Since when is a CBS show handling tough issues better than TWO HBO shows combined?

It’s notable that “The Good Wife” was able to deal with buzzwords like “race” and “Ferguson” with more seriousness AND levity this past Sunday than TWO shows on HBO featuring young urban professionals…"The Good Wife", which is know for having many guest stars, always used its limited time to portray three dimensional characters, most notably Lemond Bishop. Bishop, played by Mike Colter, is a black drug kingpin on the show. While his interactions with the lawyers play with the line between legal and illegal businesses, his presence is not defined by his job. Emotionally charged scenes where viewers aren't sure what Bishop wants or what he'll do (see every scene with Kalinda this scene) are underscored by how normal - and dare I say, well-rounded - his life is. He fights with his girlfriend! His son plays soccer! His son plays piano! 

In contrast, the few people of color featured on shows such as "Girls" and "Looking" are not assumed to have rich lives. Disagree? Fine. Name the people of color featured on “Girls”. Now name the characters they played. I’ll wait.

The presence of African Americans on “Girls” has always felt more like a response to first season criticism about the lack of African Americans on “Girls” than a genuine effort to expand the small world of the show (despite being set in a big city) and increase the stakes of the original cast’s decisions. [I’ll also note that the criticism has since subsided, which is more a comment on our short attention spans than on substantive progress. See 2013's criticism of SNL and the end of said criticism after ONE black female writer and ONE black female cast member were hired. Yay progress?)

Donald Glover, who was featured as Hannah’s black Republican boyfriend at the start of the second season, didn’t have any scenes with anyone beside Lena Dunham. Obviously, any boyfriend Hannah had was only meant to represent a small stumbling block to Hannah and Adam getting back together, but I got no sense of her relationship with ____: Where did they meet? Where does he live in NYC? Is he employed? Is he in school? Are his parents also conservative? Even if ____ did have scenes with other characters (maybe there was a scene with Marnie?), it’s notable that I wouldn’t be able to recall a moment when the group gets together when there have been so many memorable group “gatherings “ on the show, including in last night’s premiere.

Jessica Williams guest-starred last season as a coworker of Hannah’s at GQ. I actually had higher hopes – why wouldn’t a “girl” be integrated into a show named “Girls”? ___ was educated, Hannah’s peer, and could have served as a conduit to a segment of New Yorkers Hannah’s age who have their act together (or can at least pretend during work hours). It was notable that on a show where Hannah overshares constantly and in a season where other influences were affecting the dynamic of the lead quartet of girls, there wasn’t one scene featuring only Hannah and ___ or featuring ___ meeting at least one (or even all) of Hannah’s friends. How many times has a friend brought someone they know but you don’t to a bar or a house party? When that happens, you smile, you chat, and you make a judgement either way about them later. It wouldn’t have been unusual for this group of Brooklynites to do the same. A theme of the series has been the quartet’s individual and collective (often disastrous) efforts to connect and they missed a great opportunity to do that with ____. I hope Jessica Williams is invited back (and please, not just for some Eric Garner/Ferguson mash masquerading as an fifth season episode). It’s not like she would be the first “Daily Show” correspondent to balance another gig if she was, so “scheduling conflicts” will not be accepted as an excuse.

Speaking of schedules, I don’t want to hear about how production schedules may have been a reason for these shows not responding to emotionally-charged topical events. NBC aired a special episode of "The West Wing" after 9/11 titled "Isaac and Ishmael"; it was produced quickly and aired a week before the third season premiere. Aaron Sorkin doesn’t always hit the mark, but he’s enlightened enough to recognize that having a successful show and a brand behooves you to weave topical issues into your show. And Aaron Sorkin had a brand before publishers started thinking about handing out book deals to award-winning showrunners, unlike Lena Dunham. The controversial campus rape storyline on “The Newsroom” is an example of a middle-aged white storyteller who somehow gets that you have to at least try more than someone of my supposed more progressive and more informed generation. How sad is that. Well, at least the two shows' soundtracks were good, because, you know, priorities.

Side Note: Although “Togetherness”, the newest addition to HBO’s 30-minute dramedy block, is yet another show set in California that doesn’t feature Hispanic or Asian characters, kudos to the Duplass Brothers for creating a portrait of the urban (petit) bourgeoisie that isn’t aspirational in the way its companion shows are. These characters are dysfunctional and, surprisingly, I don’t want any of it.