Black Sitcoms

I can't find any of the "black tv shows" on Youku or Tudou or even Baidu in full length...why is that?   I can look up old tv shows from the 1940s and find them in full length but I can't do that with any shows like Sanford and Son, Martin, Roc, The Wayans Brothers, Benson, or even The Cosby Show.  Why can't American TV sitcoms with a predominantly black casts be found? 

It sounds an American thing. How many Americans know about Chinese TV programs?

Many Chinese don't watch as much TV as Americans and even fewer watch those in English. I never heard of any American TV sitcoms until I came to the U.S., and I still don't know much about TV sitcoms in both China and U.S. I am sure people in China today are exposed more to American pop culture, but still limited. Internet was invented decades ago, but the World Wide Web came out in the mid of the 90's that gradually introduced multi-media capabilities. Those black sitcoms are old, which was why they were not there (Chinese web sites) yet.

BTW, I love "The Cosby Show" and "In Living Color" (Wayans brothers).

I personally believe it's all about popularity...and white-people sitcoms are favoured in China.  I mean, they even have Benny Hill episodes - ancient!

It sounds an American thing. How many Americans know about Chinese TV programs?

Actually, when i was young we could watch Chinese TV programs in the US.  Chinese soaps were broadcast on cable and on UHF channels.  Many Chinese movies (mostly Kung Fu) were dubbed in English and shown on network television.  For a long time I didn't know that many Bruce Lee movies were filmed in Chinese, cuz I was really young at the time I would watch them. 

For a time in the 80s it was popular to wear "Karate shoes" (to us Karate and Kung Fu were the same) and pretend to be Bruce Lee..watch the movie "The Last Dragon" with main character Bruce Leroy for example.  This is an American Kung Fu movie with a predominately black cast.

Many Chinese don't watch as much TV as Americans and even fewer watch those in English.

I think this might be a population density thing.  It's hard to get accurate figures.

BTW, I love "The Cosby Show" and "In Living Color" (Wayans brothers).

"The Cosby Show" was one of the most popular TV sitcoms of all time in the US and yet it can't be found on those websites, but I can find old reruns of "Small Wonder", which BBC called "the worst sitcom of all time." 

I don't know if this is purely a popularity thing.  I can find old episodes of "Bosom Buddies" starring Tom Hanks (as a drag queen).  Granted, Tom Hanks is a very popular actor, but so is Will Smith and I can't find more than one episode of "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air". 

I'm just ranting.  Some days i just get fed up with people (educated and non-educated) wondering if there really are blacks in the US because they don't see any in "Friends." 

Might have something to do with the availability of the original material.  If the Cosby Show wasn't widely released on DVD chances are it won't be uploaded to a video site.  Same goes for Sanford & Son, Good Times, etc.


Look at this release shedeule for The Jeffersons: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jeffersons#DVD_releases

WTH?  Releasing only one season a year?    Guess there isn't that much demand for a series that ran for a good 10 years to make them want to hurry up and get the DVD out there.