First Attempts.

The civil rights struggles of the 1950s finally began to filter into the television industry during the 1960s. NBC had broadcast The Nat King Cole Show in 1956 and 1957, but southern stations refused to broadcast it, and it was canceled. The new decade saw an increase in roles for black actors, such as the guest-star roles for a couple on The Dick Van Dyke Show. Rob Petrie mistakenly believes that his son, Richie, has been accidentally switched at birth and tracks down the couple he believes has his son. The couple turns out to be attractive, middle class, and black.

Bill Cosby.

In 1965 NBC paired Robert Culp with black actor Bill Cosby in I Spy, an adventure-intrigue show. The easy rapport between Culp and Cosby and the relationship of Cosby's character to Culp's (Culp played a professional tennis star, and Cosby was...