CBS Corporation Is Betting On Diverse Stories For Its Future But How Will It Pay Off?

If you had to pick a theme for CBS’ many panels during this year’s Television Critics Association, that theme would be diversity. From its flagship network CBS and premiere branch Showtime to its youth-centered CW and its gamble into streaming CBS All Access, every leg of the corporation seems dedicated to introducing new stories that have rarely been seen before on this company. That includes racially ground-breaking casting, more prominent storylines for LGBT characters, and one show completely dedicated to the thorny subject of religion. However, as great as all of that sounds, it calls into question what exactly CBS as a corporation wants to be.

Whereas other companies and streaming services have defined themselves as risk-takers, CBS’ networks, with the exception of its premium leg Showtime, have typically stayed in their middle-of-the-line, crowd-pleasing lane. After all, this is the corporation and network that was responsible for both The Big Bang Theory and its spin-off series Young Sheldon. It’s the network that has produced almost every iteration of CSI imaginable. CBS is good in the same way its younger peer the CW is good; both networks know exactly what their audiences want. Those selections may not gain these channels much critical praise, but the numbers more than often pay off.

That’s why this year’s slate of shows is so interesting. There are risks involved that may seem normal to other networks but seem remarkable to the discussion around CBS. It’s enough to mark a possible change in the corporation’s goals. Instead of sticking to the tried and true, there seems to be more of an emphasis on innovation this year, and that’s worth examining. In today’s already overcrowded and revolutionary television environment, how can CBS’ contributions compete with some of the most daring shows out there? And how does a corporation that’s been defined by tradition and its older fan base fit into these seemingly new aspirations?

The Good: Showtime

Before we get any further it’s important to discuss the big network the CBS Corporation is doing right — Showtime. Out of all the CBS Corporation properties that received time at TCA, Showtime had the strongest and most exciting slate by far. This is in large part due to one of the most promising freshmen shows of the year, the Lena Waithe-created and Jason Mitchell-starring The Chi. The Chi is good. Not great enough to be exempt from a few freshman series bumps but good and intrinsically charming enough to make it a show that’s absolutely worth more seasons. Created by a cast and team almost entirely made up of people of color, The Chi watches like a drifting dramedy about the everyday struggles of living in modern-day Chicago. It’s exactly the sort of innovative and beautiful show you would hope would come from a premier cable channel in 2018.

Surprisingly, following in The Chi’s footsteps is the ever-watchable Billions. At its core, Billions will always be able the battle of egos between Chuck (Paul Giamatti) and Bobby Axe (Damien Lewis), but each season has given Wendy (Maggie Siff) and Lara (Malin Akerman) just a little bit more room to play. In Season 3 that expansion will also include Taylor (Asia Kate Dillon), who is considered to be first non-binary character on mainstream U.S. television. Showtime also announced that it will be releasing XY Chelsea, a documentary about Chelsea Manning that looks promising.

Rounding out Showtime’s TCA premieres was Stephen Colbert’s Our Cartoon President, an animated show based on the Late Show character, and the Benedict Cumberbatch-starring Patrick Melrose. Both looked interesting in their own ways — Our Cartoon President based on its premise alone and Patrick Melrose because of Cumberbatch’s excitement about the adaptation. However, as both series center around characters we’ve seen on TV a million times before (straight, white, cis men), neither are particularly relevant to this argument.

The Promising: CBS All Access

It would be a mistake to talk about diversity and CBS’ future and not mention the streaming platform. At the moment, CBS All Access only has two original shows — The Good Fight and Star Trek: Discovery. But those are two of the most intentionally diverse shows on television. As a show that centers around an African-American-owned law firm that focuses on police brutality cases, struggles that white characters may not understand is baked into the DNA of The Good Fight. Not only that, but the series is led by Maia Rindell (Rose Leslie), an attorney with a lot to learn who also happens to be a lesbian woman. Star Trek: Discovery is another show that’s intrinsically linked to its diverse characters, a sad rarity in the world of Hollywood sci-fi. The critically-praised show that made the service more relevant than ever is led by Sonequa Martin-Green, an African-American woman. Also, Anthony Rapp‘s Paul Stamets stands as Stark Trek‘s first openly gay character.

