The most striking problem with the nine (9) hours of television viewed was the extreme lack of diversity within each show. An African American presence is missing from all of the top-rated programs including "Seinfeld", "Friends" and "Mad About You", leaving viewers with a misrepresentation of the nation's demographics. This was displayed in a blatant manner on the three "white" shows, during which only three blacks were incorporated into the episodes. Two blacks had speaking roles and one black had a nonspeaking role. The few blacks that were shown on the "white" shows had a achieved an upper-middle class status. Granted, the black characters on the shows were depicted as affluent, they did not play a significant role on the show or for the outcome of the show.

The white characters in the "black" shows were often seen in the background playing an insignificant role to the theme of the show. The white characters that had verbal interaction with the black characters on the show played the role of individuals such as doctors, affluent investors, patrons of expensive restaurants, police officers, entertainers and executives shown in business attire. "Instead of intelligent black males, the television screen bombards Americans with images of foolish, irrational, and sexually driven African Americans. These characters are made out to be "sex-crazed idiots," without any aspirations at all (Bianco 1E). Even when African American males are shown as economically or educationally successful (i.e. George Jefferson), "such black men are usually depicted as either obnoxious, pompous, uncouth or all three" (Baptiste 52). Regardless of the particular program, African American male roles have negative connotations, complete with the stereotypes that have haunted audiences for over five decades." {http://www.stolaf.edu/people/corcoran/} This is clearly displayed on the "Jamie Foxx Show" and "In the House." On the "Jamie Foxx Show, " Jamie Foxx plays the lead character who spends half his time pursuing his attractive female co-worker, Francesca "Fancy" Monroe. In addition, one of Jamie's co-worker's, Braxton T. Hartnabrig is an intellectual but also fits the negative stereotype of being obnoxious and pompous. On the show "In the House," Max played by Alfonso Ribeiro is an intelligent young doctor, which is a positive image but is tainted by fitting the negative stereotypes of being uncouth and egocentrical.

The data on chart 1 shows that whites are involved on "black" shows, but their lacking significant roles. The data on chart 2 shows the extreme polarization of the races that exists on prime time television. This only reinforces the idea of the separation of the races in our society. " If we want television to try and lead us into a new millennium, to produce more shows with racially mixed casts living in racially mixed housing, socializing in racially mixed groups, that's wonderful. Presently unreal, but nonetheless wonderful. Perhaps such shows could serve as social engineering models for viewers to imitate and, in so doing, help make the unreal truly real." (Fischoff, Stewart)