(Left to right) Wentworth Miller, Derek Luke, Daniel Henney, Stephanie Jacobsen and Harry J. LennixHere’s to hoping that won’t happen!
The Black Snob enjoys keeping tabs on all minority actors, mostly because I’m just happy when one of them gets a regular paycheck. I’m even more happy when it’s someone I like (Daniel Henney or Derek Luke) versus someone I can’t stand (Taye Diggs!), but am happy for their employment anyway. Unfortunately (or should I say “as usual”), there aren’t many new roles for black actresses on the major networks. If you’re a sister and you’re on TV it’s because you got rehired from your old job (talking to you, Chandra Wilson and S. Epatha Merkerson). Everyone else is SOL. Hope you get some guest spots.
That said, this fall a lot of new shows will premiere with black, Latino, Asian and lots of biracial cast members. (Although the biracial people almost never get to BE biracial — *cough* Mark-Paul Gosselaar is half Indonesian! *cough* — tis America, you are what you look the most like.) Here’s the rundown of who’s who on what’s what.
Someone decided it was a good idea to give Daryl “Chill” Mitchell and former football star Michael Strahan a show. Obviously that someone knows how much I love Strahan and his gapped tooth, but will the show be any good? Does Strahan have comedic chops? Will “The Funny” be there? It’s got CCH Pounder! Is she funny?
Actor Derek Luke (mmm … Derek Luke) stars in NBC drama “Trauma” along with Aimee Garcia and the beautiful Nigerian Enuka Okuma will be in the premiere episode. Her last notable role was a recurring part on FOX’s “24” last season. I hope to see her in more things. I thought she did great with what little she had to work with on “24” being the girlfriend of a terrorist.
Comedic actress Yvette Nicole Brown has landed in a secondary role on NBC’s new comedy Community about community college and no one still knows what the fate of the CW’s cancelled The Game is. There’s still talk of it moving to BET but nothing is set in stone.
My favorite incognegro Wentworth Miller is doing a one-off, season opener for Law & Order SVU that could materialize into something more regular depending on how that goes. (Please be something more regular!) Check out the preview! He totally has hair now. Maybe he’ll let it get all longish and pretty boy curly/wavy again.
The medical NBC drama Mercy has a substantial minority cast, starring Delroy Lindo, Guillermo Diaz and Jamie Lee Kirchner. Like TNT’s Jada Pinkett-Smith show Hawthorne, Mercy is about the lives of nurses.
LL Cool J will star in the spin-off of NCIS, NCIS: Los Angeles on CBS. I didn’t watch the original version of this show and I’m not one of the ladies who love Cool James (it’s more of a like), so ya’ll are just going to have to let me know how that one turns out. Kidding. I’ll watch the premiere and give a review!
Stephanie Jacobsen (last seen possibly getting shot in the back on Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles and being bad ass on Battlestar Galactica: Razor) will somehow be toning it down for the CW’s highly unnecessary reboot of Melrose Place. (There are officially NO NEW IDEAS.) I doubt she’ll be playing a part-Asian character because she just looks generally “exotic” and not obviously “Asian.” (She’s the Wentworth Miller of Asians! Like Miller who is a little bit of everything plus a dollop of the Negro, Jacobsen is Portuguese-Chinese-Norwegian-English. Who knew?)
Canadian actress Jessica Lucas will be joining Jacobsen on Melrose. You last saw her in Cloverfield, Drag Me to Hell and CSI. She’s Haitian and Pakistani. (I wonder how you could blend traditional Haitian and Pakistani food? Could you open a restaurant featuring that fusion?)
Freed from South Korean soap operas (finally), Asian-American, incredibly good looking man, Daniel Henney has returned to the motherland and is starring in the medical drama Three Rivers. The show also stars Justina Machado who’s done stints on ER and Ugly Betty in the past.
In other “I didn’t know that person was Asian” news: Lost’s Reiko Aylesworth has joined the cast of SyFy’s Stargate Universe. She’ll be playing actress Ming-Na Wen’s life-partner on the show. In other Asians playing Asians news … Ming-Na has a JOB!?!? Good for her!
Rochelle Aytes gets a job on ABC’s The Forgotten, a detective show starring Christian Slater. She’s had a slew of guest work and small roles, but nothing substantial. This will be her first regular, full-time J-O-B if the show lasts past six episodes.
Lindsay Price, the Hapa who is going to keep taking jobs and killing TV shows until they tell her to stop, is starring in bewitching comedy Eastwick on ABC with Rebecca Romijn (forever Mystique to me). Shows Lindsay has seen die while she attempted to get a paycheck on them — Coupling, Pepper Dennis (Romijn’s other starring vehicle) and Lipstick Jungle.
Disney dude Corbin Bleu will be on the CW’s fashion model show The Beautiful Life playing Isaac. You probably know him from EVERYTHING DISNEY HAS MADE since 2004. The House of Mouse kept mop top busy on everything from Hannah Montana from the High School Musical series.
As for people who’ve managed to keep their jobs from last season (in no particular order): Jesse L. Martin (The Philanthropist), Michael K. Williams (The Philanthropist), Jada Pinkett-Smith (Hawthorne), Wanda Sykes (The New Adventures of Old Christine), Regina King (Southland), Shemar Moore (Criminal Minds), America Ferrera (Ugly Betty), Vanessa Williams (Ugly Betty), Ana Ortiz (Ugly Betty), Tony Plana (Ugly Betty), Mark Indelicato (Ugly Betty), Harry J. Lennix (Dollhouse), Dichen Lachman (Dollhouse), Laurence Fishbourne (CSI), Archie Kao (CSI), Anthony Anderson (Law & Order), S. Epatha Merkerson (Law & Order), Alana de la Garza (Law & Order), Tamara Tunie (Law & Order SVU), Ice-T (Law & Order SVU), B.D. Wong (Law & Order SVU), Chandra Wilson (Grey’s Anatomy), Sandra Oh (Grey’s Anatomy), James Pickens Jr. (Grey’s Anatomy), Miguel Sandoval (Medium), Tamara Taylor (Bones), Rashida Jones (Parks & Recreation), Audra MacDonald (Private Practice), Taye Diggs (Private Practice), Mindy Kaling (The Office), Oscar Nunez (The Office), Craig Robinson (The Office), Leslie David Parker (The Office), Navi Rawat (Numb3rs), Alimi Ballard (Numb3rs), Sophina Brown (Numb3rs), Tim Kang (The Mentalist), Tyra Banks (ANTM), Cote de Pablo (NCIS), Donald Fasion (Scrubs), Judy Reyes (Scrubs), Aloma Wright (Scrubs), Adam Rodriguez (CSI: Miami), Sendhil Ramamurthy (Heroes), Masi Oka (Heroes), James Kyson Lee (Heroes), Adrian Pasdar (Heroes), Dania Ramirez (Heroes), Noah Gray-Cabey (Heroes), Kristen Ariza (Lie To Me), Tracy Morgan (30 Rock), Keith Powell (30 Rock), Mark-Paul Gosselaar (Raising the Bar), Gloria Rueben (Raising the Bar), J. August Richards (Raising the Bar), Lorraine Toussaint (Saving Grace), Laura San Giacomo (Saving Grace), Gregory Cruz (Saving Grace), Corey Reynolds (The Closer), Raymond Cruz (The Closer), Michael Paul Chan (The Closer), Robert Gossett (The Closer), Aldis Hodge (Leverage) and probably a few more I’ve forgotten.
Live Your Best Life. 
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