Top 10 TV Moments of 2007
it was a busy year for my people
2007-12-18
By Ronda Racha Penrice
Black folks have a love/hate relationship when it comes to television and how we’re represented; we’d love to love it but we’ve been forced to hate it. Our request seems so simple: just entertaining shows that show us as multidimensional people. You know, human beings, nothing less, nothing more. Well, okay, who wouldn’t like to be a super hero? We didn’t quite reach that milestone in 2007 but it wasn’t, by any means, an uneventful year. Here’s my countdown of the most eventful moments:
10) Keyshia Cole's Reality
Two of my friends truly believe that Keyshia Cole’s BET reality show The Way It Is has set Black folks back a few years. I disagree. Yes, Ms. Cole is rough around the edges but so was Mary J. Blige at one point and we love her. Last season, Keyshia revealed her rough Oakland childhood, growing up with foster parents, and even took the cameras to visit her mother in jail. This season I applaud her for taking herself and her family to counseling. It’s not easy to expose to the world a mother who was once addicted to drugs, has been incarcerated and has birthed seven children, and a sister who finds herself struggling as a single mother with three children and maybe another one on the way, but we all have problems. And maybe good will come from it all: Keyshia might have opened up the healing process for other families dealing with issues of their own.
9) Run’s House Deals
The second season of Run’s House ended on the very upbeat note of Justine’s pregnancy. That promise of a new little Simmons turned to tragedy in September 2006 when Victoria Anne Simmons died an hour after her birth. When the cameras returned for the third season opener, Rev. Run, the Run in Run-DMC, and his clan---wife Justine, daughters Angela and Vanessa, sons Russy, Diggy and JoJo---were at the hospital processing Victoria’s death. Deciding not to turn the cameras off landed the family on The Oprah Winfrey Show. At the tail end of the 1980s when Run-DMC frequently performed their hit song, “Run’s House,” no one could have predicted that, 20 years later, hip-hop would serve as the catalyst to show the pain of losing a child.
8) The Super Bowl Face-Off
The last time a Super Bowl made a list like this, Ms. Jackson, if you’re nasty, wished she had had a hand a la that famous Rolling Stone cover to cover her assets. Who would have thunk it, that after a lifetime of arguing that there should be more Black coaches in the NFL, not one, but two Black coaches would face off in the mother of national pastimes? There’s no way that the Chicago Bears’ Lovie Smith wanted to be the runner-up but he could still claim victory when the Indianapolis Colts’ win in Super Bowl XLI made Tony Dungy the first Black coach to ever win a Super Bowl.
7) Isaiah Washington’s Homophobic Episode
Yes, this controversy was a carryover from 2006 and it should have stayed there. I mean Isaiah Washington would still be [Dr. Preston] Burke on Grey’s Anatomy right now. But some folks just can’t keep their mouths shut. At the Golden Globes, as his then cast mates and sister show creator Shonda Rhimes basked in the win for Best Drama, Washington grabbed the press room mic and, before cameras and tape recorders, announced “No, I did not call T.R. Knight a faggot.” What happened to “no comment”? Apparently, it went out the window with his character. T.R. Knight’s coming out on The Ellen DeGeneres Show that same week sealed Isaiah’s Grey’s Anatomy coffin. No one was surprised that he didn’t make it to the 2007-2008 season.
6) Drucilla Leaves The Young and the Restless in Cliffhanger
Since 1990, Victoria Rowell has been a regular on The Young and the Restless as Drucilla Barber Winters, handling every soap obstacle thrown in her way. Rising from illiteracy to model and then to cosmetic executive, she’s had her share of drama. Most recently, she went nuts because another woman had designs on her on-screen husband Neil Winters, played by Kristoff St. John. This isn’t the first time Ms. Rowell has bailed and she might be back: After all, Dru fell off a cliff and her body hasn’t been found. During this hiatus, however, Rowell has created a little drama of her own, drawing attention to the current daytime Emmy nominating policy where a show’s actors select pre-nominees, making the awards, according to Rowell, a “popularity contest.” Rowell also revealed that her desire to write for the show didn’t play well. Judging by the success of her book, The Women Who Raised Me, that was a mistake. But kissing and making up is a soap opera staple so stay tuned!
5) Forest Whitaker and Jennifer Hudson Win Oscars. No Golden Child for Eddie.
