For decades, all-white TV shows (the majority, of course) barely raised an eyebrow among most white viewers. Then along comes Netflix's Luke Cage, starring a predominantly black cast.

The series features an African-American superhero, and is set in the historically black New York neighbourhood of Harlem. After debuting last week, the praise came thick and fast. According to Vox, it is the "the boldest thing Marvel has ever done" – and its "most powerful" TV venture. It has a 96 per cent score on Rotten Tomatoes, beating Marvel's other Netflix series Daredevil (86 per cent) and Jessica Jones (93 per cent). And the Metacritic website, which aggregates critics' scores, currently gives the show a "universal acclaim" rating.

But not everyone is happy.

Unaccustomed to not being the centre of entertainment, some white viewers accused Netflix of "extremely racist programming". Here's what they bleated on Twitter:

In response, people pointed out just a sampling of shows with all-white casts. (And no, having non-white "guests" doesn't earn you a gold medal.)

In 7th Heaven, even the dogs are white. Photo: Supplied

'The One Where We Didn't Cast Any Black People' ... oh, wait. Photo: Supplied

Neighbours, everybody needs (prime time-friendly white) neighbours... Photo: Supplied

Best I not weigh in on this topic, frankly. Photo: Supplied

In fairness, no self-respecting black person would be seen in a suede vest with a high-waisted pin-striped 'pant', as white people call them. Photo: Supplied

A show about nothing ... except white people. Photo: Supplied

As long as the bachelor doesn't appear biased by evicting the token non-white woman too soon, that's what matters. Photo: Supplied

In light of ongoing police violence against black people, Luke Cage's showrunner, Cheo Hodari Coker, said of his lead character: "I will never get tired of seeing a bulletproof black man."

But for some, a show with a mostly black cast – in an entertainment world still dominated by white faces – isn't a step forward. Rather, they see their own reflection as the default setting.

Recently, author Benjamin Law – whose memoir The Family Law was adapted into six-part series for SBS – gave a speech on screen diversity. Afterwards, one man explained he simply made all his characters white because it's "neutral".

When Law asked him to explain how white is neutral, he was met with a long silence.

Another man sought his help with a dilemma: "If I throw an Asian [character into my screenplay] and there's a joke, everyone will say I'm picking on the Asian."

Law had a crazy idea: why not cast two Asian characters? Another baffled pause ensued.

As for those aggrieved by the "reverse racism" of a show featuring mostly black people, there was no shortage of people shutting that nonsense down:

Some other super-white TV shows

3rd Rock from the Sun: A bunch of aliens must pretend to be "average" Americans. This is what America looks like, apparently:

'Normal' equals 'white', doesn't it? Photo: Supplied

Family Ties: The parents were ex-hippies ... who opposed their son's conservative politics, while mixing mainly with other white people:

Can we just make our theme song a little more corny? Photo: Supplied

Home Improvement: According to Wikipedia, this top-rating '90s sitcom is "based on the stand-up comedy of Tim Allen". No wonder there's a preponderance of white people:

We're actually holding the frame inside the photo! Could we be any more adorable/nauseating? Photo: Supplied

Wonderland: When this Channel Ten drama debuted in 2013, Australian actor Remy Hii was puzzled. "Wonderland is about how ten people living in Bondi have got by without befriending 1 person of non-anglo descent," he tweeted. Good point.

In Bondi, one in five people speak a language other than English at home ... or so we've heard. Photo: Supplied

Dawson's Creek: Even the damn theme song sounded white.

Let's talk about our emotions, cry, then talk about our emotions some more. What could be whiter than that? Photo: Supplied

Twitter: @Michael_Lallo