Mixed family on new NBC drama ‘Windfall’
CVK
I caught the premiere episode of NBC’s new drama Windfall this weekend, and immediately noticed the mixed family on the show.
For those who haven’t heard about this new series yet, it’s about a group of people who all play the lottery together, and end up hitting the jackpot. You see each character’s story thread: how winning the lottery complicates their lives, etc. I think it’s a pretty clever premise to tie together what’s essentially a regular soap opera.
Anyway, newcomer Alice Greczyn plays Frankie, a teenage girl whose parents (black mom, white dad) are in the middle of a messy divorce. Refreshingly, none of the fighting-parents scenes indicate that race has anything to do with the breakup of their marriage.
Of course, that may be an indication that this show is doing the complete color-blind thing a la Grey’s Anatomy. As we know, this colorblind approach can sometimes translate into a la-la-la-race-what-race-no-there’s-no-problems-here-we’re-all-human-la-la-la portrayal, where yes, there’s a diverse cast, but race is completely glossed over. Hopefully they’ll be able to strike a balance between making race the central source of tension, and pretending that it doesn’t exist or matter at all.
Staci wrote:
My only issue was that the actress chosen as the biracial daughter did not “look” mixed and the hair/makeup people were ovedoing it with bronzer and messy hair to compensate. I have observed a multitude of multiracial-Black folks from blond hair and “Black” features to straight black hair with dark skin. Of the many, many black/white models and actresses I have seen, the standard look seems to be curly hair and light to medium skin tone. The actress on “Windfall” probably is mixed, it just her hair and makeup are overcompensating for her not having the standard commercial mixed look. So much so that it is distracting. Based on this, either an actress with that look (curly hair/medium skin tone) should have been chosen or let Alice Greczyn be seen as she is (fair with thick wavy hair).
Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 9:50 am ¶
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:
Well, she isn’t “mixed” (you all know that down here in da south being “mixed” means you are black/white, lol) She is Eurasian. I think.
lol @ “la la la la what race”
Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 12:08 pm ¶
Staci wrote:
I don’t presume to know what her ethnic background is. Halle Berry, Wentworth Miller, and Maya Rudolf are all black/white; they all look completely different from each other.
Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 1:43 pm ¶
caroline wrote:
As a mixed person, I have an “issue” with people saying that certain mixed people don’t “look” mixed. I totally disagree with there having to be a standard for the way certain mixes are supposed to look in order for them to be accepted by the general public as mixed.
Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 4:40 pm ¶
Charlette wrote:
I have not seen the show but by what you are telling us it is just another attemtp of white people trying to define a bunch of mixed race people they way they want us to believe it. Why have the black/white marriage in divorce that is so cliche of white people. It is a stereotype of that mixture. Blah, Blah. and why does she have straight hair? Even some white people of white people have wiry, huge, unmanageable hair. Whites like cute if they are not cute mixed people they can’t seem to own up to the fact that they exist and are happy in their mixed families. People please get a grip on reality and not white mixed reality either. I know because I am way way mixed.
Posted 14 Jun 2006 at 8:04 pm ¶
Gandalf Mantooth wrote:
you’re supposed to have a problem with that, caroline. Just that Hollywoof doesn’t. staci is right about their being an acceptable media mixed race standard. There’s also a preferred “look” for just about every nationality. You all can probably come up with the lists on your own (keeping in mind that they change slightly over time).
Posted 15 Jun 2006 at 3:23 pm ¶
Bohwe wrote:
Ok, I’m all for interracial relationships, it’s a beautiful thing. We should all embrace the oneness. But, I must admit, I have a problem with the whole idea that if a black woman is in an interracial relationship on television, she automatically has to be paired with a white guy. Hello, for the record, there are more black women with latino men, than bw with wm. Why can’t a black woman on t.v. have some drama with a fine latino? I think that’s reasonable, considering the fact that for the most part black women and latino men are basically in the same environments, like L.A., New York, Florida, etc. Also, black women by statistics don’t usually date interracially, especially white men, but I know black women who have or had or extremely attracted to latino men. It’s just appears to be more realistic than a black woman and white man at this point.
Posted 16 Jun 2006 at 3:05 pm ¶
** wrote:
I don’t know if its more “realistic” for a black woman and latino man to be in a relationship, but it is common. My mother is African-American, my father hispanic. The actor Jimmy Smits is married to an African-American woman. The musician Santana is also married to a black woman though I think she identifies as “mixed/multiracial” but she is definitely of African descent nonetheless. When I was in high school I worked part-time at a grocery store and one of my male managers, a Puerto Rican dated an African-Amercian woman. I have also noticed quite a few African-Amercian woman/Asian man pairings. The widow of the late Arthur Ashe is part African-Amercian part East Indian (her mother is African-American her father East Indian.) I think the reason we see so many black/white pairings on TV, at least here in America, is because those are the two racial groups the American media is most interested in. Sad but true.
As for the young actress chosen for this show, yeah I definetly think the show’s producers purposely chose to get the “whitest” mixed raced person they could so that she would be more palatable for the viewing public. You see this thing in Advertising all the time. Practically all of the “black” models depicted in ads for the Gap and Abercrombie and Finch are “mixed”and its like ‘where did all the black people go…’
Posted 17 Jun 2006 at 11:42 am ¶
Bohwe wrote:
Ok, I didn’t know that sexy, fine , latino Jimmy Smitts was married to a black woman. I’d just thought she was a dark latina. Well, glad to hear that he married a sista. I’ve been feeling him, ever since NYPD Blue. Wow, you learn new things every day. But, I did know about Santana. Because he wrote, “Black Magic Woman” for her, and calls his family, his Chocolate Family. He seems so sprung. My point is that interracial dating among blacks on television should be explored from other point of views not just white/black. Like Russell Wong baby mamma is black. Why can’t Asian men and Black women pairings be seen more on t.v.
Posted 19 Jun 2006 at 9:52 pm ¶
black wrote:
And again I don´t see the problem in this.
Why is it important that they divorce because of their ethnics?
You know …….”white” people divorce too….and guess what….it´s because they don´t love each other abymore and not because of their skin colour.
Posted 14 Jul 2006 at 3:22 pm ¶
Nicole wrote:
I’m glad it is not just me, when I was watching the show “windfall” I said to myself that the character “Frankie,” was a made up mixed girl. They have her looking very fake. There are a lot of mixed people of different backgrounds from blonde hair, blue eyes, to dark eyes, darker skin, and nappy hair. It is kind of an insult to try to make up a mixed looking character instead of just casting someone who is actually mixed or even a lighter skin black, because as we know black folks come in many shades, and all they had to do is pick one to fit their profile.
Posted 16 Jul 2006 at 3:07 am ¶
I'm Just Black wrote:
I thought plain old American black people had race and color issues…Wow? I guess it transcends the brown paperbag isues we’ve perpetrated against one another. Anyway, half of my family has married interracially and they have that “Cali-cute” look that you all are talking about, but I really did think the same thing when I watched Windfall, but moreso b/c she looked NOTHING like either of the 2 parents. I thought there would be some sort of plot twist that revealed she was adopted, switched at birth, or was fathered by someone else thereby causing all of the tension that existedbefre the lottery thing…
Posted 10 Sep 2006 at 7:30 pm ¶