Black ish

Main cast

Recurring cast

Development and casting

Black-ish first appeared on the development slate at ABC in October 2013, when it was reported that the project, which would star Anthony Anderson, had received a script commitment. On January 16, 2014, ABC greenlit the pilot episode. Two weeks later, Larry Wilmore joined the show as showrunner. In mid-February, Laurence Fishburne was cast as the father of Anderson's character, and Tracee Ellis Ross signed on as the female lead.

Filming

On May 8, 2014, ABC picked up the pilot to the series for the 2014–15 television season. A few days later, Anderson announced that Larry Wilmore would be stepping down as showrunner early in the show's run due to his forthcoming late night show, The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore.

On May 7, 2015, ABC renewed the series for a second season.

On March 3, 2016, ABC renewed the series for a third season.

Critical response

Black-ish has been met with generally positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives season 1 a rating of 86% based on 56 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. The site's consensus states, "Although it seems uncertain of its target audience, Black-ish ingratiates with a diverse cast and engaging cultural issues." Metacritic gave season 1 a score of 77 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rolling Stone's December 4, 2014 issue called it "one of the only new network comedies worth watching," praising in particular Laurence Fishburne's performance. Anthony Anderson's performance was met with critical acclaim, earning him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series.

Racism

Black-ish addresses not only the racism that the Johnsons face as an upper-middle class African-American family, but also includes the racism African-Americans from a variety of backgrounds face in America. The "Pilot" episode starts off the series by introducing Dre's fear that his kids are too assimilated to their primarily white surroundings and losing their black culture. The episode also addresses racism African-Americans face in the workplace when Dre gets excited for a promotion at his advertising agency, which turns out to be for Senior Vice President of the Urban Division. In response, Dre questions, "Did they just put me in charge of black stuff?" This episode raises the question of where the line is drawn so that you are not defined by your race but your culture still remains relevant.

In the 25th episode, "The Word", Jack performs Kanye West's "Gold Digger" at school and says the N-word. The rest of the episode discusses the generational and multicultural perspectives of the word and how it has a different meaning to different people, even between different African-Americans. That different meaning comes with different guidelines and regulations for the use of the N-word based on the speaker, the context, and the audience.

LGBTQ+

In the 22nd episode, "Please Don't Ask, Please Don't Tell". Dre's sister, Rhonda (Raven-Symoné), is introduced. Rhonda is a lesbian but never officially came out to her family. Family members just gradually figured it out because of Rhonda's live-in girlfriend, however, no one ever acknowledges it. Andre admits that homosexuality is a topic that most African-Americans prefer to avoid, which is why he never discusses it with his sister. This leads to Rhonda not inviting any of her family members to her wedding and Andre finally talking to Rhonda about her sexuality.

Police brutality

In the 40th episode, "Hope", the show tackles police brutality and Black Lives Matter as the family watches the news reporting about an unarmed young, black man's fatal run-in with police. Although the case was fictional, many real names, such as Freddie Gray and Sandra Bland, were included in the family's discussion. The debate format of the episode was able to address both sides of the situation and not completely villianize the police force. However, it leaned more towards the Black Lives Matter movement. The format also allowed for perspectives from different generations, backgrounds, and ideologies. The end of the episode revolved around a message of hope and the importance of protests, discussion, and attitudes when people are faced with tragedies from police brutality, assassinations, etc.