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Julia and the Mindy project both got crap for not touching on race more

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In today's sitcoms, not only are the characters represented by minorities but also the plot lines

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We noticed that while the shows are progressive, there are still issues with stereotyping. For example, the girls in "Girlfriends" just assumed the yoga instructor was Gay because of his job and how he walked. It still shows that as a society we are progressing but we still have a long way to go and we aren't perfect.

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Shows today talk about more serious issues with racism and they talk about it at length, whereas older shows it was more of a "very special episode"

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The family in Fresh Off The Boat doesn't focus everything in their lives about race. The son wants to do Jamaica for his project because it'll be easy, and the dad wants to join the country club for business connection (not because he never would've been able to before). Instead of the idea that minorities only think about their race, they just made decisions based on what they wanted and race certainly affected their lives but not how they decided to live them.

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In "Fresh Off the Boat," Eddie subverts the model minority stereotype, but his mother still has the expectation for her kids to excel in school and the younger brothers fit the model minority myth, trying to over-excel to gain their mother's approval.

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The Mindy Project was a subtle type of addressing minorities. The premise of the show was not written around her being Indian but rather that she is a successful woman who is Indian America. It makes it seem as she said more organic and not forced. Fresh Off The Boat is opposite to the Mindy Project in that way, they very much wrote it to portray a Chinese family who is dealing with their race in America which is similar to how we saw early black shows portrayed in the 1970s.

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With The Mindy Project, It doesn't focus on Mindy's life as a south Asian woman, at least in the episode we watched. Other shows that were firsts focus on their life and struggles as a minority.

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In "The Mindy Project," it is focused on Mindy in her workplace rather than on her family life. Previous ethnically "first" sitcoms focused more on the families.

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fresh off the boat both fits and subverts stereotypes. Eddie does not fit the stereotype, but his two younger brothers do. I feel like this is to contrast the general stereotype from Eddie and show that not everyone can be grouped by one stereotype.

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Mindy Kaling had more ability to influence the writing compared to Julia
So Mindy Kaling had more ability to talk about more circumstances that impacted them as a person

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In Fresh Off the Boat, Eddie was breaking the stereotypes but it was very interesting about the portrayal of the parents and other boys who fulfilled those stereotypical roles. It also portrays the balance for minority families with sticking to their roots but also becoming accustom to their lives and normal families in America. We also found it very interesting that the mom mentioned they would be the first Asian Americans at the country club. It was empowering however that Eddie ended up standing up for his country and his heritage even though he wanted to do Jamaica.

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Used to be White people playing Black people.. Now it is seen that white people are playing some Asian characters-- room for growth here

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Mindy Kaling doesn't make her ethnicity the main focus of the sitcom where other ethnic-focused sitcoms are intentionally focused on the minority group. She acknowledges her ethnicity when it would come up, but doesn't force it unlike the previous shows we have watched.

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Black women in Girlfriends are shown in the workplace, fighting against stereotypes in their respective locations, and independently maneuvering adult life.

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In Girlfriends, the struggles of Joan in her workplace were shown more in-depth, rather than Julia's life looked at through rose-colored glasses.

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Some shows that are similar to "The Mindy Project" is "Amos and Andy." While that was very early in sitcom history they were portrayed very badly. Mindy had more of a say in her characters portrayal which is different than with a lot of sitcoms. The way Mindy was portrayed was just as an American woman but the entire premise of the show didn't revolve around her heritage and race.

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Wasn't all about their dating lives

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We are seeing more black women in professional jobs and in different perspectives nowadays. They take bigger roles in society as a whole.

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In previous shows, black women have been portrayed has either fully-realized in their potential (successful lawyer or mother who doesn't need to work) whereas Girlfriends shows the women struggling together.

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Older-era sitcoms portrayed a black woman as staying at home and not necessarily going out for a career (aka Good Times)

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Compared to other sitcoms, they were independent black women-- not reliant on families or husbands

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Joan was scared of fulfilling the black sassy woman stereotype. In past sitcoms they either were that stereotype or were white washed. This is one of the first shows that showed young black women's struggles. It showed the figuring out life and not being all put together from the get go. They were also more comfortable with the show touching on important concepts like with inappropriate touching, race, and gender all in one episode.