Black-ish

The first episode took me completely by surprise! It was so funny. Yes, the white people in it are a bit of a caricature (Seriously, one advertiser asks Dre how (whispered) "black" people would say good morning) but maybe they're the same type of off from a black perspective that black people often are when portrayed from a white perspective.

Maybe it's just because I'm a sociology major but I totally get Dre's frustration, along with his wife and kid's disbelief and disinterest. He has it all. He's well-to-do at a job he loves, he lives in a great house/neighborhood and has an all-American family, and yet he feels his culture/history slipping away. I can see that relating to anyone whose grown-up life is significantly different than their childhood, for good or bad. I grew up in a rural area, on a farm, and I often regret the lifestyle my very suburban kids have grown up in. I want to yank them back to the farm. He is glad to be in better circumstances and neighborhood than where he grew up, but he also doesn't want his kids to lose their history, their background. The great things in his life are erasing other things that may not have been as great, but were still part of making him who he is.

His wife is multicultural, whatever that means, bi-racial, however you want to put it. She thinks he's a little nuts to miss the "hood" and to try and suddenly get his kids to be more "black". His kids are the same as most kids these days (thank goodness), they have dropped color as a major factor, often even as a minor factor. Unfortunately for minorities, that also means losing culture as they homogenize into the dominant culture, white. However, it also means seeing people as people, not as colors or ethnicity.

His dad (the grandpa) is a little of both. Maybe used to be the strong black man, go Malcolm X and black power, but he also enjoys the cushy life he's living now. His comments and his lifestyle clash, but in a way that's okay, it's just part of who he is. At one point when Dre wants to come up with a "black" coming of age ceremony for his son, his dad nails it with a comment about how they're not African. They don't have that history, suddenly trying to adopt cultural customs from Africa, which is not even just Africa, it is multiple countries, peoples, and customs and traditions, just doesn't work. You can't invent a history and culture for yourself that never existed. He's multi-generational American, just black American, not African American. But still, I can feel for his desire for some sort of cultural background that feels solid. I'm multi-multi-generational white. My ancestors come from at least 10 different northern European countries. I often look at Hispanic cultures and some of their traditions and wish I had a little more something in my background other than just plain white vanilla. But that doesn't mean if I suddenly adopt Irish or Norwegian customs it will really be me.

Yeah, sorry, too long and too much philosophizing. I got it, I loved it. And besides that, it was really really funny. I laughed all the way through. Even my husband laughed out loud and he's more of a quiet chuckle sort of guy, seldom laughs out loud. I really hope this show stays the same, sharp observances of evolving social gray areas, loving and close knit family, people being people, and funny. And at least so far it was clean. Most "family" sitcoms are not something I would let my kids watch, I don't watch them. I would love to see something like this that stays clean so I can invite the kids in for a family show.

****This review is for the first four seasons**** Blackish is actually a funny show, with the main star being the dad of the family. The family's adventures are actually interesting to watch and sometimes, light enough to be easily entertaining. However, at times, it got too dramatic, or even strayed away from the comedy genre, like the first episode of the fourth season, which it was a musical. Also, even though the episodes where they were dealing with the current issues of society were strong and had an impact, some other episodes were just repeating the same thing and it felt like they were guilt cornering the audiance. Finally, the last episodes of the fourth season were out of the blue and boring.

Let me just get this out of the way; I'm a black dude in my late 40's. Grew up during the 80's watching shows like the Cosby show, family ties, etc. With that being said, Scrubs is probably my all time favorite sitcom, by a large margin. The writing, cast, everything was spot on. And it ended right before shows started going in a different direction imo. No show has been able to balance comedy & drama as good as Scrubs, & I see black-ish as another effort to do so. An almost blatant copy of its humor if you ask me. I don't remember any other show doing the whole "flashback" thing before Scrubs, at least not as often. Black-ish pulls it off slightly different, but really similar nonetheless. It's cartoonish in a way that isn't well balanced, where again, Scrubs knew how to make that somehow work and not come off so...silly?? I feel kinda weird saying that considering how ridiculous some of the stuff on Scrubs was, but anyone that watched it can relate to what I'm saying. Scrubs had a few episodes that have made me actually sad, like REALLY struck a nerve and resonated with me, Black-ish has never come close. It just doesn't know how to make you get emotionally invested most of the time, even when visiting important topics like race, equality, etc. One of the writers (Deon Cole) is one of my favorite comedians, & his humor usually hits its mark. But as a show, it's just more of todays snark without the feeling. The Goldbergs is another example of this.

