Two new scripted cable comedies are showcasing African-American actresses in leading roles as the TV industry looks to continue to celebrate on-screen diversity.

Actresses such as Tracee Ellis Ross — nominated for a 2016 Emmy for outstanding lead actress in a comedy series for her role in ABC’s Black-ish — have begun to mirror the success of their counterparts on the drama front, including Gabrielle Union (BET’s Being Mary Jane), ViolaDavis (How to Get Away With Murder) and KerriWashington( Scandal).

HBO in October premieres comedy series Insecure, created and starring comedian-actress Issa Rae. The show, about a young African-American woman (Rae) navigating her professional and personal life, follows the Sept. 5 premiere of MTV’s Loosely Exactly Nicole, starring Girl Code actress Nicole Byer.

Actress Tischina Arnold, co-star of Starz’s comedy series Survivor’s Remorse, told Multichannel News that comedic roles for actresses of color are beginning to open up as both traditional networks and over-the-top services look to reach a more diverse audience with content that features their images and stories.

“I think it’s a great time for African-American women actors, producers and showrunners to be in the business,” Arnold said. “There are more opportunities opening up, although we still need a lot more opportunities.”

Arnold also said that women of color are getting a chance to play a wider variety of roles that go beyond the urban female stereotype often depicted in mainstream culture.

Indeed, Rae — at this summer’s Television Critics Association press tour — said her character in Insecure has the same goals and insecurities as everyone else.

“You watch this and you realize … that black people are human,” she said. “I think there’s a tendency vibe in certain cases like news and media portrayal of almost like we are bringing it on ourselves because we tend to be violent by nature. It’s been more just trying to convince people that … people of color are relatable.”

Byer also said during the TCA gathering she has auditioned for roles where writers that have asked her to “be as black as possible,” but said that her new show allows her to be herself without any preconceived notions of who she should be on-screen.

While opportunities are improving for women of color-on-screen, Arnold warned that more progress is needed both in front of and behind the screen.

“It’s almost like a never-ending story … it seems like there will never be enough opportunities for me,” Arnold said. “Once I see more characters like me portrayed in so many diverse ways and in diverse situations, then I’ll feel more comfortable in saying that there’s real substantial change taking place.”

It wasn’t that long ago when cable programmers looked at Labor Day weekend as a sort of respite after a long, busy summer in which many high-profile scripted shows debuted prior to the start of the broadcast networks’ fall TV season.

But with more than 400 scripted shows on cable, broadcast and online streaming services available to viewers this year, no time period can be considered off -limits for original series launches anymore. As a result, several cable networks are aggressively going after viewers during the typically slow holiday weekend with original movies, miniseries and series.

Discovery Channel has chosen Labor Day (Sept. 5) to launch its six-hour miniseries Harley and the Davidsons (pictured), the network’s first scripted miniseries since 2014’s Klondike.

Discovery’s historical motorcycle-themed series will look to capture viewers searching for original content amid the massive amount of reruns, movies and show marathons typically scheduled over holidays. History in 2014 proved that viewers will watch original content over the holiday weekend, drawing 3.7 million viewers for the Labor Day premiere of the miniseries Houdini.

Also on Labor Day, MTV will unleash two scripted comedy series in Loosely Exactly Nicole, starring comedian and Girl Code star Nicole Byer, and Mary + Jane, about the exploits of unlikely weed dealers.

The day prior, TV One will look to tap viewers suffering from Olympics withdrawal with its original boxing-themed film Ringside.

Cable’s scripted train continues the day after Labor Day with two more high-profile series premieres. FX will debut Atlanta, a half-hour comedy series from Community star Donald Glover, while OWN will roll out its Oprah Winfrey/Ava DuVernay-produced drama series Queen Sugar.

Related Video:One Question for ... OWN President Erik Logan

Online streaming service Crackle will also look to get in on the action with the debut of StartUp, starring Adam Brody.

With broadcast network series premieres premiering less than a week after Labor Day and running through May, and with a crowded cable lineup of scripted show premieres dominating the summer months, there are there are precious few pockets on the calendar where networks can get the word out on big scripted projects.

As viewers officially say goodbye to the summer and look forward to a new season of scripted broadcast fare, Labor Day weekend now seems to be as good a time as any for cable nets to raise the flag on original programming.