Dataset: Television
The migrant face in television has changed dramatically over the years. Depictions of foreigners and ethnic minorities often came in the form of stereotypes served to cement wrong perceptions but also alienate immigrant communities. Unlike the 50s and 60s, where migrant faces were rare on television, today, it is not abnormal to see a migrant face leading an entire show.
Entries
The Power of Cartoons in Global Education: An Interview with Christian Clark
July 27, 2020Conducted by Sumita S. Chakravarty A former cartoonist and two-time Emmy-award winning writer for the Children’s Television Workshop flagship show, Sesame Street, Christian Clark works… Read more
John Oliver Breaks Down The State of Legal Migration in The U.S. in 2019
September 24, 2019The HBO network show ‘Last Week Tonight With John Oliver’ breaks down the current state of legal migration in the United States after a summer… Read more
Article: George Lipsitz, The Meaning of Memory (1986)
November 3, 2016American Studies scholar George Lipsitz’s article The Meaning of Memory: Family, Class, and Ethnicity in Early Network Television Programs (1986) examines how the “historical specificity… Read more
1940-1949
I Remember Mama (1948)
The ups and downs of a Norwegian immigrant family, circa 1910.
The Life of Riley (1949)
A show featuring working class migrants to Los Angeles during and after WWII.
1950-1959
The Goldbergs (1949—1956)
A domestic comedy featuring the home life of a Jewish family.
I Love Lucy (1951-1957)
A daffy woman constantly strives to become a star along with her Cuban bandleader husband and gets herself in the strangest situations.
The Honeymooners (1955)
A comedy featuring Irish working class families in Brooklyn.
1970—1979
Mind Your Language (1977)
Mind Your Language is set in an adult education college in London and focuses on the English as a Foreign Language class taught by Mr Jeremy Brown, portrayed by Barry Evans, who had to deal with a motley crew of foreign students.
Chico and the Man (1974)
Chico and the Man is an American sitcom which features the cantankerous owner of a run down garage in an East Los Angeles barrio, and (until his suicide late in the third season) Chico Rodriguez, an upbeat, optimistic Chicano young man who comes in looking for a job. It was the first U.S. television series set in a Mexican-American neighborhood.
All in the Family
All in the Family revolves around the life of a working class bigot and his family. The show broke ground in its depiction of issues previously considered unsuitable for U.S. network television comedy, such as racism, homosexuality, and women’s liberation.
Kung Fu (1972)
The series follows the adventures of Kwai Chang Caine (portrayed by David Carradine as an adult, Keith Carradine as a teenager, and Radames Pera as a young boy), a Shaolin monk who travels through the American Old West armed only with his spiritual training and his skill in martial arts, as he seeks Danny Caine, his half-brother.
1990—1999
Goodness Gracious me (1998)
Goodness Gracious Me is a BBC English-language sketch comedy show. The ensemble cast were four British Indian actors, Sanjeev Bhaskar, Kulvinder Ghir, Meera Syal and Nina Wadia. The show explored the conflict and integration between traditional Indian culture and modern British life.
The Sopranos (1999)
The Sopranos is an American crime drama television series, revolving around the fictional New Jersey-based Italian-American mobster Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini).
All-American Girl (1994)
All-American Girl is a 1994 American sitcom featuring Margaret Cho as the rebellious teenage daughter of a traditional Korean-American family.
That 70s Show (1998)
The series focused on the lives of a group of teenage friends living in the fictional suburban town of Point Place, Wisconsin, including Fez, a Latin-American immigrant who is often the butt of their jokes.
2000s
PRAVASALOKAM (2000)
Pravasalokam, which means ‘migrants’ world’ in Malayalam, is a popular TV show from Kerala, India, that airs appeals for workers who have gone missing in the Gulf states.
Brothers Garcia (2000)
American sitcom that was an effort to produce programming featuring Latino characters, the first English-language sitcom to have an all Latino cast and creative team.
The George Lopez Show (2002)
George Lopez stars the titular comedian George Lopez and revolves around his life at work and raising his family at home.
Ugly Betty (2006)
Ugly Betty is based on Fernando Gaitán’s Colombian telenovela Yo soy Betty, la fea.
The Modern Family (2009)
American television sitcom following the lives of Jay Pritchett and his family, including his Colombian wife, all of whom live in suburban Los Angeles.
Aliens In America (2007)
A Midwest suburban family gets their anything-but-a-kufi in a bunch when a Pakistani exchange student shows up at their house.
24 (2001-2010)
A series centered around anti-terrorist agent Jack Bauer battling all sorts of foreign evildoers to protect his country. Season four depicts the Araz family, suburban Muslims who turn out to be a terrorist cell.
Big Bang Theory (2007-Present)
2010-Present
The Mindy Project (2012)
OBGYN and Indian-American Mindy Lahiri tries to balance her personal and professional life in New York City.
East Los High (2013)
East Los High is a teen drama series and is Hulu’s first and only series with an all Latino cast.
The Bridge (2013)
Two detectives work together to take down a serial killer operating on both sides of the Texas-Chihuahua border.
Jackson Heights (2014)
Light comedy-drama serial, that follows the lives of Pakistanis living in Jackson Heights, Queens.
Black-ish (2014)
Black-ish is a comedy which centers on an upper-middle-class African-American family.
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (2015)
29-year old Kimmy Schmidt tries to adjust to life in NYC after her rescue from an Indiana doomsday cult.
Usoni (2015)
The futuristic show depicts Africa as mankind’s last cradle of hope in the wake of a series of natural disasters.
Fresh Off the Boat (2015)
Eddie Huang‘s Taiwanese family make their way from Chinatown to Orlando to open up a cowboy-themed steak restaurant in 1995.
Supergirl (2015)
Supergirl is one of the last surviving Kryptonians, sent to Earth from her doomed planet to protect her cousin, Superman.
Hunted (2015)
14 ordinary members of the U.K. public are challenged to go on the run, and to drop off the grid for up to 28 days.
Quantico (2015)
A look at the lives of young FBI recruits training at the Quantico base in Virginia when one of them is suspected of being a sleeper terrorist.
Orange Is The New Black (2019)
Orange Is the New Black (sometimes abbreviated to OITNB) is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman’s memoir, Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women’s Prison (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum-security federal prison. Produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television, Orange Is the New Blackpremiered on Netflix on July 11, 2013. In February 2016, the series was renewed for a fifth, sixth, and seventh season. Its seventh and final season was released on July 26, 2019.