# ABC Sitcoms and Identity Politics **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090 "2016-06-22T21:34:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/1 "2016-06-22T21:34:42Z")
Has anybody noticed a certain formulaic tendency in recently launched sitcoms on ABC? Black family: Black-ish Jewish family: The Goldbergs Chinese immigrant family: Fresh Off the Boat Irish-Catholic family + gay kid (two-fer!): The Real O’Neals Lower-middle-class upper-midwest family: The Middle And coming in the fall: Family with handicapped kid: Speechless Not that I have a problem…I watch all of these, and they’re all more-or-less funny. But is this just ABC riding a trend, or did they have a meeting where they decided to check off all the demographic boxes? ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/2 "2016-06-22T21:39:35Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Has anybody noticed a certain formulaic tendency in recently launched sitcoms on ABC? > > Black family: Black-ish > Jewish family: The Goldbergs > Chinese immigrant family: Fresh Off the Boat > Irish-Catholic family + gay kid (two-fer!): The Real O’Neals > Lower-middle-class upper-midwest family: The Middle > > And coming in the fall: > > Family with handicapped kid: Speechless > > Not that I have a problem…I watch all of these, and they’re all more-or-less funny. But is this just ABC riding a trend, or did they have a meeting where they decided to check off all the demographic boxes? So it’s “identify politics” when a network features shows with a non-WASP cast? I hurt too much right now to properly mock this sentiment, so just pretend I cursed a lot at you, okay? There would have been at least one LOTR references and two or three accusations of Smurfiness, ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/3 "2016-06-22T21:48:53Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > So it’s “identify politics” when a network features shows with a non-WASP cast? > > I hurt too much right now to properly mock this sentiment, so just pretend I cursed a lot at you, okay? There would have been at least one LOTR references and two or three accusations of Smurfiness, Oh, c’mon. There have been sitcoms with non-WASP casts since Amos 'n Andy. This isn’t new and I’m not alarmed. It’s the fact that they are so interchangeable, from the same network and rolled out in the same 5 year block that is noteworthy. They look like cars coming off the assembly line with slight differences in options. My sentiment (perhaps not clearly elucidated) is to cynically accuse the network of cynicism. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/4 "2016-06-22T22:18:37Z")
> [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](#): > > So it’s “identify politics” when a network features shows with a non-WASP cast? I think it’s more about how the titles make it sound like “Ok, this is the Black show and this is the Jewish show and this is the Irish show…” as opposed to a more general sounding name for a show that happens to be about a [group] family. I don’t watch much television though so I’m going off the list in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/5 "2016-06-22T22:23:59Z")
I feel like ABC is the only broadcast channel still doing Family-based sitcoms, as opposed to workplace or “Group of friends” sitcoms anymore. Which probably accentuates the assembly line feel to them. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/6 "2016-06-22T22:26:33Z")
> [@Jophiel](#): > > I think it’s more about how the titles make it sound like “Ok, this is the Black show and this is the Jewish show and this is the Irish show…” as opposed to a more general sounding name for a show that happens to be about a [group] family. > > I don’t watch much television though so I’m going off the list in the OP. The title of BLACKISH is almost essential to the conceit; it’s about the tension between ecultural expectations of how black persons should be an an changing reality. And its best episodes - I’m thinking specifically ofthe one in which the younger son gets expelled from school for usig the word “nigger” after having been exposed to it by his father – would quite literally make no sense (much less have any comic verve) if the family were any other color. To suggest that GOLDBERGS and O’NEALS titles are suspect seems silly. Those are typical Jewish and Irish surnames. Why should’t they be used as titles? Are the only stories worth telling those about people named Smith? ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/7 "2016-06-22T22:31:39Z")
Jophiel is mistaken; as far as I’m concerned, the titles are irrelevant. It’s the assembly-line feel that I think is noteworthy. (I regret using the phrase “identity politics” as that may have been more incendiary than was warranted. ABC’s motives may be purely commercial, rather than political.) ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/8 "2016-06-22T22:38:07Z")
So let me restate my premise: Just as the 50s were the era of the Cowboy show, and the 70s had a slew of Musical Variety shows, ABC has decided that we’re now in the era of the Demographically Focused Family Sit-com. How’s that? ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/9 "2016-06-22T22:41:04Z")
