• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, August 1, 2023

Two prominent series airing and streaming right now -- one a comedy and the other a drama -- symbolize just how far TV has come in its depiction of Native Americans.

Today, indigenous characters are played by indigenous actors. And the characters, whether comedic or dramatic, are not depicted as buffoons or savages.

The comedy is “Reservation Dogs,” the half-hour FX/Hulu series about a group of Native-American teen friends in rural Oklahoma -- all played by indigenous actors. The show returns for its third and final season Wednesday on Hulu.

The drama is the mystery series “Dark Winds,” about a police detective on the Navajo Nation police force. “Dark Winds” returned for its second season on AMC+ last Thursday and AMC this past Sunday.

The way Native Americans are depicted on TV today -- and on these two current shows in particular -- is another illustration of the old adage (which I just made up) that if you live long enough you will observe dramatic social change on television.

For example, in the memory of your TV blogger, one such Indian (as they were called back then) from the 1960s still stands out -- the stoical Chief Wild Eagle of the fictional Hekawi tribe in the old sitcom “F Troop.”

Played by Frank De Kova (who was not Native American), the comical Chief Wild Eagle had business dealings with a shrewd sergeant (Forrest Tucker) and his bumbling corporal (Larry Storch) who both served in the United States Cavalry in an Old West outpost called Fort Courage.

In a way, Chief Wild Eagle was as comical an Indian chief as Col. Klink was as the commander of a German POW camp in World War II in “Hogan’s Heroes.”

But here is what stands out about Chief Wild Eagle and the Hekawis -- the story of the origin of the tribe’s name.

Chief Wild Eagle told the story in the show. To make a long story short, when the Hekawis left Massachusetts to migrate west, they got lost and a medicine man said to the then-chief, “I think we’re lost. Where the heck are we?” The phrase later morphed into “We’re the Hekawi.”

This is a far cry from the way Native Americans are depicted anywhere today -- whether on TV or in movies. 

Both “Dark Winds” and “Reservation Dogs” are current examples. There are no Chief Wild Eagles in either of them,

Produced by FX Productions for co-owned Hulu, “Reservation Dogs” is a comedy whose characters are nothing like the broad, clownish stereotypes of the past.

The four characters at the center of the show are Cheese (played by Lane Factor), Willie Jack (Paulina Alexis), Bear Smallhill (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, above photo, right) and Elora Danan (Devery Jacobs, above photo).

The show was co-created by New Zealander Taika Waititi, who also produces the vampire comedy “What We Do In the Shadows” for FX and the pirate comedy “Our Flag Means Death” for HBO.

Waititi is of mixed Jewish (on his mother’s side) and Maori (his father) heritage who identifies as both. 

Recurring characters featured in “Reservation Dogs” have also been played by Native-American actors, the most notable being Zahn McClarnon, who was seen throughout the first season of the show.

He happens to be the star of “Dark Winds” in the role of Navajo cop Joe Leaphorn. The TV Blog has already praised this show at least twice here -- most recently on July 24 to herald the show’s second season.

What more can I say? Hello, Lt. Leaphorn. Good-bye, Chief Wild Eagle.

The third and final season of “Reservation Dogs” premieres Wednesday (August 2) on Hulu.