Reading this history of African-Americans in television by the late J. Fred MacDonald, I think his history only goes up to around 2000. It literally ends during the latter day of dominance by cable/satellite/PPV. I would say that his fourth era of African-American television, marked by narrowcasting, niche channels, competing providers stacking channels upon channels, would be better timed as lasting from 1983 to 2007.

There’s this yawning chasm which occurs over the decades as the AfAm-featuring content on terrestrial broadcasting remains woefully static and focused on family comedies and police procedurals while subscription channels like HBO and Showtime push furthest for African-American leading casts and characters. I recall “Soul Food”, “The Wire”, “Oz” leading the way, while “Everybody Hates Chris”.

This period ends c. 2007 with the rise of social media, Internet-based video-on-demand, mobile devices, binge watching, digital subchannels, web series and Shonda Rhimes. It is also accompanied by a slow progression of terrestrial television networks toward more diverse casts, crew and target markets in more genres, as previously pushed by subscription-driven networks.

The Chicago Defender just asked if, thanks to the works of Rhimes and the series “Empire” as well as the Emmy noms for Henson, Davis, Aduba and Washington, we are in the “Golden Age” of Black TV. If anything, we are in the 5th age of Black TV representation (and of TV in general).

We are no longer satisfied by the steady diet of/participation in music, comedies, and police procedurals. We are no longer satisfied by tokens. We are no longer satisfied by reality shows, even though they glut much of the schedule among the dilapidated cable schedule.