Please don’t leave out “Last Man Standing”, which is so PAINFULLY right-wing and preachy that I fully expect an episode where they are playing ping-pong with Michelle Bachmann’s crazy eyes… Nancy Travis? Swing That Axe, babe… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/10 "2016-06-22T22:55:32Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Oh, c’mon. There have been sitcoms with non-WASP casts since Amos 'n Andy… Woah. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/11 "2016-06-22T23:04:50Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > So let me restate my premise: > > Just as the 50s were the era of the Cowboy show, and the 70s had a slew of Musical Variety shows, ABC has decided that we’re now in the era of the Demographically Focused Family Sit-com. > > How’s that? Probably because Modern Family was a huge hit. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/12 "2016-06-22T23:11:12Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Oh, c’mon. There have been sitcoms with non-WASP casts since Amos 'n Andy. This isn’t new and I’m not alarmed. > > It’s the fact that they are so interchangeable, from the same network and rolled out in the same 5 year block that is noteworthy. They look like cars coming off the assembly line with slight differences in options. My sentiment (perhaps not clearly elucidated) is to cynically accuse the network of cynicism. I think Skald’s point stands. Why is _Last Man Standing_ a sitcom about a family while _Black-ish_ is a sitcom about a black family? Why are white characters considered to be normal while non-white characters are considered to be special? ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/13 "2016-06-22T23:51:39Z")
The Goldbergs may be a Jewish family, but the show barely ever touches on religion or cultural heritage in any way, so I wouldn’t count it as rooted in identity politics at all. It’s essentially **That 80s Show**. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/14 "2016-06-23T00:06:33Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Jewish family: The Goldbergs > Chinese immigrant family: Fresh Off the Boat > Irish-Catholic family + gay kid (two-fer!): The Real O’Neals Note that these three are more-or-less based on real life. (The Real O’Neals is sort of based on the childhood of Dan Savage, Fresh Off The Boat is based on the life of Eddie Huang and The Goldbergs is based on the life of Adam Goldberg.) ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/15 "2016-06-23T00:25:14Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > Oh, c’mon. There have been sitcoms with non-WASP casts since Amos 'n Andy. This isn’t new and I’m not alarmed. Amos and Andy had a white cast. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/16 "2016-06-23T00:33:41Z")
> [@MovieMogul](#): > > The Goldbergs may be a Jewish family, but the show barely ever touches on religion or cultural heritage in any way, so I wouldn’t count it as rooted in identity politics at all. It’s essentially **That 80s Show**. The family’s Jewishness is very much in the background. It took until season 3 for them to celebrate Hanukkah onscreen, and IIRC that was the first overt reference to Judaism. Compare that to **Blackish** or **Fresh Off the Boat** where it comes up in practically every other episode. ---
**Author:** ![jsc1953](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/5daacb/32.png) [@jsc1953](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jsc1953)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/17 "2016-06-23T00:35:28Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Amos and Andy had a white cast. On the radio, yes. But not the TV version. And I agree that Goldbergs is nowhere near as ethnically identified as Blackish and FotB; I just needed them to extend my list. 🙂 Another way of making my point…there’s nothing new about the all-black sitcom (Good Times, Sanford & Son, Cosby…). But nobody at NBC said “Wow, Cosby is doing great! Let’s make another one, but with a Chinese family!” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/18 "2016-06-23T00:53:12Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > Note that these three are more-or-less based on real life. (The Real O’Neals is sort of based on the childhood of Dan Savage, Fresh Off The Boat is based on the life of Eddie Huang and The Goldbergs is based on the life of Adam Goldberg.) Wait, so that show is supposed to be called The Real Savages? ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/19 "2016-06-23T01:27:51Z")
> [@Larry\_Borgia](#): > > Amos and Andy had a white cast. [If these dudes were white](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_tHVfHpnv17g/TDHMT_vChaI/AAAAAAAAJbw/ZJe2r1_v6zM/s1600/Screen+shot+2010-07-04+at+7.59.18+PM.png), I’ve been vastly underestimating the effectiveness of blackface makeup. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2016, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090/20 "2016-06-23T01:34:12Z")
> [@jsc1953](#): > > On the radio, yes. But not the TV version. > > And I agree that Goldbergs is nowhere near as ethnically identified as Blackish and FotB; I just needed them to extend my list. 🙂 > > !" The families on MODERN FAMILY are pretty well identified ethnicially too – by white privilege. There was an episode this season in which Claire noted that her teenage son Luke had been arrested twice in the past year (for underage drinking, I think). The fact that this was a joke, that she could talk about this in an annoyed and whimsical manner rather than a fearful or enraged one, just screamed of whiteness. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abc-sitcoms-and-identity-politics/758090.md?page=2)