How ‘Scandal’ Changed TV History by Featuring the First Black Woman Lead in 38 Years
When Kerry Washington first walked onscreen as Olivia Pope on April 5, 2012, she did greater than kick off one in every of the most compulsively watchable dramas in network TV historical past; she ended a 38-year wait.
When scandaldebuted on ABCWashington grew to become the first Black lady to guide a community drama since Teresa Graves starred inGet Christie Love!in 1974. In the 38 years between Graves and Washington, not a single broadcast community centered a Black lady in a drama. Not one.
That hole did not occur by accident, and Washington knew precisely what she was moving into.
‘Everybody Called It a Risk’
Washington you have been candid about the weight of the second.
“When scandal first aired, everybody talked about it, literally talked about it as ‘a risk,’ to have a Black woman as the lead of a network drama because it hadn’t happened in almost 40 years,” she’s stated. The character was impressed by real-life disaster supervisor Judy Smithherself a Black lady, which made the casting comparatively non-negotiable. Still, Washington understood the stakes went far past his personal profession. “If I didn’t give it my all and do the best work I was capable of,” she has stated, “they weren’t going to put another Black woman in the number one role on a TV drama for another 40 years.”
She gave it her all.
Related: Viola Davis Has Fiery Response To Heated ‘The View’ Debate Involving Whoopi Goldberg
The Ripple Effect
scandalcreated byShonda Rhimesran for seven seasons and have become real appointment tv at a time when that was getting tough to realize.
Washington was solely the third Black lady in American TV historical past to guide a community drama, after Diahann Carroll in Julia (1968) and Graves, however scandal‘s success triggered what NBC News dubbed the “Kerry Washington Effect.” Within a couple of seasons, Viola Davis was main How to Get Away With Murder (additionally Rhimes), and networks throughout the board had been scrambling to solid ladies of shade in dramatic leads.
Washington has since stated at a Bloomberg Screentime convention that the present would “100 percent” not be made in the present day — a sobering coda to a narrative in any other case stuffed with triumph. A extra risk-averse trade, she prompt, would by no means greenlight it. That makes what scandal really completed feels much more outstanding in retrospect.
All seven seasons are actually streaming on Netflix. If you’ve got by no means watched Olivia Pope tackle Washington, DC, this month looks like precisely the proper time.
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This story was initially printed by Parade on Mar 9, 2026, the place it first appeared in the News part. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
