New UCLA Study Finds That TV Shows w/ Ethnically Diverse Casts & Crew Have Higher Ratings | Shadow and Act

I recently half-joked about how instrumental the additions of Angela Bassett and Gabourey Sidibe to the cast of this season of American Horror Story were, in helping its premiere episode become the most-watched telecast ever

But really! What this article (kind of surprisingly) forgot to mention was shows like Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, whose diverse casts skyrocketed them both to being ABC’s #1 dramas. I think even Glee got it’s popularity boost when it came out because it had a diverse cast (though many have problems with the way that diversity is presented on the show, but that’s another issue). ER and Lost are also shows with that I’ve recently been reminded had diverse casts and hit  #1 status in their day. They are the hot Thursday shows. And recent addition Sleepy Hollow has been doing extremely well (probably even better than the network or anyone thought) and I believe that is in large part to its diverse cast.
It’s kind of unbelievable that networks haven’t caught on to the fact that this is working. ABC is clearly trying to copy some form of the Scandal formula with it’s show Betrayal. Sexy secrets and affairs, a “scandalous” name– but these aren’t the things that make Scandal a hit, so ABC going with some blandly all white cast and a hot name and some racy storylines isn’t going to drive it to be the hit that Scandal is. Scandal is successful because of its black lead and showrunner, who see that diversity in storytelling is what makes a hit show even more popular.
via New UCLA Study Finds That TV Shows w/ Ethnically Diverse Casts & Crew Have Higher Ratings | Shadow and Act.