Would Webster have worked with a black family?

[BestTVever]

Its impossible to ignore the racial component of this show. In the 80s before Cosby there were not many black sitcoms post Good Times. In the 80s the networks would not even have a black person as a main anchor on the morning news but they all had the black weather man. Different Strokes had the rich white family adopting the cute black kid and it was a huge success. Webster used the same premise. Black people must have been like "oh another cute black kid used in a white sitcom"

Does anyone believe if Webster had been adopted by a black family that any network would have picked it up? If so, would it have been a success? The networks bet white people would not watch I suppose.

What do you think?

[DJM77]

I thought that he should have been with a black family so they could've avoided accusations of being a ripoff of Diff'rent Strokes.

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by DJM77

I thought that he should have been with a black family so they could've avoided accusations of being a ripoff of Diff'rent Strokes.

Yes but I dont think it would have worked. I hate to say it but there was a bit of objectification of Webester. Being so young, cute, and usually small, and black living with rich white people. Would white America watch a black family with a cute kid? Sadly the networks at this point were gunning for middle white America. This was pre-Cosby.

[DJM77]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

Yes but I dont think it would have worked. I hate to say it but there was a bit of objectification of Webester. Being so young, cute, and usually small, and black living with rich white people. Would white America watch a black family with a cute kid? Sadly the networks at this point were gunning for middle white America. This was pre-Cosby.

I'm white and I'm in middle America and I would've watched it regardless of what color the parents were. I can't speak for anyone else. I've never thought about it from the perspective that you're talking about. I definitely think you have a valid point.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

Yes but I dont think it would have worked. I hate to say it but there was a bit of objectification of Webester. Being so young, cute, and usually small, and black living with rich white people. Would white America watch a black family with a cute kid? Sadly the networks at this point were gunning for middle white America. This was pre-Cosby.

This was also before the internet was common place. I say this because I seriously doubt that a show like Webster would easily make it on the air today without the more cynical type if you will, more instantaneously accusing it like Diff'rent Strokes, of unironically promoting a "white savior" narrative.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by DJM77

I thought that he should have been with a black family so they could've avoided accusations of being a ripoff of Diff'rent Strokes.

I was watching the Season 1 episode "Travis" on Pluto, where Katherine begins to doubt whether or not her and George are suitable enough people to raise a child like Webster. I don't know if this was the producers' intent, but there does seem to be a "post racial" message in that, why should it matter if white people raise black children or vice versa as long as they love each other?

But on the same token however, Katherine's friend Ellen Franklin, who flat out tells Katherine to her face that she doesn't think that white people like her and George should be raising a black child like Webster, almost comes off like a straw person.

And then when we flashback to the day of Webster's birth, when George asks Webster's father why nobody in Travis' immediate family could be the godparents ahead of him, we're told that Webster's mother is an only child and Travis doesn't get along with his brother Phillip. The latter part about Phillip does feed into the argument that Webster even if unintentionally, was promoting a "white savior narrative", in that Webster Long must be better off with a white family like the Papadopolis family if his own father dislikes his most immediate blood relative.

Just like with Ellen's views, we don't even get a clear idea of why Travis and Phillip don't get along and why he therefore, isn't a suitable enough of a person to raise and look after Webster.

[BestTVever]

Originally Posted by TMC

This was also before the internet was common place. I say this because I seriously doubt that a show like Webster would easily make it on the air today without the more cynical type if you will, more instantaneously accusing it like Diff'rent Strokes, of unironically promoting a "white savior" narrative.

I am not sure what the internet would have to do with it. But you can't ignore the racial issue of a show like this like you said the "white savior" complex. It started before Cosby which opened the door for black sitcoms.
Looking back it was full of black stereotypes like the uncle who was a dancer and taught Webster to dance on countertops and wanted to take him on the road. A cute black kid used for entertainment for white audiences.

[TMC]

Originally Posted by BestTVever

Yes but I dont think it would have worked. I hate to say it but there was a bit of objectification of Webester. Being so young, cute, and usually small, and black living with rich white people. Would white America watch a black family with a cute kid? Sadly the networks at this point were gunning for middle white America. This was pre-Cosby.

I was just reminded that pre-Cosby Show, it really felt like black characters on American sitcoms were either portrayed as being poor (e.g. Good Times and Sanford and Son), working for white people (e.g. Gimme a Break! with Nell Carter, Esther Rolle as Florida Evans on Maude, and Benson with Robert Guillaume), or just being "saved" by white people (e.g. Diff'rent Strokes and Webster). The Jeffersons was you could say, really a rare exception of a pre-Cosby Show sitcom that portrayed the black characters as successful and affluent.