Women Behind the Scenes part 2- Debra Lee CEO of BET

As a black woman of today, conscious of how black people are viewed in the media and society in general, it is hard not to have a love hate relationship with the Black Entertainment Network (BET), especially during the early 2000s.

 I still remember watching BET’s infamous UNCUT, which featured edgy, almost pornographic music videos, late at night. Granted I was young, there are some images you don’t soon forget. Like a young black girl in a thong, no thicker than floss, shaking her ass to a song called Butter Face, whose lyrics comments on a girls appearance; suggesting ‘everything looks good BUT-HER FACE”. Crude? Yes. Disrespectful to African American Women? Most definitely. But who was to blame? Debra Lee, the CEO of multi-billion dollar network trying to make ratings or the audience keeping the ratings of this controversial programming up?

 A bigger question, how is it that one markets to an audience, like the black community, and please every one? Lifetime and Oxygen knows their audience is women. TNT focuses on action, SPIKE TV on men. So how is it that someone targets an audience brought together only by race?

 This is an issue Debra Lee, shares with Forbes, she struggled significantly with in the past. She not only represents herself, but an entire race.

 Many black affiliated organizations were up in arms over BET’s Uncut and many of their other music video programming like it. So much so that they picketed in from of Lee’s house. Graduating from Brown University, and Harvard law, Lee admits that often times she must take her mind set away from being a lawyer, and think about what is best for the company. She came into her role as CEO of BET, not intentionally, but from working her way up as part of a young BET’s law department. She also comments that it is a bad day in BET when she is thinking of original programming, because this is not what she does.

 There was a time, sad to say, that I avoided BET all together. However in the past few years there has been a considerable change in the programming. Lee states that BET now has a new standard. “Our programming filter now is: It has to have a message, can’t be derogatory and has to show positive images. That doesn’t mean that it’s unreal or fake” Lee states, that they still need to keep their ratings, and try to be as real as possible. They don’t aim to be the “Black PBS”. In particular I enjoy their formally CW, adopted half hour comedy-drama, The GAME - A fictional show focusing on football players and the women in their lives.

In growing up, I often found myself being one of the only black people in the room. I remember thinking I had to act a certain way, talk a certain way, to counter the image that was being portrayed of African Americans, through programming such as BET. Ironically, while I was trying not to be seen as a stereotype, Debra Lee was trying create positive images of African Americans with entertainment. Does the fact that I struggled with presenting a good image, because of part of her programming mean that she wasn't doing her job well enough?  Or is that just a problem with our society, in which we accept a culture as one way.

I commend Debra Lee because representing an entire race is not an easy feat, and I do enjoy the many positive reinforcements of black culture recently airing on BET, such as Black Girls Rock, and BET Honors, award shows honoring African Americans portraying positive images of our community.

Women Behind the Scenes- Pt. 1

                                                            

                                                            

The Top Ten Most Powerful Women in Television ( according to ADNEWS ) are: 

(In Order from Left to right from images above)

Abbe Raven - CEO of A&E Networks

Bonnie Hammer- USA Networks  

Anne Sweeny- CEO Disney -ABC 

Debra Lee- BET

Lauren Zalaznick- NBCUniversal

Linda Yaccarino- Turner 

Nancy Dubuc- A&E Networks

Nina Tassler and Jo Ann Ross

Oprah Winfrey

         

                    

AdNews comments on the general style of the women who now are taking over the airwaves are significantly different from their male precedence. Unlike the boasting, arrogant, showy men that treated television as a 'lifestyle', these women run it for what it is, a business. 

A list of 'to do's', which being a women studying the medium understand that sentiment exactly. There's little glamorous about the job, and when there is a slight bit of glamor attached, I could imagine it would be hard to enjoy, having to worry about who needs to be where and when, whether or not a story is in on time, whether or not a program is attracting enough viewers. And a million other things that can and will go wrong. 

