged 10 million viewers the bernie mac show would often compete with european sitcoms as well averaging 7.5 million viewers during the 2003-2004 season all the european shows would most likely have been canceled if they aired on the major networks they were able to survive being outside of the big four in 2005 upn scored its highest rated series in several years everybody hates chris in his debut season everybody hates chris averaged 4.2 million viewers becoming the highest rated comedy on upn and the second highest rated show overall only behind america's next top model everybody hates chris premiered on upn on september 22nd 2005 and took no time in becoming an instant critical hit and a fan favorite the american film institute selected everybody hates chris as one of the best 10 television series of 2007 saying that the show provides a very real look at growing up in america a challenge that demands a discussion of race and class often absent from television today after its first season the show won outstanding comedy series at the naacp image awards and tashina arnold took home the award for outstanding actress in a comedy series that same year unfortunately the high ratings of everybody hates chris wasn't enough to save the declining european network in january of 2006 however upn and the wb announced they were officially shutting down and a new broadcast network that would operate as a joint partnership between the two would form called the cw the move came as a result of both networks losing money it was announced that only six european shows would make the transition to the cw veronica mars everybody hates chris girlfriends america's next top model all of us and wwe smackdown ratings for those shows decreased even further when the network switch became official everybody hates chris lost over a million and a half viewers when the second season debuted on the cw and girlfriends lost nearly a million viewers the entire audience didn't make the transition from the upn network to the cw by 2008 the cw had been on air for two years and everybody hates chris was the last scripted show from upn still standing the show was paired with the game a spin-off of girlfriends that made its debut on the cw in fall of 2006. now it's been nearly 15 years since the cw launch and none of its programming reflects a diverse audience like upn and the wb did in the late 90s and early 2000s supernatural is the only series left from either network and most of his show is rooted in the dc superhero universe catering towards white teens in a 2019 interview with shadow and act star of half and half essence atkins would further explain why many of upn's black sitcoms came to an end when the cw was created when you're the number one number two show on a network and then the network just dissolves and gets bought out and becomes something else it's not the first time that a network has built their wealth on black content and then slowly but surely goes to a gentrification process we as black audiences we are incredibly loyal we have a lot of buying power and so markets capitalize on that what seemed to be the pattern was that they would get their hit wise show and then they would slowly but surely eradicate the directives that leads a big deficit in terms of us being able to see our own stories believing in your own story and amassing an audience to the point where you become undeniable for the harlem renaissance the end began with the market crash of 1929 and the great depression by the mid-1930s many pivotal harlem residents have moved on to seek work elsewhere as both the harlem renaissance and upn are memories of the past their impact and influence are unquestioned just as the harlem renaissance served as a reawakening of black entertainment and art so was upn upn came at a time where networks were overlooking black sitcoms and the black audience upn broke that mode when the network ended there was a huge void in black prime time sitcoms a void that just recently been filled with shows like blackish atlanta and insecure but we still have yet to recapture the essence and representation of what an all black lineup provided

Channel: Comedy Hype

Views: 595,189

Keywords: comedy, jokes, laughter, stand-up, comedy hype, best comedians, real talk, comedy hype news, true story, new funny, upn sitcom, moesha, the hughleys, the parkers, girlfriends, one on one show, all of us show, new comedians, sitcom, black sitcoms, fresh prince

Id: dtjCCodIvYs

Length: 12min 24sec (744 seconds)

Published: Tue Sep 22 2020