It’s refreshing to see a newer network so devoted to depicting diverse characters and stories in its first efforts, but that’s the problem with CBS All Access. It’s still so new. Once the streaming service grows a bit more, it can become more of a force for the company. However, at the moment, it’s a very good, very accepting, and very diverse platform that doesn’t yet have the reach to confidently stand toe-to-toe with its big-name competition.

The Better: CW

Last year, the CW was justifiably criticized for its lack of people in color in the writers room. The network seems to at least be trying to fix its “black problem” with the upcoming premiere of its beautiful DC superhero show, Black Lightning. Created by Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, Black Lightning is unlike any other superhero show the CW has ever produced. Instead of being an origin story about a conflicted teenager, it’s a show about an established hero and father who long ago hung up his cape, so to speak. It’s also the one of the first CW shows to have an African American lead, Cress Williams, and predominantly African American cast and writing staff. From its somber cinematography to its honest and heavy depiction of violence, Black Lightning is different from anything else CW has produced, falling more in line with a serious prestige-adjacent drama than teen soap.

CW’s other midseason original, Life Sentence, also has diverse focus as well. The Bill Lawrence comedy follows a young woman who recovers from her cancer diagnosis only to realize that her whole family has been lying to her for years. Gillian Vigman plays Ida, Stella’s (Lucy Hale) mom who discovers her bisexuality later in life. This is the second time the CW has featured a bisexual character with a midlife coming out story, the first being Crazy Ex-Girlfriend‘s Darryl (Pete Gardner). Ida and Darryl aren’t even the CW’s most remarkable LGBT characters. Thanks to CW Seed, CW also has Freedom Fighters: The Ray, the first superhero series to feature a gay character as its protagonist.

At the moment Showtime and the CW are investing in and counting on diverse projects to drive their futures. If The Chi takes off, it has the potential to be another long-running and critically adored Showtime drama, and adding a new superhero to the CW’s already-impressive lineup is nothing to ignore. For these two networks, the shows that mattered the most at TCA and were intended to be longstanding poles rather than miniseries or reactionary watches (like Our Cartoon President) were all led by people of color. That sends a clear and inclusive message.

The Questionable: CBS

That leaves the big guy in the TV room — CBS. The major network will be making history this year with the premiere of Instinct. Starring Alan Cumming, the police procedural will be the first major network crime drama to have a gay man as its leading character. Cumming along with the addition of Sense8‘s Naveen Andrews and Whoopi Goldberg makes for one of the most interesting and diverse casts CBS has ever put together. However, the network didn’t focus on this history-making show as its radical new watch. Instead, that focus went to Living Biblically.

Starring Jay R. Ferguson and produced by Johnny Galecki, the comedy follows a man who decides to base his life off of the Bible following the death of his best friend. Though it was presented as one of the most revolutionary and inclusive shows during CBS Corporation’s TCA days, a show that’s largely about the different facets of American Christianity doesn’t really live up to the hype. That’s what makes CBS stand as a outlier in this corporation’s seemingly larger push for diversity. While other networks seem to be trying to correct the criticisms of their past or embrace new stories, CBS, with the huge exception of Instinct, seems a little stuck between its past comfort zone and new aspirations. After all, the same report from Color of Change also called out CBS’ “black problem.” The network hasn’t seemed to make any moves to correct this criticism.

Only time will tell if Instinct will be as revolutionary as it claims to be or if Living Biblically will become a safe space to discuss religion. From what I’ve seen so far, the latter possibility seems doubtful. However, it’s clear that CBS Corporation sees some form of its future in telling stories it has ignored in the past, and it has a good sot of making that shift work. After all, The Chi is getting good early reviews and Star Trek: Discovery was an event for CBS All Access. However, even the best shows are having a hard time making waves in today’s overcrowded TV environment. Hopefully that shift will continue to pay off.