NBC recently announced the cancellation of The West Wing and Will & Grace, placing the long-time Emmy winning shows on the shelf after the end of this season.

Did anyone actually watch either of these shows?

Apparently they did, since The West Wing is a 25-time Emmy winner and Will & Grace has 14 trophies of its own. Both shows commanded well over 15 million viewers an episode in their hey-day, but have fallen off drastically over the past two years. The West Wing is an office drama that centers around the most popular and most ridiculed job in the world, the President of the United States. While Will & Grace is comedy about a girl (Debra Messing), struggling to find herself as she skids her way through life hanging out with her two gay friends, (Eric McCormack and Sean Hayes).

Neither of these shows grabbed a lot of attention at the local pool halls. Most Black hair salons would probably switch to another channel if they were on during the day. NBC isn't known for hosting major comedies featuring a leading Black man or woman, but maybe their next run with a 25-time Emmy winning show will feature one. NBC has been struggling badly in ratings over the past few years and it seems that no one can dethrone CBS's crime dramas, CSI, Without A Trace, and CSI: Miami from the top television show spots.

Maybe NBC, ABC, CBS, and FOX will think back to the days of unprecedented Black comedies like Good Times, which taught us about family values and the struggles of being poor in the ghetto; or Sanford & Son, the story of a junk dealer and his grown son who try to make a living during the harsh '70's in Watts. Maybe one of these networks will step up and produce a comedy/drama series aimed at young Black men and women, instead of the "OC" crowd. (We're not knocking FOX and the OC folks, but how indicative is it of the world most young Black people live in?)

Whatever happened to the Black television shows that young Black kids were sure to tune in to before going to bed? We're talking about shows like What's Happening, The Jeffersons, That's My Mama, Fat Albert, 227, A Different World, The Cosby Show, and The Fresh Prince.

In recent years, Black audiences around the world have found comfort in great shows like ABC's, My Wife And Kids, UPN's One on One, Half & Half, Girlfriends, Moesha, and FOX's, The Bernie Mac Show. But these shows are only a few in a larger world of comedies and dramas most Black children find no interest in. Not only that, but most of today's Black comedies are not on the 4 major networks and may not be visible in other parts of the world. Couple that with other distractions like web-surfing, advanced digital cable, and high-tech computer games, and it's obvious that most people spend their time doing something other than tuning into family-night in front of the television.

Maybe the major networks should take inventory and bring back the Black. Put a prominent Black man and Black woman, right in the middle of prime-time viewing on a Tuesday night. Add a couple of teens, a 5-year old and a nosy neighbor and you've got yourself a surefire 25-time Emmy winner.

Doing so will surely boost some of those dismal ratings and bring a lot of those X-Gamers back to the television.

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