CBS at TCA: Oh "Brother!"

Good thing the network has what has been widely judged by critics to be the best new broadcast series of the fall the sitcom The Unicorn starring Walton Gogginsamp160 The pilot does indeed feature some of the best written directed and acted scenes in any new fall show so faramp160 That is an early observation not a full review That will come laterAnyway two years ago at the Summer 2017 Television Critics Association tour CBS during its executive session was raked over the coals by reporters who were fed up with what they believed to be a lack of leadership on the part of the network in the important areas of diversity and inclusionamp160 I remember at the time thinking that while there was certainly room for improvement in those areas CBS and the other broadcast networks had come a long way in their efforts to advance diversity on cameraamp160 Itamp8217s not that the firedup reporters were wrong itamp8217s just that some of them were not covering television in the amp821690s and apparently not even watching it at the time and had failed to do their homeworkamp160 There has been exponential improvement since that decade which was filled with monochrome clones of Friends and whitewashed youth ensemble dramasCBS after the 2017 outcry responded to the press stepping up its dedication to diversity and inclusion in 2018amp160 The response certainly showed in its 201819 freshmen class which included successes The Neighborhood and God Friended MeFeeling powerful after getting tangible results critics last year at the Summer 2018 TCA tour shifted gears and complained that the network did not have enough properties with women in the lead rolesamp160 Apparently they had missed Mom Elementary and Madam Secretary not to mention The Good Fight and Star Trek Discovery on CBS All Access among othersThe network has been working to correct that tooamp160 The sitcom Carolamp8217s Second Act starring Patricia Heaton and the legal drama All Rise starring Simone Missick are among its 201920 freshmenLast weekamp8217s CBS executive session started off calmly enoughamp160 amp8220A couple years ago senior executive vice president of programming Thom Sherman and I stood up here and told you that CBS was going to be better in terms of diversity and inclusionamp8221 said CBS entertainment president Kelly Kahlamp160 amp8220Last year our new slate of shows was a good first step and I think with our slate this year we39ve taken a couple more steps forwardamp160 We still have a lot of work to do but we39re confident we39re on the right pathamp160 Speaking for Thom myself and everyone at CBS our commitment continuesamp8221amp8220We are clearly looking different on air and our commitment to inclusion and diversity behind the scenes is just as importantamp8221 Sherman addedamp160 amp8220I39m really pleased to report that this season 53 percent of our writers are women or people of coloramp160 When we finish filling out our director slate 50 percent of our directors will be women or people of coloramp160 We39re proud of the work that we39re doing in inclusion and diversity but we know that that work must continue and it will continue as we look to evolve culturally creatively and commerciallyamp8221Their spirits were so high that they chose the occasion to joyfully announce that there will be a second season next year of this summeramp8217s successful if critically panned fivenightaweek reality series Love Island a show Kahl enjoys tweeting aboutamp160 It has brought to CBS a surge in female viewers 1834 a young and desirable demo not known for flocking to the networkamp8220Yeah my annoying tweets are just going to continue next yearamp8221 he laughedamp160 quotLove Island was our most streamed show this season so far outpacing Survivor Big Brother and even The Big Bang TheoryquotA few questions about Love Island followedamp160 And then things got serious with the first of many questions about Michael Weatherlyamp160amp8220Less than a year ago there was extensive press coverage of the problems at Bull which resulted in a multimilliondollar settlement for Eliza Dushkuamp8221 one journalist saidamp160 amp8220According to press reports Dushku brought her complaints first of all about Michael Weatherly to showrunner Glenn Gordon Caron and she soon found herself fired from a job where she had been previously told she might become a series regularamp160 CBS executives have made it clear that Weatherly himself faced no consequences or sanctions for his actionsamp160 Can you please tell us what consequences or sanctions if any were imposed on Glenn Gordon Caronamp8221amp8220We found out about the settlement kind of at the same time you did and we took a 360 view of the entire situation at the timeamp8221 Kahl repliedamp160 amp8220We wanted to look at it with fresh eyes amp160What we found was in Michael39s case there were no incidents no complaints in his time at Bull and none on either side of the isolated incident on Bullamp160 He was at the time remorseful and apologeticamp160 When the settlement came out it was made public he was remorseful again and apologizedamp160 He is undergoing leadership coachingamp160 He is taking responsibility as the head of a show to make the set a positive place to workamp160 We were just there last week and the entire cast and crew had just undergone some training before the start and they39re all in a good placeamp160 Glenn is also undergoing leadership training and it will continue in the futureamp8221At that point there were more questions about CBSamp8217 new showsamp160 And then amp8230Noting that when it comes to diversity and inclusion on reality shows CBS has always been amp8220strongamp8221 a critic said amp8220I just want to quote something that the only black female cast