There’s always a dance that Black folks do during Oscar time -- the jig of “will we or won’t we win this time.” Denzel’s and Halle’s wins on the same night in 2001 and then Jamie Foxx’s win in 2005 have made us feel that the Oscars might just be alright. And, this year, we felt a little more included when Jennifer Hudson won Best Supporting Actress for Dreamgirls (I thought she was the lead actress; wasn’t Effie White the star of Dreamgirls on Broadway? But that’s another argument for another day) and Forest Whitaker won Best Actor for The Last King of Scotland for his portrayal of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin. Eddie Murphy did not win for his outstanding supporting role in Dreamgirls as James “Thunder” Early, the Academy missing a great opportunity to make up for overlooking him after he played all those Klumps. With Will Smith and Djimon Hounsou also receiving nominations, Al and Jessie, I think we can write this one off our grievance list.
4) Michael Vick's Dog House
By now, who doesn’t know that Michael Vick fought dogs? I don’t think people in solitary confinement have missed this news because Lord knows it’s been shouted off of rooftops or, at the very least, every available newscast and program. Forget the war in Iraq or the mortgage crisis, or the economy: the Atlanta Falcons once explosive number 7 is Public Enemy #1 for animal cruelty. His every step has been followed since April 2007 when the dog-fighting ring was uncovered at his Virginia home. From his denial to his admission of guilt and his 23-month sentencing on December 10, Vick has dominated every sports program, crossed over to general news and inspired some exposes.
3) Kanye’s Mama, Donda West
This shocker wasn’t a TV moment, per se, but the broadcast fallout was hi-def: Dr. West’s death gave the nation a wake-up call, with shows such as Entertainment Tonight queing up cosmetic surgery horror stories, especially those allegedly performed by Dr. Jan Adams, the Black plastic surgeon who operated on West. CNN’s Larry King hosted an especially memorable show on the case. King scored an interview with Dr. Adams, who, had gained surgical street cred on the Discovery Health Channel, The Oprah Winfrey Show and even co-hosted The Other Half, a men’s version of The View, in better times. Apparently, the West family sent Adams a fax prior to the show asking him not to discuss West’s death. Subsequently, Adams appeared on the show only to announce that he would not speak. Before King could question him, Adams removed all mics and just walked off the set, leaving the audience stunned and King holding on to his suspenders. Let’s just hope Dr. West’s death really is the wake-up call that saves people’s lives and keep the faith for brother Kanye.
2) The View Seeing Double
Okay it was a foregone conclusion that after Rosie O’Donnell left, her replacement would be Black. Well, at least, we hoped. The musical chairs format was good because it gave former BET News anchor Jacque Reid, broadcast journalist Shon Gables, comedian Mo’Nique and even Kelly Rowland some exposure. It had to end, though, and Barbara Walters shocked us with the announcement of not just the Oscar, Grammy, Tony, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Goldberg joining the show, but up-and-coming comedienne Sherri Shepherd as well. Since September, the two have been welcomed fixtures, especially Whoopi who keeps the discussion on point during the sometimes heated “Hot Topics” segment. Star Jones’ forced departure still makes me uneasy but Whoopi and Sherri are certainly trying to make up for her absence. Although, I gotta say, their “disagreements” sometimes suggest that another famous catfight is a-brewing on The View. Hopefully, we can all get along.
1) Oprah, Oprah, Oprah
Well after giving away all those cars in 2004, I didn’t think Oprah would top herself but she finds a way to stay relevant and on top by just doing her. When Imus defended himself by saying that rappers use ‘hoes’ all the time with no recourse, Oprah held a town hall meeting and, though I do love Oprah, let’s keep it real, we’ve never seen this many Black folks as guests in one season let alone one show or, in this case, two. Yes I’m exaggerating a bit but the Big O showed she cared a lot about Black America and turned the airwaves on to it. Some folks wanted to dwell on the tabloid fodder of the inappropriate actions of a now former matron at the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls in South Africa but Winfrey addressed it publicly and openly and moved on. When she could easily have stayed on the sidelines, she’s publicly endorsed presidential candidate Barack Obama and that’s got to make for an interesting 2008.
Ronda Racha Penrice is a television writer based in Atlanta and the author of African American History for Dummies (In stores now)