Trading races -- new TV show takes a close look at racism

Ice Cube (C), poses with Carmen, Bruno, Rose Wurgel (L), and Brian and Renee Sparks

When writer John Howard Griffin turned his skin from white to dark and traveled the southern parts of US in 1959 for a firsthand look at the depths of racism, he relied on a simple medical treatment and his wits.

In the 21st century, such a journey requires Hollywood makeup wizardry, the well-honed conventions of both reality TV and documentary filmmaking, and two families -- one black, one white -- acting as undercover race detectives in Southern California.

As superficially different as FX Networks' Black.White. and Griffin's landmark book Black Like Me appear to be, they are brothers under the skin.

Black.White. proceeds with open-minded seriousness as it leads viewers to a conclusion both obvious and powerful: race counts, for better and worse. Expressions of racism and racial identity change, but that bedrock truth remains.

"I didn't realise, more than anything, how hard it was going to be for whites and blacks to see the world through each other's eyes," said executive producer RJ Cutler. He insisted the six-episode show, which begins March 8 on FX, doesn't "aspire in any way to say definitive things about race." But the participants and their actions do.

In a Los Angeles-area house, Black.White. brings together Bruno Marcotulli, 47, his wife, Carmen Wurgel, 48, and her daughter Rose Bloomfield, 18, a white family from Santa Monica, California, and Brian Sparks, 41, wife Renee, 38, and their son, Nick, 17, a black Atlanta family.

Through artful makeup they swap races, if not perspectives.

"Don't believe the hype, everything in the world ain't black and white" -- sings rapper Ice Cube sings in the title song. The series' timing is notable, with race brought into renewed focus by Katrina and the disproportionate suffering it caused for blacks in New Orleans.

Attitudes are mostly, but not always, subtly expressed. In black makeup, Rose gets the brush-off when she applies for work at stores in a white area.

Sitting in as a white woman on a focus group discussion on race, Renee Sparks is shocked to hear a young college student relate how he was cautioned to wash off the handshake of a black person.

Larry E. Davis, director of the University of Pittsburgh's Center on Race and Social Problems, lauds the series' concept. "Black Like Me was a powerful work in its day; projects like Black.White. Have potential value for now," he said.