CBS Entertainment president Glenn Geller was grilled about the lack of diversity in its new series at the TCA summer press tour.
- Aug 11, 2016
AceShowbiz - CBS responded to criticism about its "so white" fall lineup at the Television Critics Association summer press tour on Wednesday, August 10. During the panel in Beverly Hills, a reporter pointed out that the leads of the network's new shows in the fall are all "heterosexual white men."
Responding to the diversity issue, CBS entertainment president Glenn Geller said, "I'm really glad this question came up first because we're very mindful at CBS about the importance of diversity and inclusion and I'm glad we're having this conversation first." He admitted, "We need to do better and we know it."
He then explained, "In terms of leads, we are definitely less diverse this year than last year, and like I said, we need to do better. But in terms of overall diversity in our new shows, we were actually more diverse this year than last year, and I think that that's our commitment to diversity. It is ongoing."
Geller went on pointing out the newly added series regulars for its shows next year, including Justin Hires on "MacGyver", Vanessa Ferlito on "NCIS: New Orleans", Adam Rodriguez on "Criminal Minds" and Aisha Tyler on "Criminal Minds". "We showed you some photos of 16 new series regulars, 11 of them are diverse," he said.
He went on defending the network's commitment to diversity, "I know they're not leads, but 11 are diverse and that is our commitment to diversity and those just aren't words. That is real action ... I wouldn't say we're mitigating anything. Those 16 roles were added because the showrunners were adding roles. I think the fact that 11 of them were cast diversely shows our commitment."
"And I understand certainly the inclination to look at the screen and just look at leads and say, 'Well, what's going on? Why are you less diverse?' " he added, "But I do think that when we're talking about diversity and inclusion, we have to also look behind the camera and there we are doing very well. Our writers are more diverse than last year, our directors - and we're not finished booking every slot but we're on track."
The press was not satisfied with Geller's responses. A reporter pressed him, "You guys have had this problem for years. You've had years to fix this." Geller said, "Look, I'm acknowledging we need to do better. In terms of directors, and this is a place I would love to talk about, we've been getting better and better every single year about diversity among our director ranks and we have series where over half the directors are diverse. But I hear you, I really do, and I understand that we need to do better. I do want to point out though, that in the ensemble casting, we are more diverse this year than last year, and that is forward progress."
Geller was also asked about LBGT inclusion. "I think things are definitely shifting and in terms of LGBT representation," he said. "We have more LGBT characters on this coming year than ever before. We have in our newer series especially, on 'Bull', on 'The Great Indoors', in the second year of 'Code Black'."
He added, "Vanessa Ferlito who we cast in 'NCIS: New Orleans', her character is lesbian and they're doing a storyline a little later in the fall where the audience will understand that and see that. And Laverne Cox, in 'Doubt', which will be on later this season, is a historic role. She's going to be the first transgender actress ever to play a series regular character. That is huge."
