Black or White?

[email] (David Mandl) writes:

Funny. I wondered the same thing. Probably 7/8 white or something like that. It's a melting pot, and these racial distinctions should become less and less clear as the decades and centuries pass.

This may seem like a strange question, but was the guy George got into a fight with in "The Parking Space" black or white? It just came up in the course of conversation with a couple of friends; I think the guy is a light-skinned black and they swear he's white. No hidden agenda here, honest. We're just curious what other people think.

   --Dave.

In article , [email] writes...

He was definitely white.

--The Other Dave

I feel that the guy that George had an argument with over the parking space is definitely WHITE with perhaps a strong Eastern Block influence. This is just my opinion of course.

Thomas

In article [email] writes:

I thought he is black.

Molly

Speaking of which (the black or white thing) it's just struck me that I've never seen a black person in a role on the show!

Hmmmmm....

\robin

I guess it's another NY thing... you may not realize it, but there's very little racial diversity in the Big Apple.

(Warning... that was a JOKE! Seriously, I think it's a good point you raised.)

In the episode where Jerry and George posed as white supremacists, wasn't the female reporter talking about the demonstration black? Still, this is hardly a character. It seems kind of ironic that J and G posed as KKK types though, doesn't it. (I'm not implying that anyone is racist, but the lack of black characters (and even extras) is typical of today's TV-land).

There was also a black man in the video store on "The Stakeout" episode (I think).

You also see a lack of white characters on black sitcoms (e.g. A Different World, Family Matters, and even The Cosby Show, which I really enjoyed the first few years it was on). Why is this?

Maybe the issue of race becomes less noticeable when there is all of one race on the show. When the characters are mixed, I would think that it would become more noticeable and bring the 'uncomfortable' issue of race into the viewers' minds, possibly distracting or detracting to the show in the networks' or viewers' point of view.

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Matt Brockman                                           [email]
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    "While a llama may produce some of the world's finest of wools, prized
        around the world, their breath, on the other hand, could only
            be prized somewhere in the far reaches of llama hell."
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In article [email] (Robin Gibson) writes:

In article [email] (Robin Gibson) writes:

Although you are probably right that there have been very few black people in the show, never say never. Don't forget Sid, the car parker, was in this episode (The Parking Space). For those of you that may not know, Sid was originally in the very funny episode, 'The Alternate Side'. Although it has aired only once, you may remember it from the frequently quoted line: "These pretzels are making me thirsty!"

There was the man who sat in front of George in the movie theater, and on the subway episode (Jerry goes to Coney Island) there were AAs on the subway.

Most of Seinfeld is set in his apartment (or the diner). Like many white/ jewish new yorkers, Jerry doesn't have many AA friends, hence not many on the show.

HOWEVER, notice the decision made on Murphy Brown to drop Gene Cansella (sp?) as station director in favor of the AA yuppie Baldwin (Baldwich?? I forget...). This change was refreshing and reaffirming, and didn't hurt the show. In fact I think it helped by adding a new "worry" (not racist, competitive) for Miles' long list of worries. But this belongs on alt.tv.murphy...

Perhaps there is hope for TVland's color balance. Write letters to NBC and I'll bet they will listen!

How about the guy who parks the cars for everyone on seinfeld's street, or the guy who tried to steal george's parking space in front of jerry's building?

:

That guy wasn't stealing George's space, George was just sitting there -not parking, the guy had every right to the space 8^)

Also, that guy was white.

What if you have 10 car lengths? Do you have to pull all the way up and then back in?!

===============================================================================
Matt Brockman                                           [email]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    "While a llama may produce some of the world's finest of wools, prized
        around the world, their breath, on the other hand, could only
            be prized somewhere in the far reaches of llama hell."
===============================================================================

Welllll, if you have 10 car lengths, then you could pull in head first, BUT remember there was only one space NOT 10! So it was definitely George's space!

Wrong! It was *MY* space. Just like every legal parking space is my space. I simply chose not to use it at that particular time, so George and the other guy ended up fighting over it. All you New Yorkers, remember... it's *MY* space if I want it. That's right... Andy Lowry has first dibs on all spaces.

(Hey, I figure if it has any chance of making parking easier for me, it's worth a shot! :-)

In article , [email]

Hey, you called it. If you call dibs on it, it's yours. (Like the "Bob" TV commercial.) Besides, I don't have a car.