Why FOX and UPN Have Done More For Us Than Any Other Channel

It is true, two new maverick networks, FOX and UPN, have done more in terms of black entertainment that any other channel. The irony is that BET has been around seven years longer than FOX and was around sixteen years longer than UPN. Add to that the fact that BET has now outlived UPN for nearly three years. In such a short timespan, how has even UPN done more for black people? Lets take it back to the beginning. In 1986, a rich Australian man, Rupert Murdoch purchased some struggling independent television stations. He took the Ted Turner idea, but decided to keep it free. He combined these stations and signed up other struggling indies as affiliates, then he purchased 20th Century Fox Studios, had them produce some shows, then called it FBC. In its early years, FBC was home to a few variety shows and “Married… with Children.” A few years later, they added “The Simpsons” and became FOX. Soon, they became known as the risky television network with a bad signal. In 1986, upon its entrance, they took aim at NBC through all of its original programs, NBC responded by calling them, the coathanger network. All of a sudden, there was a real feud here, but FOX needed something to gain exposure and higher ratings. In the beginning, all of the shows on FOX featured white casts. NBC’s Thursday night lineup was getting high ratings, but it lacked shows with black casts after the loss of Cosby. Despite still having “The Fresh Prince,” many black viewers saw what NBC did. They began to struggle with ratings, so they attracted black people to rebuild their audience. So, this is how FOX built their audience. Soon, they created a black rival night on Thursdays. It became known as “Black Pack.” It was highly successful producing such shows as “Martin,” “Roc,” “Living Single,” “Between Brothers,” “In Living Color,” “Method & Red,” and the end, “The Bernie Mac Show.” But, The WB also had their own rendition of “Black Pack” to build their ratings, theirs did not really compete with FOX’s, nor did it become the successor, that would be UPN, but they merged with The WB the same year FOX decided to quit the black sitcom business. Still, they did more than what BET and TV One had done. UPN went a step further by hiring black writers and producers. They even produced quite a few black dramas, but they did not last. Now, in the beginning, BET was pretty good. I understand, that you may not have the funding to go after scripted programs, but your unscripted stuff should have good intentions. BET had news, that was its reply to the detractors, but when that stopped being a money maker, the network pulled that, too. FOX came seven years after BET, but the network had many more original scripted black programs than BET has ever had, even UPN, The WB, and The CW (separately and combined) have had more shows that target black people than UPN. They always said that producing these shows would not be profitable, but it was for The WB and FOX. That is why I started TBT. My goal for TBT is for it to be a regular television network that will rely on scripted programs for its ratings, but also have great news programs. So far, I have made plans for “TBT News,” a newscast, but I do not know if I want it to be daily or weekly. I also have a show entitled “TBT: Behind The Scenes,” which is a behind-the-scenes look at some popular things in black entertainment. I want to build off of that and then venture into public affairs programs, but TBT is not the black PBS. I want TBT to have nights that were reminiscent of UPN’s black sitcoms nights. I want for people to refer to TBT shows they way that they did to those popular shows that aired on UPN and FOX. I think that TBT is capable of doing this. I also want TBT to have a few dramas maybe a night that will feature only dramas. Of course, I want to make Saturday a competitive night with “Animation In Color.” I truly think that TBT can be a contender with crossover capabilities. This will not happen immediately, but I hope that it can happen as soon as possible. If you remember from this summer, I came in way over my head. I had written about five episodes for around ten different sitcoms. I think that they were of good quality, but I had bigger problems. 1 – I did not have a set to do any of this on, 2 – I did not have any willing actors, and 3 – I did not have the money to get any of this. So, I was able to gain syndication right to various black sitcoms and I have been airing those shows on my channel to build an audience. For the most part, I think that most people like TBT and its mission, even if they do not like me too much. One thing that is for sure is that once TBT arrives, it will be a place for everyone to enjoy. I gave it the name, True Black Television, so I would not lose focus on why I began the channel in the first place. So, I would not replace my black-oriented shows with “According To Jim.” Not saying that I dislike that program, it is actually one of my favorites, but it does not fit my desires right now. In the end, I hope that you can say that TBT has been one of the leaders in black entertainment because I am trying.