For years, major news agencies have rightfully called for more diversity among television’s Black characters. “Hollywood needs to show a multiplicity of experiences within marginalized communities,” a New York Times op-ed said.
This past season, there was a TV first: A show centered on a Black Jewish family. Boston Blue, a spin-off of Blue Bloods, is successful, and has made history. But the New York Times has never reported this. Neither has Variety, the Hollywood magazine with a similar agenda.
Of course they haven’t. Jonah Platt and I discuss this, and the fear that grips so much of Hollywood, in the latest episode of They Stand Corrected. Many people in Hollywood are too afraid to portray the beauties of Jewish life, he says. They worry that haters will say they “run the media.” Of course, “they say all that crap anyways.”
But some brave people are willing to tell stories about Jewish people — not just as a brief reference as a joke on a sitcom, but in a deeper way. Boston Blue’s success proves that it doesn’t have to be a business killer. Listen now:
Boston Blue is a police procedural focused on the Silver family. Lena (played by Sonequa Martin-Green) is a tough, loving cop who teams up with equally tough and loving Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg), carried over from the show’s predecessor.
Lena wears a Hebrew necklace that says “chai,” which means “life”, in just about every scene — catching bad guys, grilling suspects, being the ultimate awesome sister/daughter/ partner.
At a time when Jewish people (Am Yisrael, The People of Israel/Judea/Zion) are being attacked on the streets for daring to wear expressions of our millennia-old peoplehood, this character’s fearlessness is a welcome sign.
The family’s matriarch, Mae (Gloria Reuben, daughter of a Jewish father), is Suffolk County District Attorney. Lena’s sister Sarah (Maggie Lawson), the one non-Black family member, is a police superintendent.
The youngest, Jonah (Marcus Scribner, who has said he grew up wanting a bar mitzvah), is a new cop. Side note: Scribner was previously on Blackish, where his mom was played by Tracee Ellis Ross, another Black Jewish actress.
Every episode features Shabbat dinner. Many include Hebrew prayers and expressions. An episode title was “L’Dor VaDor,” which means “from generation to generation.”
The show airs first on CBS on Friday nights, perhaps ironically when religious Jews don’t watch TV. But I’m not complaining. Like most Americans, I stream shows.
Boston Blue is the brainchild of “The Brandons” — Brandon Margolis and Brandon Sonnier. The latter is himself Black and Jewish.
In our interview, Jonah (Platt) mentioned another successful show as well: Nobody Wants This, “a global hit comedy on Netflix. It’s all about how great Judaism is, and how we’re gonna make Kristen Bell into a Jew. It’s awesome.”
JL
P.S. In case you missed it:
Breaking Hollywood's Fear Machine
In recent years, news giants have been promising to represent minority groups fairly and accurately. But they never meant that for all minorities. There’s an obvious exception. The media works to misrepresent Jewish Americans, who make up 2% of the country. While clearing out space for the token few (