GLAAD: Fewer women, black characters on TV
Things are looking up for LGBTQ characters on television this season, although women and people of color still struggle for representation, according to a report released Thursday from GLAAD.
The LGBTQ media advocacy organization released its annual “Where We Are on TV” study, which analyzes the overall diversity of prime- time scripted series on broadcast, cable networks and streaming services for the new TV season. The report encompasses characters seen or set to be portrayed in the period from June 2017 to May 2018, with counts based on series airing or announced and for which casting has been confirmed.
The biggest strides have been made for LGBTQ characters. Of the 901 regular characters on 115 primetime scripted shows on broadcast networks ( ABC, CBS, CW, FOX and NBC), 58 ( 6.4%) identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and/ or queer. That’s the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the history of the report and an increase of 1.5% from last year, when there were 43 characters.
Cable networks similarly jumped from 142 to 173 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters in the current season, while streaming series have a total of 70 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters, up five from last year. Netflix again is more inclusive than rival streaming platforms Hulu and Amazon with more than 40 regular and recurring queer and trans characters.
More discouraging are the numbers of women. Female characters make up just43% of series regulars on broadcast this season, a decrease of 1%. Of those, 155 are women of color ( down 2% from last year), while the numbers of bisexual and transgender women also dropped by 4% and 3%, respectively.
Despite a 4% increase in characters of color on TV this season, black series regulars on broadcast dropped 2% to 165 in total — the first time in three years there has not been an increase in black regular characters. Fox ranks the highest among the five broadcast networks with 26% of series regulars counted as black, thanks in part to predominantly black casts on shows including Empire, Star and Lethal Weapon.
Latinx ( pertaining to actors of Mexican, Central, South American or Caribbean ancestry) broadcast series regulars remained steady at 8%( or 76 characters out of 901); Asian- Pacific Islanders are up 1% to a record high of 7% total ( 65 characters). Other notable findings:
❚ For the first time in the report’s history, GLAAD is able to count asexual characters. While there are no asexual characters on broadcast, there is one each on cable and streaming: Raphael on Freeform’s Shadow hunters and Todd on Netflix’s BoJack Horseman.
❚ Of 329 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on broadcast, cable and streaming, only 17 ( 5%) are transgender. That’s down 1%, although there was an increase of one character. Nine are series regulars, although the only lead character is Maura Pfefferman on Amazon’s Transparent ( played by Jeffrey Tambor).