Black TV: Five Decades of Groundbreaking Television from Soul Train to Black-ish and Beyond by Bethonie Butler is in bookstores today courtesy of Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers. Inside, readers will find a thoughtfully curated and delightfully presented history of the most important television shows created by Black storytellers and focused on Black people and their experiences from the last fifty years. The result is a rich and vibrant text which is interesting and engaging from cover to cover.
In the introduction, Butler outlines the text’s criteria for which programs are featured in the text: “This is a celebration of shows that center Black people and their experiences, without tethering those experience to the white people in their midst… Our focus is primarily on sitcoms and dramas that aired during prime time, in addition to variety/sketch/late-night series that helped increate the visibility of Black entertainers.” With those criteria in mind, all of the stars readers would expect, such as Red Foxx, Richard Pryor, Arsenio Hall, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, and so many more are covered along with their groundbreaking contributions to television. The book begins with Julia, which premiered in 1968 and starred Diahann Carroll, which actor and director Tim Reid says gained in popularity through word of mouth through the “personal net” such as families, churches, or social organizations which saw Black communities rooting for Black entertainers appearing on prime time and supporting them by tuning in. It’s moments like these— interesting quotations from veterans in the field and experts alike— which really make Butler’s text come to life for readers.
The chapters of Black TV are organized and presented in a fashion which helps the reader understand both the general timeline during which each of the shows and performers broke new ground throughout television history, and they also bring in important topics which span multiple decades, or some events or titles which are too big to fit into a chapter focused on multiple programs. There’s a specific chapter for Roots, and other milestones such as ’80s Sitcoms and ’90s Sitcoms get their own chapters as well. As a person who grew up in the ’90s, I particularly enjoyed reading the chapter on UPN and the WB and learning about such shows as Sister, Sister, The Wayans Brothers, and The Jamie Foxx Show. Butler finds the perfect balance in being entertaining in the presentation of the material and also bringing an analytical and historical authority to the text which makes it shine.
In addition to the engaging text, Black TV features an amazing variety of photographs to make the book interesting to look at on every page. There are TV Guide covers, publicity stills, and images from all of the television shows covered in the book. The book is colorful and vibrant, and it’s enjoyable just to sit down with it and thumb through the pages and take in all of the photographs.
Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers did a great job with the delivery of Black TV. Featuring thick hardcover binding with a sharp dust jacket, the book feels very sturdy and nice to hold in one’s hands. The paper used in production has a nice semi-gloss feel to it which makes both the images and the text pop vibrantly. I like how they chose a mid-size format for this text, which is large enough to house some impressive and detailed images without becoming too cumbersome. It’s a nice book to carry around the house and ultimately place on your bookshelf.
With Black TV: Five Decades of Groundbreaking Television from Soul Train to Black-ish and Beyond, Bethonie Butler crafted an important text which deserves a spot on any serious fan of television’s bookshelf and a perfect starting point for anyone who would like to learn more about the history of Black television entertainers and the groundbreaking programs they created.