Esposito's discussion of a "color-blind"/"post-racial" American televisual landscape, and Warner's discussion of "diversity" (which Onyinye's post deftly interrogates) both reminded me of a portion of Ziwe's interview with Amber Riley on her Showtime show, Ziwe. In her typically deadpan, parodic style, Ziwe asks Riley about diversity, racism, and colorblindness in the T.V. industry, as well as about one of Riley's famously anti-racist Glee coworkers, who shall remain nameless... (hint: she will definitely NOT be reading this blogpost).
Of course, particularly in regards to Warner's piece about the "risk" HBO took on Insecure after decades of establishing its particularly brand of quality around whiteness, it might be interesting to think about the fact that Ziwe--which evolved from Ziwe's Youtube and Instagram live series from 2020, Baited, where she conducted painfully awkward interviews about race--ultimately landed on Showtime, another premium TV channel. This suggests to me that Ziwe might be located at the same "intersection of risk, quality, and cable" at which Warner locates Insecure, and thus displays a similar risk calculation by Showtime in a streaming era where time premium cable must constantly work to evade irrelevance.
Clip from Ziwe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPv3PEeFdxw
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