Seen & Heard: The History of Black Television Review 2025 Tv Show Series Cast Crew Online
The episodes in this series are literally called “Seen” and “Heard,” with the first episode talking more about representation in front of the camera and the second episode talking more about behind-the-scenes representation, though both are touched on in each episode.
As Bailey wends her way through the history of Black television, starting with Amos ‘n’ Andy during TV’s early days until today, the constant has been that realistic views of Black lives didn’t really start being shown on TV until people from the community started writing and producing shows, instead of just acting in them.
Winfrey talks about, when she was a kid in the late-’50s and early-’60s, there was so little representation that she identified with a white model with a rounded nose. The episode is also very honest about the double-edged sword of Norman Lear’s trio of comedies with Black casts — Sanford And Son, Good Times and The Jeffersons — that had overwhelmingly white writing staffs. A telling quote that was an outtake from Lear’s 60 Minutes interview in the ’70s basically cites the fact that Black writers didn’t have the experience to write with the speed that his more experienced staffs could.
There is also a segment about the influence of The Cosby Show and how the accusations against Cosby has sadly made people reconsider its place. In another segment, there is an examination of how sitcoms with Black casts and writers helped established Fox, The WB and UPN, and were shunted aside by all of those networks at the first chance they could.
What Bailey is looking to do with Seen & Heard is not just celebrate the people who helped increase Black representation on television over the years, but examine the whole issue of representation. She does so by digging deeper and examining how representation felt like a mirage at times, and didn’t become consistent until the past 20 years or so.
A great example is the segment about how Black comedies helped establish FOX, the WB and UPN. Sure, there are moments when shows like In Living Color, Living Single, Moesha, Martin, The Wayans Brothers, The Steve Harvey Show, Girlfriends and others are celebrated during this segment, but there is also a sense of wistfulness about how the shows got cancelled as soon as the networks had solidified themselves, replaced by more white-leaning shows.
It’s a perfect example of how representation continues to be a struggle, even during a time when Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Winfrey, DuVernay and others are some of media and entertainment’s most powerful figures.
We’re also glad that the series gently held Lear to account, with the late TV legend talking about how he and his writers took suggestions from his shows’ casts, but there came a point where he and the writers knew what was best for the show, despite none of them having any true knowledge of the Black experience. This is what led to Jimmie Walker’s silly JJ Evans becoming a dominant character on Good Times, for instance, which is why John Amos and Esther Rolle left the show (though Rolle did come back to the show for its final season).
