*(Mr. T/costar) Sgt. Bosco "B.A." Baracus, one of four AWOL
Vietnam War veterans on the run from the U.S. Army for a crime they didn't
commit. Della Reese appeared as B.A.'s mother who called her son,
"Scooter."
THE ADVENTURES OF BRISCO COUNTY JR./FOX/1993-94
*(Julius Carry/costar) Lord Bowler (a.k.a. James Lonefeather), a towering
black unshaven bounty hunter in a bowler hat who often teamed up with
white bounty hunter Brisco County, Jr. to track down the baddest of the
bad in the Old West. When not on the dusty trail, Bowler lived in luxury
and indulged his expensive tastes. Bowler and Brisco later become special
agents for President Cleveland.
THE ADVENTURES OF SINBAD THE SAILOR/UPN/1996
**(Oris Orhuero) Rongar, a black, knife-throwing mute sailor who
accompanied Sinbad the Sailor on his ancient mid-eastern voyages. He had
his tongue cut out for not betraying his brother.
THE ADVENTURES OF SUPERBOY/SYN/1988-91
**(Peter Jay Fernandez) Matt Ritter, a black investigator working with
a young Clark Kent, (a.k.a. "Superboy") for the Department of Extra Normal
Affairs located in Washington, D.C..
AGAINST THE LAW/FOX/1990-91
**(Suzanne Douglas) Yvette Carruthers, a black legal researcher
working with an unconventional white Boston attorney.
ALIEN NATION/FOX/1989-91
**(Lawrence-Hilton Jacobs) Sgt. Dobbs, a black Los Angeles police
detective who joked around with and teased outer space aliens known as the
Newcomers on this science fiction drama.
ALL IN THE FAMILY/CBS/1971-79
**(Sherman Hemsley) George Jefferson, a black dry-cleaning store owner
and next-door neighbor to a bigoted white man. Also featured were Isabel
Sanford, as George's wife, Louise aka "Weezie"; and Mike Evans as their
teenage son, Lionel. See also THE JEFFERSONS.
ALL THAT/NIK/1995+
*(Christy Knowings) Christy Knowings, one of a number of multi-ethnic
group of young performers who engaged in topical and silly skits on a
weekly basis half-hour program. Also featured were Kel Mitchell and Kenan
Thompson who spun off their "Good Burger" skit into the motion
picture Good Burger (1997) about dimwitted Ed and his pal, Dexter, who
work at a fast food restaurant. Ed's classic customer greeting: "Welcome
to Good Burger, home of the Good Burger! Can I take your order?!"
ALLY MCBEAL/FOX/1997-2002
*(Lisa Nicole Carson/costar) Renée Radick, an attractive black deputy
district attorney working for the city of Boston who shared an apartment
with her white college chum and fellow lawyer Ally McBeal. While attending
Harvard Law School, Renée and Ally invented a prank called "The Penguin."
which targeted a "deserving" male victim. Luring him to a supposed
secluded spot and suggesting that the man drop his drawers, one of the
woman made the man waddle after her while the other accomplice took a
snapshot of the humiliating moment as a souvenir.
AMAZING GRACE/NBC/1995
**(Lorriane Toussaint) Yvonne Price, an African-American emergency
room nurse who was a friend of former nurse turned minister.
AMEN/NBC/1986-91
*(Sherman Hemsley) Ernest Frye, a black President and Deacon of The
First Community Church of Philadelphia who struggled with his
congregation's new young preacher, Reverend Reuben Gregory (played by the
series co-star Clifton Davis). Also featured were Anna Maria Horsford as
Thelma Frye, the deacon's daughter who later married Reverend Gregory;
Barbara Montgomery and Roz Ryan as sisters Casietta and Amelia Hetebrink
both on the church's governing board; Jester Hairston as elderly board
member Rolly Forbes; Rosetta LeNoire as Rolly's wife, Leola; Bumper
Robinson as Clarence, a local teenager; and Franklyn Seales as choir
director Lorenzo Hollingsworth. Trivia Note: In reality, Clifton Davis
earned his Masters in Divinity in 1987 and became a pastor of a
Seventh-Day Adventist Church in California.
AMOS 'N ANDY/CBS/1951-53
*(Alvin Childress & Spencer Williams) Amos Jones and Andrew "Andy"
Brown, two black cabdrivers working for The Fresh Air Taxi Company of
America, Inc. based in Harlem. The series all black cast also included Tim
Moore as the conniving president of the local Mystic Knights of the Sea
lodge, George "Kingfish" Stevens; Ernestine Wade as Sapphire Stevens, the
Kingfish's nagging wife; Amanda Randolph as Mama, Sapphire's mother; Nick
O'Demus (also known as Nicodemus, Horace Stewart Nick Stewart and
Nicodemus Stewart) as Lightnin', the slow moving janitor; Johnny Lee as
Algonquin J. Calhoun, a fast-talking, inept lawyer; and Jester Hairston
playing both roles of Leroy, Sapphire's brother and the haughty Henry Van
Horne; Blatz Beer, the sponsor of the program yielded to pressure from
NAACP and other civil-rights groups when they protested the way the show
pictured the American black man. In 1964, the Urban League Director stated
"the show depicts the Negro as a foot-shuffling handkerchief head. The
station owners who run it are going to catch Hell and the sponsor of the
show will not sell the Negro market". Reruns were syndicated until 1966
when during the Civil Rights Movement CBS removed all copies from both
domestic and overseas markets. In 1983 reruns of the program were seen in
Atlanta, Georgia. The original radio series featured the voices of white
actors Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in the lead roles of Amos Jones
and Andy Brown. “The Amos 'N' Andy Show” began with the narration: "Out of
the library of American folklore, those treasured stories such as Huck
Finn, Paul Bunyon and Rip Van Winkle-which have brought us laughter and
joy for generations-come the warm and lovable tales of Amos n' Andy;
presented by the Blatz Brewing Company, Wisconsin, on behalf of Blatz
dealers everywhere."
ANGEL STREET/CBS/1992
*(Robin Givens/costar) Anita Wellman King, an ambitious black police
detective working for the Violent Crimes Unit of the Chicago Police
Department. Anita is Catholic and grew up on the South side of Chicago.
She was teamed with a Polish-American female partner.
ANY DAY NOW/LIF/1998-2002
*(Lorraine Toussaint/costar) Rene, a successful single black attorney
who leaves Washington D.C. to return to her hometown of Birmington,
Alabama where she rekindles a friendship with M. E. Sims, a married white
housewife who was once her close childhood companion.
ARSENIO/ABC/1997
*(Arsenio Hall) Michael Atwood, a black on-air announcer and co-anchor
for an all-sports cable network based in Atlanta, Georgia. Also appearing
was Michael's beautiful new wife Vivian (Vivica A. Fox), an attorney who
allowed her lazybones younger brother Matthew (Alimi Ballard) to live with
and mooch off of the couple.
THE ARSENIO HALL SHOW/SYN/1989-94
*(Arsenio Hall) Arsenio Hall, a popular Emmy Award-winning late night
talk show host and executive producer from Cleveland, Ohio. He ran a
successful six-year run against the reigning King of late night television
Johnny Carson and his successor Jay Leno. Hall began his career in Chicago
as a stand-up comedian, eventually touring with more than 25 headliners.
See also MARTIAL LAW.
AT EASE/ABC/1983
*(Jimmy Walker) Sgt. Val Valentine, a U.S. Army hustler and con-artist
stationed at a peacetime military base in Tar Creek, Texas. The series was
a black version of Sgt. Ernie Bilko character seen on THE PHIL SILVERS
SHOW in the 1950's.
