New list scores TV, streaming series for on-screen and behind-the-scenes diversity and inclusion

NEW YORK (AP) — The hundreds of television series on U.S. broadcast, cable and streaming platforms, and the executive producers creating them, are the subject of a new list — one that scores them for the diversity and inclusion of the people working both on screen and behind the scenes.

The Inclusion List for episodic programming, being released Thursday by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative and the Adobe Foundation, ranks the 100 highest-scoring broadcast and cable series that aired in the 2021-2022 television season and the 100 top streaming platform series between 2021 and 2023, as well as listing the executive producers who scored the highest across all their shows in that time period.

It's a way to celebrate those producers and shows that are making the efforts to make the television industry more welcoming as well as highlight that much work still needs to be done, said Stacy L. Smith, founder of the Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which has also released reports about inclusion in the film industry.

“It’s important to say, here are the shows, because it tells the rest of the world, there’s no excuses. It can be done,” Smith told The Associated Press.