Depending on the topic, we find that we haven’t been given pat answers, which I also appreciate. While some of the jokes border on self-offense (African naming ceremonies are actually really powerful expressions of self-definition, not voodoo), I really admire how they swing for the bleachers on their chosen issues (referencing the Tuskegee Experiments in an episode about black health care was some real talk). “A family man struggles to gain a sense of cultural identity while raising his kids in a predominantly white, upper-middle-class neighborhood.”īlack-ish isn’t really any of those things now, and THANK BLACK TV BABY JESUS FOR THAT. Look at the IMDB description of this show from day one: This show was not going to make it hoteping its way to ratings by showing ridiculous racist co-worker caricatures every week. Fortunately, they got out of the easy “stop acting white” stuff and turned much of their tension on the effectiveness of various black behaviors and ideas. I had a fear early on that it would be an assimilation rant for a couple of years before it died that the Johnson family would constantly be asked to define itself in relation to whiteness as some kind of human film negative that danced a lot. And with the value range of characters it has it can step in and out of the anti-monolithic blackness that, you know, actually exists.ĥ) They don’t dwell on white people for points. It’s making its own way, utilizing contemporary value observations. It’s loaded with morality plays, sure, but not because it’s mimicking the greatest black TV show of all time, but because it has genuine issues it wants to tackle (instead of make fun of, which is what the gross pilot did). Unlike a lot of black shows (or black shows that white companies control the content of), black-ish never really went for the Cosby moral high ground. I never want to know why they have beef, for the record. Newman back and forth between her and Charlie needs to happen more. The actor who plays the cryptic, ever-smiling sociopathic co-worker Charlie is Deon Cole, but it doesn’t matter because you’ll never erase his portrayal of the did-he-just-say-that Charlie from your head.ĭiane was always the smart kid out of the bunch, but black-ish wised up and turned her into the conniving Stewie from Family Guy. Considering her competition is Miss Jane Pittman, you have to admit Lewis is bringing that range, sir. The race between blackest mother on television is between Jenifer Lewis as Dre’s mom and Cicely Tyson on How To Get Away With Murder. It started to turn around halfway through the first season and it has only gotten smarter, more culturally wide, and funnier since then, and it accomplished that in at least ten key ways: Seriously, I gave this show a hard time out the gate because the pilot was pandering garbage. BLACK DAMAGE ALERT LEVEL NOTICE: After much consideration and research, the TV show black-ish has had its BDAL rating downgraded from “WTF” to “Moderately Safe.” I repeat: it is officially okay to watch black-ish now.
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