Meet The Langstons -- `Under One Roof' Makes An Attempt To Capture Widespread Television Audience

Last week, on a brisk, deceptively sunny morning, the cast and crew of "Under One Roof" wrapped up filming on a quiet tree-lined street on Capitol Hill transformed, for the day, into a Hollywood set.

After nearly two months of shooting at various locations throughout the city, they were back on the 1100 block of 21st Avenue East, in front of a modest two-story house that is the home of the show's central family, the Langstons.

"Quiet please!" an assistant director shouted.

For the umpteenth time, two young men and a boy went over their scene. With each repetition, the director fine-tuned their movements and deliveries. After a few more tries, they were ready to film.

In the scene, a young man confronts a friend from the past who warns him against becoming an informer, subtly threatening his adopted family. During their heated exchange, the youth stands his ground. He tells the thug to stay away from the younger boy and bravely tries to ward off harm from his loved ones.

The scene captures the central theme of "Under One Roof" - the importance of family.

When it begins its six-episode trial run on CBS (KSTW-TV, Channel 11) at 8 p.m. tomorrow , "Under One Roof" will be that TV rarity: a serious show about family. In this case, the family is African American.

Although black families have been found in situation comedies for more than two decades, "Under One Roof" is the first dramatic series on network TV to portray a contemporary African-American family.

It's a show that comes with impressive credentials.

The top-caliber cast includes James Earl Jones, as Neb Langston, a widowed Seattle police officer and the family patriarch; Joe Morton, who plays his son, Ron, an ex-Marine starting a new business; and Vanessa Bell Calloway, who plays Maggie, Ron's wife, who is struggling to balance work and motherhood.

Producer Thomas Carter also has been associated with quality projects, including "White Shadow" and "A Year in the Life," another series about a Seattle family.

"I think this is definitely going to be a breakthrough show," said Bell Calloway, as she waited in the make-up trailer to shoot her final scenes. Although she hasn't seen the final product, Calloway said she liked what she's seen so far in post-production.

"This show is a part of history; the first of its kind. After this you'll get the copycat shows when the other networks try to find their own Langston family."

As she answered questions, Bell Calloway played with her 5-month-old daughter, Alexandra. Like the character she plays, she is also a working mother who's had to weigh the impact of her work on her husband and two children.

"The Langstons are like a lot of black families," she continued. "You know these people. They go to your church. Their kids go to your children's school. It's time we had this kind of show."

Morton, whose extensive credits include appearances as a regular on TV shows like "Equal Justice" and "Tribeca" and the film "The Brother from Another Planet," felt the series was long overdue.

"We live in a world where the TV norm was a white family," Morton said. "They taught us America. Black families were always represented as depressed, into drugs and unseemly, or they're put forward as struggling to rise above their circumstances. It took a long time to say, let's do a show about a lower-middle-class black family."

Television has always been slow in breaking established molds, he added.

Years ago Morton said he worked on a proposed sitcom about a rich, black family. The networks ultimately rejected the show, claiming it wouldn't be accepted by viewers. Six years later, Bill Cosby's show - which featured a well-to-do African-American family - was the most popular show on TV.

The arrival of a black dramatic series is particularly welcomed by those critical of today's crop of TV sitcoms featuring African Americans. Cosby has criticized some of his successors, accusing them of perpetuating stereotypes.

"Historically, the areas we've been most palatable is as comedians and as athletes," Morton said. "Without denigrating what's out there, I just want to see more choices."

Bell Calloway, who has appeared on some of the TV comedy shows, was more blunt.

"A lot of them need to be under attack," she said. "People should be called on the carpet. I'm glad to see everyone make it, but they have a responsibility for their work. They're going backwards, some of them. Instead of laughing with, they're laughing at."

While "Under One Roof" may break new ground for people of color, both actors downplay the significance of race in the series. The show is ultimately about a family, Morton said.

"They're not just symbols, so the opportunity is tremendous to talk about a lot of things," he said. "We have to present this family as any other family. What we bring in is an unseen history."

Said Bell Calloway: "This show is reality. This is my family. This is Joe's family. We come from people like this. The only way we're going to grow is to try to understand each other. The way things are going in this country, I think things are just going to get worse. So we really need a show like this."

The actors say they try not to worry about a show's ratings success.

If the show does last beyond its initial run, Bell Calloway said some decisions will have to be made for her own family.

As she wraps up shooting the last episode, Bell Calloway is already thinking about getting back to Los Angeles to be with her husband and their 4-year-old daughter, Ashley, who she has seen only sporadically during filming here.

"The biggest challenge is keeping the family together," she said. On TV, and in life.