Recently, while scrolling through a website, I stopping on an article entitled “Like ‘Orange is the New Black?’ You’ll Love These 8 Shows!” It did not make me pause because of the title itself— OITNB has become a staple in American culture. Every show or movie has a reference to it. Everybody has seen it. The thing that gave me pause about this article was the fact that it was attempting to capitalize on this TV show that went against every single trope that producers and executives were comfortable with. Of the eighteen actors billed as main cast, only three of them are men. When you switch the channel from Netflix instant to primetime, you’ll find that the ratio of men to women is 5.4 to 1.

Orange is the New Black is also known for having one of the most diverse casts on television when it comes to race. According to PBS, in 2015, 73.1% of actors in Hollywood blockbusters were white. Furthermore, Orange is the New Black features a cast that has various different sexualities and gender identities— things that primetime networks appear to be unwilling to touch for fear of losing their audience. However, with white men taking the leading positions as executive producers at ABC, NBC, and CBS, should people be completely surprised that they are not taking “risks” by filling their lineups with diverse casts lead by women?

To be fair to ABC, Orange is the New Black is not the only example of successful female casts in the media. Shonda Rhimes, a forty-six-year-old black woman, is the sole creator of one of the most successful nights of primetime TV: Must-see-TV-Thursday. The Shondaland lineup includes How To Get Away With Murder, Scandal, and Grey’s Anatomy, two of which have large ensemble casts led by women and filled with characters that have diversity of sexual orientation and race. These shows are some of the most popular on TV right now, which continues to beg the question: What about breaking free of the stereotype of “straight, white, cis, male” is so difficult for TV executives to get behind? The proof can be found in both social media and the ratings— people love these shows that would normally be deemed risks by most primetime television programmers. Yet these statistics show that the primetime programming isn’t showing any increase at all.

Perhaps the lack of improvement is inherent within the issue of whose pockets have the money. Would the face of TV look different if opportunities were handed to women? If media is supposed to reflect the experiences of consumers, why is it that so many people feel as if they are not being represented by the modern day spectrum of television shows? When a person sits down to watch a television show, they are interested in both escaping, but also finding themselves within the characters. People use novels, television, and film in order to learn things about themselves while experiencing other characters, and the fact that shows like Orange is the New Black are so rare means that there are large groups of people whose experiences are not being represented by television. People become obsessed with a show like that because it is so special to use an eclectic cast of women all having their stories flushed out and told. None of these women are stereotypes or one dimensional. They are allowed to be funny and sexy and broken simultaneously, which is a far more similar to many women’s experiences than one-dimensional portrayals on sitcoms.

However, even primetime television is taking small steps towards what should have already been instilled. Many shows with female leads are beginning to pop up— whether they get renewed or not is a different story, but there is certainly some effort lately. The CW has shows that are primarily captained by women— most notably, the March 21st episode of their “Jane The Virgin” made it a point to educate the audience on the subject of the Bechdel test. The characters discussed what the test was, why it  was important, and then made a small joke out of which of their scenes passed the test and which did not. Jane, the lead character, obsessed over the chapters of the novel she was working on being able to pass the test. When her advisor said that she wasn’t impressed, Jane was horrified, claiming that she had done the work— her chapters passed. However, the advisor pointed out that merely passing wasn’t enough, implying that the problem lied in the fact that there even had to be a rest in the first place.

Sources: http://www.cheatsheet.com/entertainment/if-you-like-orange-is-the-new-black-check-out-these-8-shows.html/, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/30000-hollywood-film-characters-heres-many-werent-white/, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/13/women-in-the-media-female_n_2121979.html.