The problem is these shows exist but they're considered "ground breaking". I remember when The Wire came out. It was shocking to show inner city youths and what they actually go through. I admit, I loved that show as well as Oz. They both seemed like honest portrayals of issues which the black community actually deals with (high incarceration rates, drug use, violence) and portrayed characters as humans with flaws. Essentially, HBO succeeded where BET, MTV, ABC, NBC and many other failed. They gave a realistic account of life in black communities and gave portrayals of real black people. That's where I think the "left wing media" failed blacks. They keep painting us as all being successful and all being level headed, when as a community we are most certainly not.
Don't get me wrong, I definitely understand the thought behind all those positive black family images. However, all they've done is create a serious disconnect between who blacks perceive they are and the communities so many of us live in. I also stress that they are not representative of blacks in general and that's what is needed. We need accurate representations of black environments modern and past.
I think the Barbershop movie almost started down that path. They gave an environment which as a youth I experienced "the black barbershop". Then, they made it into one long joke. Another movie which kind of touched on a similar path was American Gangster. Putting aside all the obvious fabrications, it gave an accurate account of violent black gangsterism in the US during the 70s. Again, this is because the film makers made an effort to show it without falling into the traps of the "redeemed gangster" or the "gangster with the heart of gold" that so many filmmakers fall into.
