Will 'SNL' be the latest to fall into the 'token syndrome'?

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Monday night’s premiere of “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” may be nerve-racking for the former “Saturday Night Live” cast member, but it also has to be a bit of a relief. Since leaving “SNL” in 2003 on a wave of goodwill and buzz that the boyishly handsome charmer could be the next big thing, Fallon has struggled through a series forgettable comedies (“Taxi”).

Now he’s settling into a seat made warm by no less than David Letterman and Conan O’Brien. High expectations, yes. But just to sit behind that desk for a week puts him in the most exclusive of company. No sweat, Jimmy, as of Monday night, all your post “SNL” expectations have been fulfilled.

But what about the rest of “SNL’s” class of 2003? How are they holding up?

-- Patrick Kevin Day (Diane Bondareff / Associated Press)

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Rachel Dratch
‘SNL’ cast member: 1999-2006

Best characters: Debbie Downer and Nicole, the Girl with No Gay-Dar!

Since then: Even though she was replaced as part of the regular cast of “30 Rock” before it premiered with Jane Krakowski, Dratch has appeared on 11 episodes of the show. In demand for voice work, she’s voiced characters on “Aqua Teen Hunger Force,” “Squidbillies,” “Assy McGee,” “Avatar: The Last Airbender” and “Superjail!’ She’s currently appearing on stage in Los Angeles in the Center Theatre Group’s “Minsky’s.”

-- Brill Bundy (Craig Schwartz / Associated Press)

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Tina Fey
‘SNL’ cast member: 2000-2006, writer starting in 1997

Best characters: “Weekend Update” anchor, Sarah Palin (in 2008)

Since then: Perhaps you’ve heard, Fey scored an Emmy trifecta last year as star, writer and producer of “30 Rock.” She also starred in the 2008 comedy “Baby Mama” with fellow “SNL” alum Amy Poehler and wrote and co-starred in “Mean Girls.”

-- Rick Porter (Evan Agostini / Associated Press)

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Seth Meyers
‘SNL’ cast member: 2001-present

Best characters: “Weekend Update” anchor, Dan Needler, Nerod the receptionist, impersonations of the Dell Dude

Since then: He’s still there, but he has appeared in “Journey to the Center of the Earth” and “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist” during his downtime

-- Hanh Nguyen (Carolyn Cole / Los Angeles Times)

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Amy Poehler
‘SNL’ cast member: 2001-2008

Best characters: “Weekend Update” anchor, Sally Needler, Amber the one-legged hypoglycemic and impressions of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Katie Couric

Since then: During hiatus, Poehler appeared on “Arrested Development” (her husband Will Arnett’s defunct show), in “Blades of Glory” with Arnett as a brother-sister ice skating team and with Tina Fey in “Baby Mama.” She gave birth to a son, Archie, and stars in NBC’s upcoming comedy “Parks and Recreation.”

-- Hanh Nguyen (Brad Barket / Getty Images)

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Maya Rudolph
‘SNL’ cast member: on and off from 1999-2007

Best characters: Donatella Versace and Christina Aguilera

Since then: Playing mom to daughter Pearl with boyfriend, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson, Rudolph has managed to squeeze in time for four episodes of “Kath & Kim” and returned to “SNL” in November to play Michelle Obama.

--Brill Bundy (Neilson Barnard / Getty Images)

By Greg Braxton

Dec. 16, 2013 9 AM PT

<i>This post has been corrected, as indicated below.</i>

“Saturday Night Live” creator Lorne Michaels and NBC are trumpeting their commitment to diversity as they search for a black female cast member, responding to an uproar over the historic lack of African American females on the veteran sketch comedy show.

Auditions of several candidates are reportedly scheduled for Monday on the “SNL” stage.

But if and when “Saturday Night Live” makes good on its promise--which came only after the furor erupted--will the show fall into the “token syndrome” that has befallen other shows and producers who have added blacks to series only when they come under fire?

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The following examples illustrate the awkwardness:

1. After being repeatedly blasted by the media for the all-white cast of HBO’s “Girls,” creator-producer Lena Dunham addressed the furor at the start of the second season by casting Donald Glover from “Community” as a black Republican who becomes romantically involved with Dunham’s character, Hannah.

However, their relationship lasted only a few episodes and Glover’s character was dispatched. “Girls” continued for the rest of the season with an all-white cast.

2. “Friends,” one of NBC’s top comedies during the late 1990s and early 2000s, was regularly criticized for not featuring people of color even though it was set in multicultural New York. Aisha Tyler in 2003 appeared as a doctor caught in a love triangle between Ross (David Schwimmer) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc). After several episodes, her character was gone.

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3. “Desperate Housewives” in 2005 featured the first black resident of Wisteria Lane, Betty Applewhite, who was played by Alfre Woodard. Applewhite was made a mysterious woman who kept one of her sons chained in the basement, a plot that sparked protests. After one season, Applewhite--and Woodard--moved out.

Actress Vanessa Williams, who joined “Desperate Housewives” in 2010, was still steamed about Woodard’s story line when she joined the series in 2010--so much so that she had to be persuaded to come on the show.

“She had her son in chains in the basement,” Williams said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. “It was like, ‘Really? Do we have to go there with our first black character?’

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“I honestly fell off the show after that. I think it was just so implausible and just an image that black folks don’t want to see -- their child chained and shackled in the basement.”

4. NBC’s critically acclaimed “The West Wing” was heavily criticized when it premiered in 1999 because its cast was all white, even though the series was set in a liberal White House. Creator Aaron Sorkin cast Dule Hill as Charlie Young, a personal aide to President Bartlett (Martin Sheen).

[For the Record, 4:18 p.m. Dec. 18: An earlier version of this post misspelled Alfre Woodard’s last name as Woodward and gave the last name of her “Desperate Housewives” character, Betty Applewhite, as Applegate.]

Will ‘SNL’ be the latest to fall into the ‘token syndrome’?

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