Study Reveals Most Inclusive Episodic TV Programming; Greg Berlanti, Ava DuVernay Top Producers List

Just in time for Monday’s Emmy awards, the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and Dr. Stacy L. Smith, along with the the Adobe Foundation, have unveiled The Inclusion List for episodic programming, which recognizes the most inclusive series in broadcast, cable and streaming.

Following a similar effort for films, the list analyzes on-screen and behind-the-camera personnel from more than 500 programs to determine the 100 most inclusive broadcast and cable series from the 2021-22 broadcast season, as well as streaming series from 2021 to 2023. The project also recognizes 20 producers responsible for the most inclusive content.

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“The goal of the Inclusion List is to recognize the stories and storytellers who are taking inclusion seriously and whose content reflects their values,” said Dr. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative. “With today’s release of the Inclusion List for broadcast/cable and streaming series, we are excited to acknowledge the creative voices championing inclusion across the spectrum of episodic content.”

The top 10 broadcast and cable series were “Queen Sugar” (OWN), “The Baby” (HBO), “Naomi” (CW), “All American: Homecoming” (CW), “Twenties” (BET), “Queens” (ABC), “The Kings of Napa” (OWN), “4400” (CW), “Sistas” (BET) and “P-Valley” (Starz).

In streaming programming, the top 10 most inclusive series were “Raising Dion” (Netflix), “Gentefied” (Netflix), “The Garcias” (Max), “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray” (AppleTV+), “Reasonable Doubt” (Hulu), “Now and Then” (Apple TV+), “Rap Sh!t” (Max), “With Love” (Amazon Prime), “First Kill” (Netflix) and “Swarm” (Amazon Prime).

Criteria for selection included gender, race/ethnicity, LGBTQ+, disability, and age representation for regular cast members, while 10 behind the scenes crew positions (including director, writer and producer) were assessed across gender and race/ethnicity.

“The series named to The Inclusion List are those in which the creative and personnel choices reflect inclusive decision-making,” said Dr. Smith. “On the casting side, the series regulars across these series are representative of the real world and the audiences they reach. Behind-the-scenes, these programs have teams that demonstrate just how possible it is to hire creative professionals from all backgrounds.”

For example, “Queen Sugar,” which ranked in the No. 1 position for its seventh and final season received an inclusion score 12.8 (rating a of 4 out of 5 for its cast and an 8.8 out of 10 for its crew). The Ava DuVernay-created series exclusively employed women directors during its run, with 39 out of the 42 hired for their first TV directing credit.

Producers named to the list included Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schecter (with 10 series across all platforms); Howard Klein (6 series); Ravi Nandan (5 series); DuVernay, Paul Garnes, Mindy Kaling, Carolyn Strauss, David Madden, Aaron Kaplan, Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage (each with 4 series); Lauren Levy Neustadter, Reese Witherspoon, Dave Becky, Gloria Calderón Kellett, Fred Armisen, Jonathan Groff and Tony Hernandez (each with 3 series); and Charles D. King (2 series).

Researchers also evaluated the companies responsible for distributing inclusive series, with Smith noting that “Netflix was at the top with the highest number of series appearing on the list.”

However, it’s also notable that many of these series were canceled after short runs — “Gentefied” and “With Love,” ran for just 2 seasons, while “Naomi,” “First Kill,” “Queens” and “The Garcias” were each canceled after 1 season — indicating that, despite the best efforts of creatives to make inclusive programming, it still proves challenging to keep them on the air.

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