member on Survivor wrote after her experience this yearamp160 She said amp8216There39s a significant difference between amp8216diversityamp8217 and amp8216inclusionamp8217amp160 Casting a few black faces each season simply isn39t enoughamp160 Include them in the storyamp160 Stop giving them stereotypical edits that perpetuate the same stereotypes that many of us come on the show to combatamp8217amp8220This summeramp8221 the critic continued amp8220Big Brother producers have asked their only black female cast member to act and talk in a more stereotypical wayamp160 They39ve edited out hateful and violent things that white men have said about her and edited her into someone who seems rather crazyamp160 Is it acceptable to you that your two top reality shows allow this behavior and continue to perpetuate stereotypes through the choices the producers are making in editing and in productionamp8221amp8220In the case of Big Brother we learned that a producer in an attempt to get a sound bite from one of the house guests oversteppedamp8221 Sherman repliedamp160 amp8220That producer was reprimanded received unconscious bias training as did all of the producers on the show and we don39t believe that an incident like that will happen againamp8221amp8220What about on Survivoramp8221 the critic criedamp160 amp8220Again this is a pattern that39s happened over ten years and these are just some specific examples amp160So that39s a great first step with the Big Brother producer but how do you plan to address it across all your reality TV shows and with all of your producersamp8221amp8220On all of our shows the producers receive unconscious bias training nowamp8221 Kahl saidamp160 amp8220In terms of how people are represented I think the vast majority come off their shows very happy with the way they were representedamp160 Most people who have been on those shows speak very fondly of their experienceamp160 In the cases of all these shows there are thousands of hours that are condensed down to 42 minutes per episode and we are simply not able to show every single thing that happens on the showamp160 We strive and the producers strive to show a good representation of what happens and I think they do a good job of thatamp8221amp8220You guys have been in situations before where people have tried to talk to you about your lack of diversity in programming about your lack of gender diversityamp8221 another clearly exasperated critic saidamp160 amp8220Finally you saw the light and we39re glad to see this in your fall programmingamp160 We are now telling you that you have a problem with your reality showsamp160 Why can39t you take that criticism and do some substantive looking at it rather than trying to spin itamp8221amp8220I will say on Big Brother half of our cast this year is diverse and the last three winners of Big Brother have been people of coloramp8221 Sherman repliedamp8220This summer you had a situation where your three people of color were stuck in some sort of camp situation where they had to live in lesser circumstances than the other house guestsamp8221 the critic shot backamp160 amp8220The people of color have been systematically eliminated from the showamp160 People are talking about the racism on Big Brother and you are telling us one producer got some kind of trainingamp8221Kahl was confidentamp160 amp8220First we said all of the producers have received trainingamp8221 he explainedamp160 amp8220Second I would say that we have heard things on the show that we are not comfortable with that we have not enjoyed hearing and we will absolutely after the season is over take a look at the showamp160 We try to go back after every season and look and ask if there39s anything we can do better next year and that is something we will do after the season is overamp8221Once again a few critics were able to ask about CBSamp8217 new showsamp160 But then amp8230 a reporter in the room wanted details of the amp8220leadership counselingamp8221 that many people in the Bull family are receivingamp8220I think it39s kind of implied in the nameamp8221 Kahl replied stating the obviousamp160 amp8220It39s how to be a leader on the setamp160 It39s how to set a positive example for everybodyamp160 Michael takes that very seriouslyamp160 I think Glenn does as wellamp160 These are the two people front and center on the show and they want to be strong and as good and fair leaders as they can be and this training helps them do thatamp160 We39ve had some courses at CBS recently that have helped us learn about cross generational leadershipamp160 We39ve done unconscious bias training amp160None of us are too old or too smart to learn how to do things betteramp160 I think that39s what that leadership training entailsamp8221On all CBS shows amp8220everybody top to bottom is receiving trainingamp8221 Kahl later concludedamp160 amp8220In any situation where we receive information or hear something is askew on a show we investigate it immediatelyamp160 That39s what happened on Bullamp160 I can39t add a lot more to it other than the expectation of our showrunners is very clear that they will run a welcoming set for everyone on it from top to bottomamp8221Click on the social media tiles above or below to share this content with your friends and colleaguesThe opinions and points of view expressed in this commentary are exclusively those of the author andor subjects and do not necessarily represent the views of MediaVillagecomMyersBizNet Inc management or associated bloggers

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CBS at TCA: Oh "Brother!"

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Ed Martin

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CBS at TCA: Oh "Brother!"

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