Anthony Anderson
Tracee Ellis Ross
Yara Shahidi
Marcus Scribner
Miles Brown
Marsai Martin

Created by:
Kenya Barris

2014-
Comedy
ABC
TV-PG

“Black-ish” (`black•ish) is smart, stylish, and polished. It handles its tricky subject matter with skill, but here’s the bottom line: It’s well-written, well-acted, and funny. That’s why everyone should give it a chance.

It premiered after the start of the sixth season of “Modern Family,” and that was on purpose. These two shows could be different sides of the same coin. However, “black-ish” doesn’t feature a straight-to-camera style. It uses narration, instead. Also, it deals with a little-discussed perspective on race (i.e., little-discussed in the media). It has a deft hand in dealing with racial dilemmas that successful black people face in a white world. By the way, those dilemmas could be extrapolated to successful minorities of any ethnicity in this country. That deft touch is shown not only in the story but also within the comedic beats themselves. That’s a difficult thing to do while remaining funny and avoiding heavy-handedness.

The fundamental question that “black-ish” asks is: How does success affect black people’s identity? This take is new for television and would be new even for film. Plus, everything is done with an amusing touch. The use of three generations of blacks within one family is a great choice. All of the actors, including the kids, get it. And, by representing the Civil Rights generation, the kids of that generation, and the kids of the kids of that generation, the audience is able to understand the process and struggles of the assimilation of successful blacks into the culture of the United States (i.e., the process of going from being black to being black-ish, whatever you think that means). Also, while watching this, you might think about what has happened to blacks who are not as successful. But, that is way in the background. We’ve seen that side of black life explored countless times before. This time, we’re given a glimpse into a reality that many blacks have experienced but have rarely seen reflected by art.

This show’s approach to race is very nuanced in a deceptive way. For instance, when Anthony Anderson’s character, Andre, tells us (via narration) that he will be promoted to Senior Vice President of the marketing firm for which he works, we expect the worst. We’ve seen this scenario before: A character expects a promotion only to be passed over later on. However, this show turns that expectation upside down. Andre gets a promotion, but not the title he expected. That title drives right to the heart of what this show is all about. Andre’s character says in response: “I wanted to be the first Senior Vice President who happened to be black!”

Overall, “black-ish” has lots of room to grow. The premise and style suggest that the writers will have plenty of themes to explore; I don’t think that they will exhaust the material for a while. Some have said that this is a contemporary response to “The Cosby Show.” Maybe (both shows depict versions of black life to which other races can relate), but I don’t think that comparison is useful. “Black-ish” does its own thing; it doesn’t need to be compared to anything else. And its outlook is a rosy one.

Verdict: Very Good

About: (Source: blackish)

Andre ‘Dre’ Johnson (Anthony Anderson) has a great job, a beautiful wife, Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross), four kids and a colonial home in the ‘burbs.  But has success brought too much assimilation for this black family? With a little help from his dad (Laurence Fishburne), Dre sets out to establish a sense of cultural identity for his family that honors their past while embracing the future.

black-ish stars Anthony Anderson as Dre, Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow, Yara Shahidi as Zoey, Marcus Scribner as Andre Jr., Miles Brown as Jack, Marsai Martin as Diane and Laurence Fishburne as Pops.