THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, March 14, 1995 TAG: 9503140050
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: Larry Bonko
LENGTH: Long : 103 lines
WHAT TOOK so long? Why have the networks waited until now, the mid-1990s, to air an hourlong drama in which an African-American cast is featured?
CBS tonight at 8 makes up for all those lost years with the premiere of ``Under One Roof,'' starring James Earl Jones, Joe Morton and Vanessa Bell Calloway.
It's about a black middle-class family in Seattle and how they cope with pressures that include a father starting a new business, a mother switching from homemaker to working mom, and how both stressed-out parents deal with selfish, immature children.
Daughter wants a new dress for a party. Mom says no. Daughter lifts mom's credit card from mom's purse and charges dress. It's been stained, so she can't return it. Mom finds out. Mom hits the roof.
We've seen whites on TV in similar life-as-it-really-is situations many times. Remember ``Family''? ``Life Goes On''? ``thirtysomething''? ``A Year in the Life''? ``Against the Grain''? ``Brooklyn Bridge''?
But with few exceptions - ``South Central'' on Fox and ``Laurel Avenue'' on Home Box Office come to mind - the networks decided in the past that if the series is about a black family, it will be a situation comedy.
``There's been a perception that the television audience does not want to see African-Americans in the context of a real-life drama,'' said Thomas Carter, creator and executive producer of ``Under One Roof.''
There is a perception that the TV audience wants to laugh with African-Americans but does not want to get involved with anything more serious than ``The Cosby Show.'' That perception is flawed, Carter said, because the TV audience, white and black, realizes that most of the problems we deal with have nothing to do with race.
``The people will come to this show and buy into it because it is a good, entertaining drama,'' Carter said.
He does not fault the producers of what have been called black sitcoms, or the networks that keep grinding out those shows. ``I'm not putting them down,'' Carter said. ``If white people can do dumb comedies, then blacks should be able to do dumb comedies, too. At the same time, if whites can do quality drama such as `thirtysomething,' then we should be able to do them, too.''
The myth that a black drama will never make it in prime time should melt away starting tonight with the arrival of ``Under One Roof,'' a drama that is a marriage of fine scripts and an excellent cast. Watch once and you will be hooked.
Jones, as widowed police officer Neb Langston, tones down his performance a decibel or two from his usual work as he takes charge of a household that includes three generations.
``He likes old-time values,'' Jones said when he met TV writers in Los Angeles not long ago. His character, who is widowed and the father of two grown children, takes on a foster child whose mother died of a drug overdose.
How the teenage Marcus, played by Merlin Santana, adjusts, or rather fails to adjust, to the strict Langston household is one of the broader threads in the fabric of this series.
``This is not just a family but an extended family,'' Jones said.
It is a drama with light moments. Neb's daughter Beverly, played by Monique Ridge, prefers to be called Ayisha. Neb isn't buying it.
``You can call yourself Queen Whoop-Dee-Do for all I care,'' he says. ``As long as you're my daughter, I'll call you Beverly.''
Carter said: ``Our show humanizes African-Americans in a manner not seen on television before in a weekly drama. It also shows African-Americans in roles which have been sorely missing from television, such as a small business owner and a working mother returning to college.''
Ron Langston (Morton) owns a hardware store with a white partner played by Terence Knox.
``Under One Roof'' is a noble enterprise, but if Carter had not produced first-rate scripts and rounded up a wonderful cast, ``Under One Roof'' would fade away no matter how worthy the concept. His show is not only noble but also darn good ensemble TV.
If the African-American community has been waiting for a prime time drama to rally around, ``Under One Roof'' is it. Trouble is, it's a 9 o'clock show in an 8 o'clock time slot. ILLUSTRATION: CBS color photos
James Earl Jones plays a widowed police officer, Joe Morton portrays
his son, and Vanessa Bell Calloway is his son's wife.
Cast...Ronald Joshua Scott, Essence Atkins, Monique L. Ridge and
Merlin Santana.
Photo by M.D. Lawrence, CBS
James Earl Jones
by CNB