The change from men controlling the atmosphere to women in a lot of major networks, also coincides with the fact that most of the people watching television, aside from ESPN, are women. Rarely do I hear any of my male acquaintances contemplating how they are going to get home in time before there favorite show starts, nor do I hear them gossiping over the last nights episode of Teen Wolf, and how awesome it was. Actually I take that back, I have heard that one, but my point it, women are the undeniable major market demographic in television, and women know how women think. With that being said this was a change that was bound to happen. 

It is an interesting fact however, that many have said, including myself,  television "isn't as good as it used to be" and the quality of the content is suffereing. Does this have anything to do with the leadership of the estrogenized bosses? Or is this a completely different issue to blame entirely?

......Politics

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75069_Page3.html

I HATE politics, but this is a current issue that I felt I had to address. So here we go. 

As far as a woman's "role" is depicted in society, we have come full circle. From the 1950's dependent house wife, to the independent, hard working, business women with giant shoulder pads that assert her dominance in the 1980's, to the sexually free, hard working, 'no man needing' women of today. The women who chooses who she wants to be, whether that be a stay at home mom or scholarly business women. 

At least that's how my introduction to this post would go, and the summary of a women's role would be, if the world were black and white. Since it's not, I wanted bring light to a real issue being discussed in recent news, about an unexpected debate that unfolded on television Wednesday.  

As the article above summarizes, republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, commented that when it comes to the issues of women and their economic issues he looks to his wife for guidance. In retort, democratic strategist Hilary Rosen responded, that Anne Romney had "never worked a day in her life". So how is it that she could comment on women's economical issues of today? 

This has become a big debate; especially since the Republican party have had so many debates about issues concerning women. From abortion laws, health care, and re-examining what is defined as rape.  What has been coined as the "war on women". 

Everyone is up in arms, particularly the Republican Party, over Rosen's comment. Commenting that she is undermining the plight of the stay at home mom, however I have to say that I whole heartily agree with her. Anne Romney responded via Twitter, making it a point to mention that being a stay at home mom was her choice, and it was hard raising five boys. Continuing that her husband always said that her job was more important than his, because she was raising their family. 

I could imagine, that being a stay at home mother of five boys, while battling breast cancer, as Anne Romney states, would be hard. Now imagine being a working single mom, with two jobs, and three children at home. Keep imagining that on top of not knowing whether the government was going to discontinuing or cut back on your welfare check this week. 

THIS is an issue that most women of today face. THIS is the issue at hand. Not whether or not it's hard to be a stay at home mom. Because everyone knows that that is a challenge in and of its self, but the issue is the fact that women today don't have the CHOICE to be a stay at home mother. This is the issue that most women in today's economy face, not having a choice. 

I completely agree with Hilary Rosen, and I don't think her comment was misplaced at all. I do find it ironic however that two educated women of today are arguing over the plight of women in today's society as house wives vs. working women on national television, when this shouldn't even be an issue. With all the archetypes of women represented in the media, Rosen and Romney, apparently being from different ends of the same spectrum (educated women). They should stop arguing over which is harder, and leave personal issues out of economical issues.   

Will the REAL house wives please stand up.

     

                                                                       

  

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/arts/television/how-television-portrays-the-wife/article2397542/page2/

So, if self proclaimed feminist have a problem with a powerful women choosing to stay home while her husband works, like Samantha from Bewitched, I wonder how they'd feel about what we have come to know as the modern day, Housewives... or shall I say divorced wives, of Orange County, New Jersey, and the rest of the Wives series currently flooding the airwaves on various networks. 

A majority of these women, if they are not being taken care of by their husbands, are divorced and living off the settlement money and the money they earn from the very series that deems them a 'real wife'. I remember in 2004 when housewives were desperate, and then when they were spouses in the army. Both shows were fictional and portrayed two different demographics of women. I found these intriguing enough, but then someone got the bright idea that the real scandal of the "modern" housewife needed to be portrayed. 

I use modern in quotations because although set in the present day, these women portray nothing of the life of any housewives I know. The above article notes that the life style these women lead, going on shopping sprees and expensive trips, glamorizes the life of a today's housewife. Instead of taking care of the kids, cooking and cleaning, they're going to day spa's, tipping the nanny, and giving their kid a pat on the head, if their kids are even seen that week. Which, in a lot of these shows I often forget that they even have children at all. 

