Prior investigations of television's demography often relied upon programs sampled across varying periods of time to describe character populations. Results are sometimes conflicting and it is difficult to generalize these independent findings to longitudinal trends. This study examines a census of 1,757 major characters added to broadcast network lineups through new season programming from 1966 to 1992. New characters are examined in terms of gender, age, race/ethnicity, and occupational patterns occurring across 27 years of network program activity.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Greenberg et al. (1997) studied this question.