The world of television is quickly changing and with good reason. The days of complacency are long gone as we finally begin to see the realistic world reflected on our television screens. The following top 5 TV shows are game-changers. Not only are these shows helping a variety of people push past the stereotypes that they have learned, they are also allowing people of color to view themselves as they truly are on the screen. The fact that these shows are fantastically dramatic is a huge plus. Drama is what makes the best television series — don’t you agree?
- How To Get Away With Murder
Courtesy of ABC
Once again, ABC has hit the nail on the head with its decision to green light a show backed by Shonda Rhimes. After having such groundbreaking success with Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice and Scandal, it isn’t a surprise that Peter Nowalk’s newest hit, How To Get Away With Murder — which she is the executive producer of — is a hit. How To Get Away With Murder is chock-full of exciting moments that are equally frustrating and wonderfully performed.
This is one of those television shows that will make you laugh, cry and shout in in aggravation. Viola Davis is most definitely the perfect choice for the role of Annalise Keating. Keating is a law professor and totally in control in her professional life, while being a perfectly imperfect woman in her personal life.
She navigates cases with her impassioned “Keating 5,” a group of five students who won their positions as members of Keating’s law firm when they were all instrumental in helping her win an important case. While Davis has been a staple in our hearts for her multitude of television and film roles, this is arguably her biggest and most engaging role to date.
When she won her SAG award for her groundbreaking role, she took the moment to highlight the lack of diversity in Hollywood and said: “Thank you Shonda Rhimes, [producer] Betsy Beers and [creator] Peter Nowalk for thinking that a sexualized, messy, mysterious woman could be a 49-year-old dark skin African-American woman who looks like me.”
Within only the first season, we’ve seen her completely take off all of her makeup and her wig before bed. This is certainly the first time we’ve seen a black woman remove her makeup entirely on primetime. The scene was Davis’ idea. She told the Wall Street Journal that after she pitched the idea Peter Nowalk was on board. Annalise is passionate, strong, and vulnerable all at once, and we love her for it. Davis may be the first, but she certainly isn’t the last Shondaland resident to make our list.
How To Get Away With Murder airs Thursdays at 10 p.m. ET/PT on ABC.
