When Black History Month arrives, television will be ready.
Well … some of TV, anyway. PBS will have lots of documentaries and a Wynton Marsalis (shown here) concert. CBS has a special that celebrates Blacks on TV (mostly, on CBS). Streamers load up.
In the four-and-a-half years since the death of George Floyd, separate Black departments have been created at ABC, Hulu, Hallmark and more. Still, it’s uneven. Some focus on Black History Month (starting Saturday, Feb. 1), some don’t. Here’s a sampling:
CBS
“On TV: A Black History Month” will be 8 p.m.Feb. 17.
It looks at pioneering actors,news reporters and shows (“Star Trek,” “All in the Family”). It also interview current actors … if they’re on CBS shows.
That seems a tad self-serving, but it also points out a key fact: CBS – once considered a network for old white folks – now has five scripted shows with Blacks as the main (or co-main) stars. It also has three game shows (two in primetime). And on Feb. 24, it launches “Beyond the Gates,” the first daytime soap in more than 30 years to have a mostly Black cast.
PBS
This has been a prime spot for Black-oriented shows, especially with Henry Louis Gates involved. But Gates isn’t obsessing on February.
His big project is “Great Migrations: A People on the Move,” a sprawling look at the millions who went from the deep South to Northern cities. It’s at 9 p.m. on three Tuesdays, starting Jan. 28.
Gates’ “Finding Your Roots” (8 p.m. Tuesdays) has profiled many Black celebrities … but this time won’t do that until later. It has actress Sheryl Lee Ralph and historian Lonnie Bunch on April 1, actor Laurence Fishburne and – in a detour – Gates himself on April 8.
Before then, Black History Month shows include:
— “Chatauqua at 150: Wynton Marsalis’ ‘All Rise.’” This is both a portrait of the Chatauqua Institution and a performance of Marsalis’ “All Rise,” with a chorus, an orchestra and his Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra.
— Documentaries about jazz singer Hazel Scott (9 p.m. Feb. 21) and NAACP leader Walter White (9 p.m. Feb. 25).
— “Bike Vessel” (10 p.m. Feb. 24), a documentary about a 450-mile bike trip by a filmmaker and his father, who had survived three open-heart surgeries.
— New episodes of the animated “Lyla in the Loop” (starting Feb. 3) and “Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum” (Feb. 17-18).
STORY TELEVISION
Showing up on cable or as a digital sub-channel to over-the-air stations, this has biographies, many from the old “Biography” show and channel.
Now it has a five-day Black History marathon, generally with eight-hour loops airing three times a day. A few include:
— Feb. 2: Dave Chappelle (11 a.m., 7 p.m., 3 a.m.); Thurgood Marshall (5 p.m., 1 a.m.); Barack Obama (2 and 10 p.m., then 6 a.m.
— Feb. 3: Black soldiers (all day).
— Feb. 4: More Black soldiers (8-11 a.m., 4-7 p.m., midnight to 3 a.m.); George Washinton Carver (1 and 9 p.m., 5 a.m.).
— Feb. 5: “Stories From the Road to Freedom” (11 a.m., 7 p.m., 3 a.m.); “Freedom Summer” (1 and 9 p.m., 5 a.m.).
— Feb. 6: “Beyond the Civil War” (9 a.m., 5 p.m., 1 a.m.); “Tulsa Burning” (11 a.m., 7 p.m., 3 a.m.).
STREAMERS
Each has a library of Black-oriented films, often adding new ones. Examples:
— Hulu includes“If Beale Street Could Talk,” the 30th anniversary of “Waiting to Exhale” and the 40th of “227.” On Jan. 28, it launches Sterling K. Brown’s “Paradise”; on Feb. 13 it debuts “Sly Lives,” a Questlove profile of Sly and the Family Stone.
— Paramount+ includes “The Color Purple,” “Dreamgirls,” “Selma,” “Fences,” the “Beverly Hills Cop” films and Showtime’s “The Chi.”
— AMC+ includes projects from the ALLBLK channel – two series (“Double Cross” and “Wicked City”) and the movies “The Match,” “The Influencer” and “Lunar Lockdown.”