Diversity Aboveground: New Fall Tv!

The Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film found that this previous television season contained at least 70% of new programming without a female show-runner, creator, director, writer and/or editor. Only two percent of female Directors of Photography were female. Of the new directors who had never worked in television before last season, 82% were Caucasian males. It sounds awful and it should but there are bright points in the new fall 2015 television schedule.

Brand New Shows!

Crazy Ex-Girlfriend

CW 8 PM EST Monday

Rebecca Bunch (Rachel Bloom) moves across the country to go after her high school man of her dreams. It sounds like a reboot of Felicity, but it totally isn’t. For one thing, this series was created by two women; Bloom and Aline Brosh McKenna. Bloom was a successful Youtube creator when McKenna first approached her. Like Bloom’s original Youtube videos, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend is a comedy musical with all the songs co-written by Bloom, Adam Schlesinger and Jack Dolgen. Plus, her crush is played by Filipino actor, Vincent Rodriguez III. Unfortunately, it’s up against Supergirl so unless it finds a large delayed watching audience, a second season looks doubtful.

Dr. Ken

ABC 8:30 PM Friday

Yes, that is the same slot that killed Cristela last year. Yes, it hasn’t been earning good reviews but it’s a sitcom starring Ken Jeong; an actor usually relegated to bit parts or the wacky subplot. Jeong not only stars, but also came up with the idea for the series, produces it and helps write the scripts. Dr. Ken is based on Jeong’s real-life experiences as a doctor, husband and father. It’s also a great sign to see that ABC saw the success of Fresh Off the Boat and decided to have more shows starring Asians, including this and Quantico.

Fluffy Breaks Even

FUSE 10 PM EST Thursday

Comedian Gabriel Iglesias is better known as Fluffy. Two years ago, Iglesias decided he needed to be less Fluffy for his health but it’s a struggle between losing weight and eating the food that he loves. He describes this series as “How about we do a show that’s like we go out, we have a good time eating, but the next day we have to show responsibility for what it was that we ate.” It’s a real-life chronicle of himself on the road along with the crew and other comedians who join in on his cheat meals and/or his workouts. The series is a much more realistic portrayal of weight loss but done in a humorous way. He was formerly a cast member on Cristela and hosted Gabriel Iglesias Presents Stand Up Revolution for Comedy Central.

Quantico

ABC 10 PM EST Sunday

Bollywood favorite, Priyanka Chopra, plays Alex Parrish who is one of the F.B.I.’s newest recruits. Aunjanue Ellis’s character is the Assistant Director of the students at Quantico, Miranda Shaw. Then, there’s a Muslim recruit, Nimah Anwar (Yasmine al Massri) who proudly wears her hijab and a former police officer, Nathalie Vazquez (Anabelle Acosta). Two other male leads are in a relationship with each other; one of the very few confirmed LGBTQA representations in the new premieres. The storytelling is blend of Lost and How to Get Away with Murder. Over the season, flashbacks will show each character’s history. However, there is also the mystery of a terrorist attack to solve in the next nine months. One of the characters was involved, but which one?

Rosewood

FOX 8 PM EST Wednesday

The name conjures up the African-American Florida town whose residents were either killed or terrorized by local Caucasians into leaving in 1923, never to return. In this new series, Rosewood refers to Dr. Beaumont Rosewood, Jr. (Morris Chestnut). Rosewood is a pathologist in modern Miami; a diverse city full of different people and the cultures they bring with them. The cast reflects this with multiple African-Americans, Latinos and women. Will this show work as a lead-in for Empire?

Old Favorites!

Arrow

CW 8 PM EST Wednesday

This season, Arrow takes on a lighter feel to become the Green Arrow but it’s always been the supporting characters that matter the most. With Ray Palmer (Brandon Routh) appearing to be dead, control of his company has been placed in Felicity Smoak’s hands. Although there don’t seem to be any plans at connecting them, it will be interesting to compare and contrast Smoak’s leadership on Arrow with Cat Grant (Callista Flockhart) on Supergirl. Hopefully, Palmer won’t be returning soon and just to turn officially turn over the company before joining the Legends of Tomorrow in 2016. Will Nyssa al Ghul (Katrina Law) meet John Constantine (Matt Ryan) in his Arrow debut that also connects to the new spin-off? Will others grow to like John Diggle’s (David Ramsey) new hero costume even if it does look inspired by Magneto?

Empire

FOX 9 PM EST Wednesday

Empire‘s season has been increased to 18 episodes, almost a full regular season. Roles have been reversed so that Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard) spends his time in jail while Cookie Lyon (Taraji P. Henson) keeps the family together without him. However, Lucious’ new kingdom might become prison where he’s treated like a king from his fellow inmates. There will be more exploration into why Lucious couldn’t accept his son’s bipolar disorder and the show’s first lesbian played by Marisa Tomei. With more of Cookie’s background revealed as well, are they setting it up for a rumored spin-off?

Fresh Off the Boat

ABC 8:30 EST Tuesday

This series and Black-ish were both renewed for a second season. Time for this Taiwanese family to have more misadventures in the wilds of Orlando in the 1990s.

How to Get Away with Murder

ABC 10 PM EST Thursday

Annalise Keating (Viola Davis) and her diverse group of law students continue to have messy lives that tend to involve murder, betrayals and cover-up. Connor (Jack Falahee) and his boyfriend, Oliver (Conrad Ricamora), struggle with the knowledge that Oliver is HIV-positive; a plotline rarely seen outside medical dramas and Logo specials nowadays.

Jane the Virgin

CW 9 PM EST Monday

This mix of telenovela and sarcasm became a hit with critics, viewers and awards! The second season promises more of the same as the season finale is resolved, her love life is somewhat resolved and her grandmother’s immigration status is shown to not be resolved at all, just in time for elections. Bridget Regan is also said to be reprising her roles on Jane the Virgin and Agent Carter.

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There was a recent photo by Vanity Fair that garnered a lot of criticism. The photo included all current hosts of late night television in the United States. While it included various races, there were no women, not even Miss Piggy for her fictional talk show in The Muppets. In fact, the list of females hosting ten or more episodes of late night programming in the history of television is pretty slim: Karen Stone, Felicia Jeter, Nia Peeples, Lesley Stahl, Chelsea Handler, Joan Rivers, Wanda Sykes, Mo’Nique, Nikki Glaser, Sara Schaefer, Dr. Ruth Westheimer, Whoopi Goldberg, Lauren Hutton, Grace Helbig and Stacy London. However, there will be a new name to add to that list: Samantha Bee.

Starting in January, Samantha Bee will host her own talk show, Full Frontal, and it’s expected to follow Conan at midnight. TBS has previously described it as a forum “to apply her smart and satirical point of view to current and relevant issues,.”The show is also executive produced by Bee and her husband, Jason Jones. The pair has a combined total of over 20 years experience on The Daily Show and were both rumored to be prime candidates for Jon Stewart’s replacement.

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Have you been watching Vixen on the CW’s apps.: CW Seed? Vixen is the superhero name for Mari McCabe, a young woman whose necklace gives her powers similar to the animal kingdom including flight, camouflage and incredible strength.

So, when can this animated hero join her live action counterparts?

Next week, are you aware of the Latino films hitting mainstream theatres in the United States?