Where Are All the Black TV Dramas?

A reasonable question don't you think?

Recently I was thinking about TV shows, black shows in particular and it dawned on me that there really aren't many successful, long running Black TV dramas. Sure there's plenty of other television dramas that feature one or two black characters as a part of the primary cast but it's not really the same. Then you look at the other side at comedies. There's been a TON of black comedies. Quick, name all the black COMEDIES you can think of! GO!

• Martin
• The Cosby Show
• The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
• The Jeffersons
• Good Times
• Family Matters
• The Jamie Foxx Show
• Sister, Sister
• The Hugleys
•  My Wife and Kids
• Everybody Hates Chris
• Sanford and Son
• Eve
• Girlfriends
• The Game
• Those Tyler Perry shows
• Half & Half

I could go on forever baby! (dig the Home Alone 2 reference). Now let's try the same thing with black television DRAMAS.

• Lincoln Heights
• Umm.....
• Hmm....
• *Crickets*

Now if you're anything like me, the only relatively recent black tv drama you could think of is Lincoln Heights. Even that took me a good 10 minutes to remember. So I ask, where are all the black television dramas? Why aren't there more of them? Is it that "the man" is only willing to accept us if we're shucking and jiving and making him laugh? Is there really no genuine interest in this particular type of television series? What's the problem? Do you know, because I just don't get it.

After doing admittedly MINIMAL research on black television dramas of the past I was able to find a pretty decent list of them on Wikipedia. Two problems with that. One, most of the shows I've never heard of in my life and some I would consider comedies rather than dramas. Two, it's Wikipedia. Need I say more?

Some of the shows I found included Lincoln Heights that I mentioned before and also the show Roc but I remember that being a comedy. The reasoning was that at some point the show started taking a more serious turn so it was considered a drama but I disagree. Also included was In the Heat of the Night which my mom used to watch but the only people I remember are Carol O'Connor as the sheriff, a black cop named Vergil and that skinny black lady who was on In Living Color. There's also Hawthorne with Jada Pinkett-Smith which I totally forgot about even though I watch it religiously. Other more familiar shows listed were New York Undercover, Oz, Noah's Arc, Soul Food and, get this, Moesha. Really though?! Moesha was NOT a drama series! But like I said, this is Wikipedia we're talking about. The other shows I mentioned I never really watched myself so I'm not sure about the casts. Except for Soul Food which is obvious because it's based on the movie. See their complete list here.

What do you think of their list? How many black dramas have you even heard of? Any thoughts on why there aren't more and they're not more popular?