Black Casts Finding Mainstream Appeal, New Exoplanets Discovered

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New data reveals that television programs with predominantly African-American casts have broad appeal among the general viewing audience. We find out what’s behind the trend and which shows are making us rethink conventional wisdom about TV audiences. We also learn more about NASA’s recent discovery of a star system containing seven Earth-like planets that could support liquid water and life.

Featured in this Show

  • Shows With Majority Black Casts Have Broad Appeal

    Shows like Black-ish, Insecure and This is Us are defying conventional wisdom about what kind of entertainment appeals to general audiences. The programs either have black main characters or majority black casts — we take a look at analysis from the global market research firm Nielsen that says majority of those shows viewers are non-black.

  • NASA Announces Discovery Of A Seven Exoplanet System

    About 40 light years away from Earth, there’s a seven planet system orbiting a cool-red dwarf star. The discovery was announced earlier this week by NASA. We’ll speak with UW Astronomy Professor Eric Wilcots about the news and what it could mean for astronomy.

Episode Credits

  • Rob Ferrett Host
  • Veronica Rueckert Host
  • Haleema Shah Producer
  • J. Carlisle Larsen Producer
  • Andrew McCaskill Guest
  • Eric Wilcots Guest

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