by Mell Payn
In her recent keynote conversation “A Conversation with Issa Rae” at SXSW, actress and executive producer, Issa Rae, shared that she is working to spotlight the history of Black television with her upcoming HBO docuseries “Seen & Heard”, a project she discussed at length at the conference.
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“Seen and Heard” is a two-part documentary that travels through time, creating a kaleidoscopic portrait of Black talent being “seen,” to Black creatives being “heard,” shaping today’s Golden Age of Black television.
The first episode of “Seen & Heard”, as described by Rotten Tomatoes’ Jacqueline Coley, focuses on how studios historically “used Black audiences” and then “abandoned them as soon as it was convenient.” Rae expressed a deep desire to explore this narrative, calling it “something that sounds like a conspiracy,” but after producing the documentary, she discovered just how true this pattern had been.
“It’s one thing to say it. You might have heard someone say that in the history of television and the history of particular networks,” Rae explained. “But to have the actual creators, showrunners, and writers chronicle the history of that is undeniable. We wanted to make a comprehensive history and showcase, with evidence, that this is how they built the success of their networks on our backs, and we almost don’t have anything to show for it as a result. It’s tragic, and history repeats itself.”
The docuseries features iconic television figures like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Shonda Rhimes, Ava DuVernay, Norman Lear, and others. While their careers are already well-documented, Rae highlighted how some of them revealed untold aspects of their journeys in the series. “They have these incredible stories, and they may not have been asked questions about their journey and their vision in this particular way,” she said. “To be able to get Oprah, to give Mara Brock Akil her flowers, to have Tyler Perry talk about his journey creating a studio that so many of us aspire to — watching it myself and hearing some of these stories for the first time inspires me. The end of that documentary inspires me to do more and get my shit together.”
In addition to the groundbreaking project, Rae also opened up about how reality television played a significant role in motivating her early career, albeit in a negative way. She described the genre as her “villain origin story.” While Black sitcoms like “Moesha”, “Girlfriends”, and “Martin” initially inspired her, she became frustrated with the decline of Black scripted shows in the late 2000s. The rise of reality TV, particularly the portrayal of Black women, became a source of frustration for Rae. “The disappearance of that infuriated me, but then the advent of reality television, specifically where the portrayal of Black women was concerned, made me upset. And it was just because it was all we had. As much as I enjoyed watching it and gathered all my friends to my little college apartment, it was still like, ‘Let’s watch this bullshit.’ It was hate-watching.”
Rae went on to recount a specific moment from “Flavor of Love”—the infamous reality dating show featuring Flavor Flav—that motivated her to take action. “There was this girl named Something, because he gave them all nicknames that were sometimes disrespectful, and she needed to use the restroom,” Rae recalled. “They were doing a ceremony, so the producers told her she couldn’t go to the bathroom, and she ended up shitting on the floor. On TV. And they still aired it.”
Rae reflected, “I was like, ‘This is humiliating, and this is all Black women have on television right now.’ Because “Girlfriends” was gone. All these other shows had just disappeared. That’s when I started film blogging and talking a bunch of shit, and someone was like, ‘You talk a lot of mess. Why don’t you make something?’ So shout out to that person.”
Rae’s journey from frustrated viewer to groundbreaking creator underscores her commitment to reshaping how Black stories are told and represented on screen. Through “Seen & Heard” and her ongoing work, Rae continues to shed light on the untold histories and overlooked legacies of Black television, inspiring future generations to do more and claim their place in the industry.
