When Kerry Washington first walked onscreen as Olivia Pope on April 5, 2012, she did more than kick off one of the most compulsively watchable dramas in network TV history; she ended a 38-year wait.
When Scandaldebuted on ABC, Washington became the first Black woman to lead a network drama since Teresa Graves starred inGet Christie Love!in 1974. In the 38 years between Graves and Washington, not a single broadcast network centered a Black woman in a drama. Not one.
That gap didn’t happen by accident, and Washington knew exactly what she was stepping into.
‘Everybody Called It a Risk’
Washington has been candid about the weight of the moment.
“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 said. The character was inspired by real-life crisis manager Judy Smith, herself a Black woman, which made the casting relatively non-negotiable. Still, Washington understood the stakes went far beyond her own career. “If I didn’t give it my all and do the best work I was capable of,” she has said, “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 became genuine appointment television at a time when that was getting harder to achieve.
Washington was only the third Black woman in American TV history to lead a network drama, after Diahann Carroll in Julia (1968) and Graves, but Scandal‘s success triggered what NBC News dubbed the “Kerry Washington Effect.” Within a few seasons, Viola Davis was leading How to Get Away With Murder (also Rhimes), and networks across the board were scrambling to cast women of color in dramatic leads.
Washington has since said at a Bloomberg Screentime conference that the show would “100 percent” not be made today — a sobering coda to a story otherwise full of triumph. A more risk-averse industry, she suggested, would never greenlight it. That makes what Scandal actually accomplished feel even more remarkable in retrospect.
All seven seasons are now streaming on Netflix. If you’ve never watched Olivia Pope take on Washington, D.C., this month feels like exactly the right time.
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This story was originally published by Parade on Mar 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the News section. Add Parade as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
