O Brother Where Art Thou

The latest Herald Time Out had a write up about an upcoming homemade drama, The Cult. Besides my usual grizzling about the complete lack of any mention of writers, something struck me about the large cast: where are the brothers or sisters?

Here’s a screen-grab:

Okay, there’s maybe a sister at the far right, peering around a tree but this is New Zild drama, right? And if they’re gonna namedrop Lost, I believe that show has:

  • two black guys,
  • a Korean couple,
  • an Indian guy,
  • a couple of Hispanics,
  • and an Australian.

Here’s a quick run-down of the Mamea Household’s Box Watch-list:

  • Law & Order now has three black detectives;
  • Dexter and The Closer each have a black cop, a Hispanic cop, and an Asian technician (Dexter) or cop (Closer);
  • Battlestar Galactica has a Hispanic leader, an Asian pilot and a black bad cylon;
  • The Wire‘s ethnicity is slanted towards blacks;
  • Better Off Ted has a black scientist;
  • Dead Like Me has a Hispanic reaper;
  • Fringe has a black supervisor;
  • Law & Order UK has a black lawyer;
  • Desperate Housewives has a Hispanic couple.

Meanwhile, if The Cult‘s publicity shot is anything to go by, its cast has:

  • no brothers, and
  • maybe a sister

– but since she’s hugging a tree maybe she’s the comic relief – or the first one to die.

If this is ‘New Zealand on air’, I don’t recognise it.

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4 Replies to “O Brother Where Art Thou”

  1. Cult members are typically white people. Same with serial killers. There will be some brother’s floating around in the background I’ll bet. Probably as cops. This show looks tp be a bit of a sexed up version too, which is lame, but I’m just going by the publicity shot.

  2. i’ll allow that cult members may be typically white – but what about the Destiny Church and its ilk?

    as for serial killers, a typical trait is that they um, hunt within their own ethnic group. they’re a melting pot, too, y’know.

    and yeah, i expect some non-white faces will be in The Cult in supporting roles but seriously: why couldn’t any of the Liberators be non-white?

    and what the fuck is up with that woman behind the tree?

  3. I don’t know about the tree, Dave, but if she is a sister, she could be hiding from a taniwha. Kidding. Will be interesting to see how this turns out. I’m gonna google for a tv spot.

    1. nice one, JaberWocky – so you’re saying they are gonna squeeze in a taniwha for an indigenous riff on Lost‘s polar bears?

      i’ve just figured out The Woman Around The Tree: she’s neither a Cultist nor a Liberator but… A Token One.

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