New list scores TV, streaming series for on-screen and behind-the-scenes diversity and inclusion

The hundreds of television series on U.S. broadcast, cable and streaming platforms are the subject of a new list — one that scores them for their diversity and inclusion

The hundreds of television series on U.S. broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, and the executive producers creating them, are the subject of a new list — one that scores them for the diversity and inclusion of the people working both on screen and behind the scenes.

The Inclusion List for episodic programming, being released Thursday by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and the Adobe Foundation, ranks the 100 highest-scoring broadcast and cable series that aired in the 2021-2022 television season and the 100 top streaming platform series between 2021 and 2023, as well as listing the executive producers who scored the highest across all their shows in that time period.

It's a way to celebrate those producers and shows that are making the efforts to make the television industry more welcoming as well as highlight that much work still needs to be done, said Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which has also released reports about inclusion in the film industry.

“It’s important to say, here are the shows, because it tells the rest of the world, there’s no excuses. It can be done,” Smith said.

The top scorers for broadcast and cable series included shows “Queen Sugar,” about a set of Black siblings in Louisiana, and "The Baby," about a woman who doesn't have children who ends up with a mysterious baby. Streaming platform top performers included offerings like “Raising Dion,” about a Black mother and son, and “Gentified,” about Mexican American cousins.

Those included on the producer list included Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schecter, Ava DuVernay, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Charles King.

To compile the rankings, the Inclusion Initiative came up with a scoring system. On screen, the series regular cast were scored for representation of gender, race and ethnicity, age, disability and LGBTQ+. Behind the scenes, 10 positions including director, writer, producer, casting director and costume director were scored for gender, and race and ethnicity. The total highest possible score was 15. "Queen Sugar," for example, had a score of 12.8 and “Raising Dion” had a score of 13.3.