For decades, television held the period drama to the rule of three Ms: make it love-shy, make it British, make it unapologetically white. Anything that fell short of this standard risked never making it to air.
When Netflix announced plans to develop a one-hour show based on the Bridgerton novel series in 2018, they appeared to have it all wrong. Not only was bestselling author Julia Quinn – a New Englander! – playing Jane Austen and spilling sex all over the page, but her adaptation would feature a multiracial cast. It had all the ingredients of a giant flop, and might well have been if someone other than Shonda Rhimes had been stirring the pot.
