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May 03, 2005

Asians disappear on prime-timeTV

It’s not a magic show for May sweeps:

A study of Asian Americans in prime-time television, released Monday, shows that Asians, who make up 5 percent of the U.S. population, play 2.7 percent of regular characters. It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles. [AP/Yahoo!]

One of the few bright spots:

...the study’s authors particularly lauded ABC’s “Lost,” which has a South Asian character and a Korean married couple who speak Korean on-screen — with English subtitles, something almost never seen on prime-time shows. [AP/Yahoo!]

apul on May 3, 2005 04:22 PM in TV · T·r·a·c·k·b·a·c·k address · Direct link · Email post



3 comments

 1 · Real Asian Hero on May 3, 2005 04:50 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

From an American view, is 'South Asian' a subset of 'Asian' ???
The article also talks about American Indains ! Do they mean Native Americans????

Too much confusion for me.....Keep it simple and KEEP IT REAL :)


 2 · brimful on May 3, 2005 05:57 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

We will kindly overlook the fact that the South Asian on Lost is playing an Arab, of course.


 3 · DesiDancer on May 4, 2005 02:05 PM · Direct link · “Quote”(?)

It also shows virtually no Asian actors are on situation comedies, and the characters they play in dramas tend to have less depth than most regulars, with minimal on-screen time and few romantic roles.

yeah, because all the roles of medical resident, taxi-wallah and corner-store-owner don't warrant it... Whatever happened to "Nevermind Nirvana" or Mira Nair's potential ABC sitcom about a Punjabi family?


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