Up and Coming

I also loved the show "Up and Coming" and do remember it quite well as being a realistic portrayal of African-American family life. It's a sad commentary that reality among black programming was not acceptable until the mid '80s when "The Cosby Show" was at its prime. But "Up and Coming" may very well have been the catalyst to open doors for popular prime time black sitcoms. I am not sure which was my favorite episode, but there is one I remember as having the best acting I had seen in a long time. It was when one young lady wanted to be adopted by the "Up and Coming" household, but her character was out of kilter with the family. She begged her way back in, amidst tears and repentance, and the family finally gave in to her request.

I echo the comments about Up & Coming that are listed before. I absolutely loved the show and still remember its them song/// The most you can ever do is the best you can//// words I have applied to life since. Would love to see this on DVD..... this show helped shape my young adulthood. Glad to see others feel the same... Do you guys think this is a realistic possibility? Also another life changing program was Fame the TV series, which has recently been released on DVD (first season). I have already exhausted ever episode from those discs.... I also remember the Righteous Apples and DeGrassi Jr High, then DeGrassi High. Now I see on the N cable network they have continued the DeGrassi series with DeGrassi: The Next Generation. Excellent programming and content here.

This was an excellent show. It came on PBS back home in Chicago and I remember Cindy Herron (From EnVogue) played the teen aged daughter. The show dealt with subjects such as sex, peer pressure and puberty. IT was about a middle class black family who had a teen aged daughter and son who moved to a middle class neighborhood from Oakland or somewhere (I can't remember). I remember several episodes but the one I remember most was when their cousin got her period for the first time. I was probably 7-8 when I first watched it and I was able to keep up with the program. This was a great show. I can't remember the name of the guy who played the son on the show, but I always got him confused with Kevin Hooks.

This was such a great series for Black folks at the time. We loved it so much. It was the only show about Black middle class families on t.v. at the time. Please release this on DVD. I know many...many people who still talk about the show. If it its released i am certain that many black youth will find this enlightening as well as interesting. The show addressed many topics from racism, intra-race discrimination, teen pregnancy, sibling rivalry, single parenting, peer-pressure and much more. The show ended in such an abrupt way and left it's fans speechless and wondering why it was taken off the air. Since then we have only seen a few of the actors and actresses. Please release it on DVD ASAP.

This was a family drama that ran on PBS stations in the late 1970s and early 1980s. The focus was on a middle class African-American family. The dad owned a small construction business, and his wife held a management position at a bank. They had two teenage kids, a girl and a boy. Also in the cast was a teenage girl who was a cousin to the kids. I remember that most of the episodes focused on challenges that the teens faced, such as interracial dating, drugs, peer pressure, etc. Other issues dealt with on the show included poverty, broken family relationships, and racism. The show didn't run for a long time, but it stood out as an good early attempt at an African-American dramatic TV series.