How Diverse is Daytime TV?

Daytime Television has come a long way in the variety of shows available to view. There aren’t just your game shows and trashy talk shows, but now there are talk shows that women really look to for advice and direction.

The Talk debuted its fourth season last month, Julie Chen helped to boost ratings by exposing a long-gossiped-about secret — that she had had plastic surgery to change her ”Asian eyes.” The 43-year-old host talked candidly about how she ultimately acceded to a ”big-time agent” who urged her to make her eyes look bigger. ”Members of my family wanted to disown me if I got it done,” said Chen. ”I struggle with ‘Wow. Did I give in to the Man and do this?”’ It wasn’t the only difficult revelation from a host that week: Aisha Tyler discussed her heartbreaking infertility problems, and Sheryl Underwood talked about a violent incident between her parents. It turned out to be the highest-rated — not to mention the most compelling — week in The Talk‘s three-year history. And more important, it’s a week of programming that never would have happened if daytime hadn’t (finally) become so diverse.

Whereas prime-time shows still struggle in their efforts to cast minorities in high-profile roles (we long for the day when legends like Diahann Carroll won’t have to take the Emmy stage to remind voters that it’s been a long time since they honored a black series lead), daytime TV, in stark contrast, is now more diverse than ever.