“Ozark,” a Netflix show with one Black character, has won Best Drama from the African American Critics Association.
“Pachinko,” an Asian show on Apple TV Plus, won Best International Drama.
The shows are certainly of quality, but they have nothing to do with the Black community.
The AAFCA basically has ignored the best Black shows on television. There are plenty of all-Black dramas across TV, cable and streaming. For example, “This is Us” has a strong Black cast and could easily have been celebrated. Instead of “Pachinko,” there are several Black international series like the fantastic, “Lupin.”
Jessica Frances Dukes played FBI agent Maya on “Ozark.” She was wonderful on the show, but she was a secondary character at best. And Dukes didn’t even get her own award from AAFCA!
Some of these winners are ridiculous and laughable.
- BEST TV COMEDY – Abbott Elementary (ABC)
- BEST TV DRAMA – Ozark (Netflix)
- BEST NEW SHOW – Bel-Air (Peacock)
- BEST DOCUMENTARY – Black and Missing (HBO)
- BEST LIMITED SERIES/SPECIAL – Women of the Movement (ABC)
- BEST INTERNATIONAL PRODUCTION – Pachinko (Apple TV+)
- BREAKOUT STAR – Quinta Brunson
- BEST ENSEMBLE – Swagger (Apple TV+) & Winning Time: the rise of the Lakers dynasty (HBO)
- BEST WRITING – A Black Lady Sketch Show (HBO)
- BEST TV DIRECTING – Salli Richardson, The Gilded Age (HBO)
- BEST TV ACTING (Female) – Patina Miller, Power Book III: Raising Kanan (Starz)
- BEST TV ACTING (Male) – Courtney B. Vance, 61st Street (AMC)
- IMPACT AWARD – Insecure (HBO)
