With fall TV starting up, you might be looking for some new and different shows to watch. Maybe you're trying to find some shows that have characters who don't fit into the straight, white, and beautiful mold that the media tends to over-represent. Consider these shows with diverse casts and characters:
1. Scandal
Scandal is an important show, all right? When the show started in 2012, Kerry Washington became the first African American female lead in 40 years on a network drama. The show also stars Diego Muñ
oz, a Chilean actor, and features a gay leading character, Cyrus Beene. Besides all that, the show is dramatic and interesting, following the shocking and deceitful lives of Washington's elite. Scandal airs on ABC Thursdays at 9/8c.2. Empire
Empire tells a different kind of story; it's all about a entertainment and hip hop production company. All the members of the main cast are black, and several of the characters deal with intersecting identities. The male lead learns he has ALS, his ex-wife is an ex-convict. Other characters deal with mental illness and identify as gay and bisexual. Empire airs on FOX Wednesdays at 9/8c.
3. How to Get Away with Murder
How to Get Away with Murder is about law students and their professor, played by Viola Davis. At the Emmys last week, Davis became the first black woman to win the Emmy award for Best Actress in a Drama. The characters are racially diverse and have unique identities, however in the show they are in no way defined by these identities. How to Get Away with Murder airs on ABC Thursdays at 10:00.
4. Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine-Nine showcases the fictional 99th precinct of the New York Police Department. The show is hilarious and heartfelt, and features a realistic set of characters with many and diverse identities. Andre Braugher plays Raymond Holt, who is a proud gay precinct captain, despite law enforcement not being the most traditionally gay-friendly profession. Chelsea Peretti plays Gina, a quirky and strong woman not defined by her relationships to men. Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs on FOX Sundays at 7:30/8:30c.
5. Sense8
Sense8 is a science fiction story about eight total strangers, called sensates, who are linked both mentally and emotionally. The show explores the sensates' attempt to understand why the are linked. The cast is racially and ethnically diverse. One of the characters is a trans woman, which, at least among the shows in this list, is unique. Sense8 is on Netflix.
6. Jane the Virgin
Jane the Virgin is about Jane Villanueva, a religious Latina woman whose doctor accidentally artificially inseminates her. The show is based on a telenovela, and authentically and respectfully represents the Latino community. Jane the Virgin airs on the CW Mondays at 9/8c.
7. Grace & Frankie
All right, hear me out. Yes the main cast is completely white (although Martin Sheen is of Spanish-Irish descent, and his birth name is Ramó
n Antonio Gerardo Estevez). Yet, there is something unique about a show featuring exclusively more elderly actors, and the two husbands who confess their love for each other. Grace and Frankie is on Netflix.
