On Sept. 8, 2015, Stephen Colbert joined the realm of late night shows dominated by an increasingly indistinguishable assortment of white males. Television networks have continued to display reluctance to selecting diverse hosts. At a time when 22.6 percent of the U.S. population is a racial minority and women outnumber men, it is time networks modernize their late night talk shows to better reflect the diverse nation we are.
Dismissing the diversity of our hosts as a minor issue can be tempting, but they play a crucial role in reflecting and shaping the values of a generation. Ed Sullivan and Johnny Carson had profound effects on the American populace, impacting everything from Hollywood movies to musical tastes. Today, hosts comment on politics through the guise of fun-filled games and on breaking news stories through relevant satire. In the coming months, we are bound to see political candidates vie for our increasingly limited attention through trendy interviews in attempts to appear relatable and rack up millions of views on YouTube. With an ever-growing number of shows playing an important role in today’s society, a noisy chorus of homogeneous viewpoints leads to a more colorless and vapid world.
Although admittedly I think Stephen Colbert will be an incredibly funny yet genuinely compassionate host of “The Late Show,” his selection reflects a broader hesitation of networks to stick with what’s worked in the past. At a transformative time when the old stewards like Letterman, Stewart and Leno are replaced with a younger, more energetic slew of hosts like Fallon, Kimmel and Oliver, television is missing its opportunity to give minorities and females the opportunity to express their own unique flair. In the past two years alone, major networks like NBC and CBS have replaced their four white male hosts with, you guessed it, four new white male hosts. This lack of diversity extends to every network, big or small. On air currently, there are 19 major late night hosts. Sixteen of them are white males and only one of them is female. When 50.8 percent of the United States population is female and only 5 percent of its hosts are female, it is clear the late night TV industry has a diversity problem.
While the lack of minority representation is a travesty in its own right, the lack of female representation is far more severe. TV networks can no longer claim a deficiency of solid female candidates to pick. From the infectiously hilarious Amy Schumer, to the cleverly humored Aisha Tyler, to the SNL-tested Amy Poehler, there is plenty of excellent female talent that would excel in a late night role. After the selection of the British host James Corden for the “The Late Late Show,” Lena Dunham joked “we've run out of white men here, we have to import them from England!” Seasoned host Jay Leno similarly agrees, “I think we need more minorities, more women. . . All of these white guys are very good, but they all tend to think linearly.” As a society we are not defined by white male dominated perspectives, but rather we are a beautiful blend of colors, genders and backgrounds that combine into a diverse array of viewpoints. Our current late night hosts lack the different styles and opinions that I would expect from a country as assorted as ours.
Despite many networks sticking with the tried-and-true past, networks like Netflix and Comedy Central are striving to reach these largely unrepresented demographics. Netflix has a Chelsea Handler talk show in the works for 2016, while Comedy Central has picked Larry Wilmore and Trevor Noah, two extremely different yet undeniably hilarious black comedians, to host its own late night shows. These networks serve as examples to hesitant networks that the status-quo needs to change.
While the world marches on to be more inclusive and representative of its citizens, late night television is irritatingly lagging in its transformation to the modern programming landscape. This lack of diversity serves as a microcosm for the overarching inequality in the entertainment industry which for too long has been white-male dominated. I look forward to watching Stephen Colbert’s fresh and witty persona on “The Late Show.” At the same time it makes me wonder, what are we missing?
Ben Yahnian is a Viewpoint writer.
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