GLAAD study finds fewer women, black characters are on TV
Patrick Ryan
Things are looking up for LGBTQ characters on television this season, although women and people of color still struggle for representation, according to a report released Thursday from GLAAD.
The LGBTQ media advocacy organization released its annual "Where We Are on TV" study, which analyzes the overall diversity of primetime scripted series on broadcast, cable networks and streaming services for the new TV season. The report encompasses characters seen or set to be portrayed in the period from June 2017 to May 2018, with counts based on series airing or announced, and for which casting has been confirmed.
The biggest strides have been made for LGBTQ characters. Of the 901 regular characters on 115 primetime scripted shows on broadcast networks (ABC, CBS, CW, FOX and NBC), 58 (6.4%) identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and/or queer. That's the highest percentage GLAAD has found in the history of the report and an increase of 1.5% from last year, when there were 43 characters.
Cable networks similarly jumped from 142 to 173 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters in the current TV season, while streaming series have a total of 70 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters, up five from last year. Netflix is again more inclusive than rival streaming platforms Hulu and Amazon, with more than 40 regular and recurring queer and trans characters on shows such as Orange is the New Black, which counts for 11 of them, and One Day at a Time.
More discouraging are the numbers of women. Female characters make up just 43% of series regulars on broadcast this season, a decrease of 1%. Of those, 155 are women of color (down 2% from last year), while the numbers of bisexual and transgender women also dropped by 4% and 3%, respectively.
Despite a 4% increase in characters of color on TV this season, black series regulars on broadcast dropped 2% to 165 in total — the first time in three years that there has not been an increase in black regular characters. Fox ranks the highest among the five broadcast networks with 26% of series regulars counted as black, thanks in part to predominantly black casts on shows including Empire, Star and Lethal Weapon.
Latinx (pertaining to actors of Mexican, Central, South American or Caribbean ancestry) broadcast series regulars remained steady at 8% (or 76 characters out of 901), while Asian-Pacific Islanders are up 1% to a record high of 7% total (65 characters).
Among the other notable findings:
► For the first time in the report's history, GLAAD is able to count asexual characters in its findings. While there are no asexual characters on broadcast, there is one each on cable and streaming: Raphael on Freeform’s Shadowhunters and Todd on Netflix's BoJack Horseman.
► This is also the first year that GLAAD is able to include non-binary characters, or people who do not identify exclusively as male or female. Those include Taylor Mason on Showtime's Billions (played by non-binary actor Asia Kate Dillon) and Heather Duke in Spike's upcoming Heathers reboot (comedian Brendan Scannell, stepping into the role originated by Shannen Doherty in the 1988 film).
► The percentage of characters with disabilities has risen slightly to 1.8% from 1.7% last year, with 16 characters total. ABC leads the five broadcast networks with five characters. whose disabilities include Asperger's (The Good Doctor), cerebral palsy (Speechless) and deafness (Quantico).
► Of 329 regular and recurring LGBTQ characters on broadcast, cable and streaming, only 17 (5%) are transgender. That's down 1% from last year, although there was an increase of one character. Nine of those are series regulars, although the only lead character is Maura Pfefferman on Amazon's Transparent (played by Jeffrey Tambor, a cisgender white man).