Reality TV's 9 Worst Stock Characters
For more than two decades now, TV viewers around the globe have been watching total strangers attempt to live together, eat bugs for money, compete for a spouse, and sing or dance to win the adoration of millions of fans.
On network TV dating shows, Mr. Right must be white. Not one black, Latino, Asian, Native American, or Middle Eastern man has starred on any of the 14 seasons of The Bachelor between 2002 and 2010. And in other network reality shows, men of color tend to be quickly eliminated tokens. Cable reality programming offers far more diversity--and, along with it, a revival of minstrel-era stereotypes of black men as buffoons and clowns (as on VH1's Flavor of Love) and thuggish criminals. On From G's to Gents, black and Latino (and sporadic Asian, Middle Eastern, and white) men are portrayed as unrepentant drug dealers, child-support shirkers, violent offenders, and pimps who can only be rehabilitated through the benevolent guidance of MTV. On the premiere, a Latino "thug" framed the G lifestyle for the audience: "Of course I've been arrested! Who hasn't been arrested? I'm from the hood!"
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