With the fictional housewives came a lot of drama, fighting, betrayal, and secrets, with the Real housewives we experience the exact same thing. Is this the reality of women with far too much money and time? It's ironic that we fought so hard to get away from the stereotype that was placed upon us by society and the media, just for the same stereotype to be placed back on us in the new millennium, but this time adorned with diamonds and accessorized with black cards. It says we don't have to be intelligent, just beautiful enough to catch a man and have him take care of us. (Sounds familiar right?) 

The article does however highlight one woman that makes that truly demonstrates the glamour of a house wife- Beyonce. Leading the pack of the 'Independent Women' movement in the early 2000's, she is now all about love, and being a wife. However, all the glamour that surrounds her life did not come with the union of her and of her billionaire husband, but from her own success. I have to admit that I do get my share of wives drama in every so often, my poison being Basketball Wives, but I wonder if television is ever going to accurately depict what it's like being a wife in 2012, in the real world. How about some 'Real House Wives of Dekalb County'? Or maybe 'Real House Wives of Compton', Kansas! I think it'd make for an interesting show, and I’m sure they keep it real. What House Wives would you want to see? 

A Bewitching Presence and Anti-feminism?

.http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminismandpopculture/a/Feminism-Bewitched-Sitcoms.htm

So for my first real post I thought I'd take it back old school (old school in my case at least). I know in my last post I was harping on how great and empowering the leading ladies were in some of my favorite shows, but one of my all time favorite characters would have to have been Endora, Samantha's mother, in the 1960s comedy Bewitched.

I mentioned in my last post how although Samantha choice to be a house wife, she still held the appeal of the show. Which to me, spells the makings of a women in charge, and secure with who she is, however the views on Samantha's character were not the same across the board.

As stated in the above article, "The Feminism of Bewitched" many feminist felt that the concept of a 'blonde perky house wife' was outdated. Though they knew it was about a women more powerful than her husband, and the bigger theme was a fantasy of a man and a women coming together to have a family despite their differences, they still found it the dynamics of the show and Samanatha's, played by Elizabeth Montgomery, role insulting.

I wonder if the feminist preferred Endora's character as well?
She was rude
Overbearing
and against inter-realm marriage

I'm not positive if 'inter-realm' marriage is the correct term, especially since I think I made it up. But would an advocate for hate and disunity be more fitting, as long as she was a powerful women, who wasn't held back by a man?

I'm not positive if that was the way to go either, but I loved Samantha's character, but loved Endora's character for an entirely different reason. For her style. Her Cruella Di Villesque charm was enchanting to me. Despite her general bitter tone there's no way I could hate someone with such style, and evil pizzaz.

Surprising to me Agnes Moorhead found this show to be far fetched, and didn't consider the character of Endora to be her best of work, even in spite of several Emmy nominations. She insisted that she appear in less episodes in her contract, in order to work on multiple other projects at the same time. She also was keen to the radio, and was the first women to co-host the academy awards. GO ENDORA

Inaugural Post

When I was younger, I always considering myself a bit of a TV freak. Every morning, at the tender age of 10, I’d wake up every morning at 6am to watch my favorite shows: I Dream of Jeanie and Bewitched. And every night I’d stay up late to watch I Love Lucy, Lavern and Shirley, and if I could keep my eyes open, Mary Tyler Moore .  At the time I had no clue what drew me to shows like these, considering most of the girls my age were watching My Little Pony, a majority of the time.

I realize now that I’m older that it wasn’t just there silly antics, but their charismatic spirit, charm, and independence that made them my favorite; the fact that these were women of power.  Yeah, maybe one lived in a bottle generally followed the directions of a ‘master’, but she gave him hell while doing it. And maybe Lucy came off a bit childish and immature, but hey, the whole damn show was about her, and she ran it.

That’s where my love for women in television started, but not where it ended. One day I plan on being a women of television, whether that be in the box or behind the scenes. That being said, in this blog I will explore the women that inspire me, those who’ve inspired change, and those who’ve inspired controversy (for the good and the bad).