Race in Children's Shows

I asked a question in snood's thread that never got picked up on (I don't think, may have missed it), but I found it interesting and it's been sticking in my head so I decided to start this. It's not so much a question as a quick survey and a possible jumping-off point.

My daughter's TV watching is very broad but not very deep -- she doesn't watch a ton of TV and there are a lot of shows she's seen only a couple of times, but she's seen a really high percentage of the shows marketed to her on network TV, Disney, and Nickelodeon at least once. I always watch a new show with her to see how suitable it is, so that means I I have seen most of them at least once.

What I have noticed, in the context of snood's thread, is that the current generation of kid's TV shows tend to feature a new archetype -- the smart (sometimes nerdy), strong, and capable black character. This person is often one of two best friends of the main (white) character, but the minority character is at center stage for several shows.

Thinking about this more, there tends to be three minority groups that are given a great deal of attention -- blacks, Asians, and Latinos -- and then others are kind of catch as catch can. Furthermore, Asians tend to be grouped as a whole, with a seeming emphasis on Chinese at the expense of Japanese, Korean, etc. (And as members of those three groups will tell you, they don't consider themselves equivalent to the other groups -- see here, for example.)

One last observation before I launch this -- I had a terrible time thinking of minority characters because that's not how they had been stored in my memory. I'd keep thinking, hmmm, that show doesn't have a [one of the big three minorities] character, and then go DUH! Libby! (Or whatever.)


So, in random order, with a bit more emphasis on popular shows, and an overall emphasis on humanoids (as opposed to undersea creatures, for example):

Additional note, added after I was most of the way done:

I'm going to make this a smidge more systematic and just go through every show listed on the Disney and Nickelodeon webpages. Plus, Nickelodeon has handy character descriptions I can just grab. This initial post will be the regular Nick shows. The next post, I'll do Nick Jr. Then I'll do Disney.

(I don't know why this is sticking in my head, it just is.)

Danny Phantom

Minority Character(s)?

Yes, Tucker:



His characteristics:

Smart. A techie. One of Danny's two best friends, and in every episode. Often helping Danny out of jams with his know-how. A bit of a geek, which annoys him when he's not owning it.

There is also a classmate whose name I forget who is Danny's most formidable human opponent. She's very smart and also very popular. She's in some episodes, but not all.

Fairly OddParents

Minority Character(s)?

Yes. A.J.:



His characteristics (cut and paste from the website):



Jimmy Neutron

Minority Character(s)?

Yes, the big three seem to be covered.

First, Libby:



Website description:



Nick:





Sheen:



His full name is "Sheen Estevez" and I think he's supposed to be Latino/ Hispanic, though I have a vague memory of this.

Unfabulous

Minority character(s)?

Yes, several:

Zach:





Geena:





Actually, that's not very accurate. Makes her sound more bubbleheaded than the character was on the episodes I saw (only a few, admittedly). She's usually talking down the main character from flights of paranoia/ imagination.

Cranberry:



A rare black villain, though she's paired with a very white (blonde + blue eyed) vilainous best friend:



Zoey 101

I've only seen like 10 minutes total of this show (hate it), but can just cut and paste from the website:







(Ew, can you tell why I don't like that show?)

Avatar

This is the only one that has a mostly minority (heh) cast. They're Asian, though it's hard to pinpoint what kind of Asian, exactly. Elements seem very Tibetan. Others seem almost Eskimo.



This is a show with a lot of complexity in its characters -- they all have their strengths and weaknesses. (I have another thread on it alone.)

Now on to:

Shows I've seen with no significant minority characters:

Drake and Josh

Everyone on this show is stupid, and the minor character of Josh's boss (who is black) is less stupid than most. She's still no particular step forward, though, unless her ordinariness/ non-paragon-ness is. The character isn't written as black, per se, just happens to be.

Shows I've never seen:

Uh-oh....

I thought the banner at the top contained all the shows, but no, it's only about 1/3!!! I'll just ignore the shows I haven't seen and the ones that are non-humanoid (Catscratch et al). What's left?

Rugrats









OK, I'm DONE! For now. More to come, though, including several shows with minorities at the center.