When Kerry Washington first walked onscreen as Olivia Pope on April 5, 2012, she did greater than kick off one among the most compulsively watchable dramas in network TV historical past; she ended a 38-year wait.
When Scandaldebuted on ABC, Washington turned 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 getting into.
‘Everybody Called It a Risk’
Washington has 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 Smith, herself a Black lady, which made the casting comparatively non-negotiable. Still, Washington understood the stakes went far past her 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 gonna put another Black woman in the number one role on a TV drama for another 40 years.”
She gave it her all.
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The Ripple Effect
Scandal, created byShonda Rhimes, ran for seven seasons and have become real appointment tv at a time when that was getting more durable to attain.
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 number of seasons, Viola Davis was main How to Get Away With Murder (additionally Rhimes), and networks throughout the board had been scrambling to forged ladies of colour 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 steered, would by no means greenlight it. That makes what Scandal really achieved really feel much more outstanding in retrospect.
All seven seasons at the moment are streaming on Netflix. If you’ve got by no means watched Olivia Pope tackle Washington, D.C., this month appears like precisely the proper time.
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This story was initially revealed by Parade on Mar 9, 2026, the place it first appeared in the News part. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