As a white person I massively enjoyed blackish. It is a light family comedy and you get to learn a little bit about black history and generally just see life through another lense. I found the series wholesome, fun and wise. Sure, they take it too far sometimes but then again, that goes for most sitcoms that have been on for a while. For example, friends is and will always be my favorite show, but if you look at Monica's character development...she goes from a little neurotic in season 1 to someone who keeps yelling in a high pitched voice in season 10. Writer's mistake if you ask me, but I loved the show regardless because it also has a lot of love and wisdom in it, brought to you in a light and easy-to-watch manner. The same goes for blackish, as far as I'm concerned.

This series might not start off great, but it has certainly won me over. Despite its title, it doesn't make everything about race (in fact deals little with race at all), but instead skillfully and hilariously considers how self-identification and values change trans-generationally. I did not give the show a 10 star rating since it still needs a little work. It's already one of my favorites and I believe it has the potential to be a great family sitcom. I believe the lower rating it has received here has little to do with the quality of the show and more to do with human tendency to categorize and then refuse to see beyond preconceptions.

To tell the truth, I had also dismissed 'Black-ish' when I first heard about it, basing this rejection simply on the title and a very cursory glance at reactionary reviews. The racist in me had immediately lumped this show together with the likes of UPN classics 'Moesha' and 'Girlfriends', shows which I never cared much for. I was therefore pleasantly surprised after I watched the first episode on Hulu...and then the second, and then subsequently caught up with all the currently available episodes (seven at the time of this review) within a day.

First off, the cast grows on you quickly. Initially, the family seemed a little oddball in how it was put together. But that went away within an episode or two, when the family dynamic was a bit more apparent. The children are adorable and I finally appreciate how beautiful Tracee Ross is (I guess I was previously blinded by my profound crush on Persia White in 'Girlfriends'). Ross' portrayal of her character is refreshingly playful; I wouldn't have known she had it in her. The writers should probably have a consulting doctor, though. It annoys me, how unrealistic the portrayal of her profession is.

Anthony Anderson's lead character is not perfect, but is on its way up. The character had started off a little unrefined but I am fully confident the writers will make full use of Anderson's talent as the show progresses. But Laurence Fishburne as "Pops" has to be my favorite casting decision. Hopefully he won't be too busy to stop by every once in a while. Another notable side character that I must mention is Deon Cole's "Charlie". I'll just abbreviate by calling him hilarious.

Now, the controversy/hoopla surrounding the show. There are, of course, those who think that the show perpetuates stereotypes about black people, that it demeans them or tries to declare what attributes define "black culture". It doesn't help that even the title of the show brings those thoughts to the forefront of the mind. I'm not black, and therefore cannot say definitively that this show isn't offensive to any specific category of people. But I honestly feel that the writers are trying to do a good thing here. They do more to try to break stereotypes than disseminate them; and they manage to do this, for the most part, in clever ways that don't look too forced. I don't feel like I'm being asked to laugh at caricatures like with other sitcoms.

But critics might say, "Why do they even have to broach the subject of race? Why can't they be a successful family which happens to be black?" If the show didn't mention race at all, but instead chronicled the comedic hijinks of an affluent family (which happens to be black), and had a completely innocuous title, there would be critics up in arms about the show being ashamed/afraid of celebrating black culture. I don't think 'The Cosby Show' or 'Family Matters' work as rebuttals to that argument – those were products of a different era, one before the fracturing of network television and before relegation of "black interest" shows to pigeonholed networks.

Anyway, you can't please everybody. I'm happy to say that this show pleases me. The show makes me reflect on how my cultural and racial identity has shaped how I perceive myself and others. It definitely makes me think about how my upbringing and self-identity differs from that of my parents, and how my children's upbringing and self-identity will certainly differ from my own. So please don't put this show into a tiny box. It's not just for black people, or just for racist people, or just for poor people. If you give it a chance, I'm certain you will see its appeal.