I'm Done With TV Tokenism! Psych!

     This blog was inspired by my teacher Mr.Bolos's post on "TV Tokenism" and a project on tokenism that I am in the midst of for school. I am finding the subject of TV tokenism so interesting that I wanted to share another analysis of a current day television show. For those who need to play a little catch up, TV tokenism is prevalent in shows where there are those "token"/necessary minority roles. Television networks try to make all of their viewers happy to avoid problems such as people claiming a show is racist. So, in order to keep happy viewers TV shows attempt to show diversity and equality but, without pushing the boundaries of what is accepted by most of society.

Psych season one cast photo

     The show, where I have found some typical TV tokenism is Psych. Psych's main character (Sean) is the white man on the left of the photo, who is a fake psychic but, uses his real power, to notice small details, to solve crimes. And of course we can't forget about Sean's minority sidekick/ best friend (Gus) who assists Sean in his adventures.
     In the cast photo to my right we are quickly drawn to Sean, who is looking very thoughtful at the camera while seeming suspicious and a little crazy. Right away we can Sean is a very complex character who thinks a lot and the crazy look gives us a sense that Sean might be a little quirky. The white male lead is usually a very complex character that the audience wants to try and figure out. Behind Sean we see Gus. He is standing behind Sean, perhaps he is always living in Sean's shadow? Gus is a much less complex character. His facial expression says little to nothing and in the actual show we know very little about Gus. However, USA couldn't let Gus come in second to Sean on everything so, they gave him a little bit of authority with his morals and knowledge. This is seen in the cast picture because Gus is dressed much nicer than Sean, making him somewhat of an "Authority Minority".  In the show, Gus often has to be the moral compass of the partnership and pull back Sean when he gets a little too wild. By giving this small amount of power to Gus, USA stills gets to keep the white male in the center whilst giving the black community the equality they want.
How purposeful do you think TV tokenism is? Where do you see TV tokenism in the future?