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Jack and Rebecca Pearson‘s fight to legally adopt their African-American son, Randall, led to a tense moment in Tuesday’s episode of This Is Us.

“The Most Disappointed Man” explored the emotional power of the judicial system circa 1981 as Milo Ventimiglia and Mandy Moore‘s characters attempt to make the Big Three official.

Much as how the NBC drama has consistently discussed real-world issues, Randall’s adoption once again touched on race.

The couple’s court proceeding turned tense when the judge (Delroy Lindo) wasn’t so convinced that two white parents should be raising an African-American child,...

Larry Wilmore had a mic-drop moment of his own when he said the N-word to President Obama the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. The host of Comedy Central's The Nightly Show has received mixed reviews for his closing cry - "Yo Barry, you did it my n---a" - with Rev. Al Sharpton calling Wilmore's use of the word "at best in poor taste" and Saturday Night Live's Sasheer Zamata tweeting, "This is the blackest correspondents dinner ever and I Love it." Two days later, the Twitterverse is still buzzing about the jaw-dropping moment. Here's how some on social...

Larry Wilmore had a mic-drop moment of his own when he said the N-word to President Obama the White House Correspondents' Dinner Saturday night. The host of Comedy Central's The Nightly Show has received mixed reviews for his closing cry - "Yo Barry, you did it my n---a" - with Rev. Al Sharpton calling Wilmore's use of the word "at best in poor taste" and Saturday Night Live's Sasheer Zamata tweeting, "This is the blackest correspondents dinner ever and I Love it." Two days later, the Twitterverse is still buzzing about the jaw-dropping moment. Here's how some on social...

The N Word. The debate over gun control. Clogged arteries.

These topics would probably all score Big Red Xs on a Family Feud survey of “funniest sitcom topics.” Yet in its provocatively bold second season, ABC’s black-ish has tackled ’em all — and in the process, become one of the best comedies on television.

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This isn’t to suggest that black-ish has entered Afterschool Special territory: Not with moments like Jenifer Lewis’ eternally indignant Grandma Ruby huffing “Can you believe this n—-r?” after son Dre (Anthony Anderson) schools...

For Paula Deen, the use of the N-word has been disastrous. The racial slur has been very, very good to CNN, however. CNN's Monday night special "The N Word" -- which explores a topic that's been very much in the news lately, thanks to Paula Deen -- delivered tasty numbers for the cable news network. Also read: Paula Deen Accuser Speaks Out: This Was Never About the N-Word The special, airing at 7 p.m., drew 612,000 total viewers. Not bad, considering that CNN's primetime average for the month of June (technically, May 27...

In case you didn't know, last night, inspired in part by the Paula Deen brouhaha, and ongoing George Zimmerman trial, CNN hosted an hour-long special (including commercials) titled The N Word: Is It Ever Ok, hosted by Don Lemmon. During the program, Lemon was joined by a panel of guests including LeVar Burton, Tim Wise, Wynton Marsalis, Donna Brazile and others, debating the use of the word. Many of us mocked the idea of the special yesterday, before it aired, but I figured I'd share it anyway, since, I'm sure, some of you would want to watch it, if you already didn't, and discuss. Plus it's a slow news day, as we all look to the upcoming long holiday weekend! As for...

CNN improved its ratings fortune a whopping 90% in the news demo of adults 25-54 and nearly 60% among viewers of all ages last night when it telecast the perfect-storm special, which brilliantly tapped into viewers’ summertime appetite for all things Paula Deen And George Zimmerman. An average of 612,000 people watched The N Word — 218,000 of them in the demo. The previous four weeks, CNN had averaged 388,000 viewers in the time slot, and 115,000 in the demo. Sure, CNN still finished fourth among cable news networks — third in the demo — with the controversial special. But, hey, up is up. Here’s how it went: CNN, in a ratings hole, has waded deep into the trial of Zimmernan, who’s been charged in the fatal shooting of unarmed black teen Trayvon Martin, adding a new 10 Pm Anderson Cooper-hosted trial recap show — and yes, we to have heard the gag about the network changing its name to Znn.

Alf is one of the remaining puppety icons of the 1980s, and I should know: The stuffed animal version of Alf has followed me from my toddler years all the way to college and to the West, where he lays, embalmed, in a bag somewhere, the last tangible remainder of my youth. That glass shattering? That’s the sound of my dreams, which have collapsed ‘neath the weight of this Mindblowing Revelation: Alf was a womanizing assh*le who says the N Word. Yes, that word. Witness: A Youtube commenter points out that Alf is just impersonating a very famous episode of L.A. Law where someone with Tourette’s Syndrome is interviewed on the witness stand. Despite myself, I must admit it is pretty hilarious… (and well acted!) But still, Alf, was that really necessary? The straddling line? The N Word? All of it? You were my favorite little person in an alien costume,...

Ugh, now there are five. You can spend nearly 30 minutes listening to five separate recordings of Mel Gibson purportedly raging against ex-girlfriend Oksana Grigorieva on Radar Online. It’s almost like Radar isn’t even a proper noun anymore — this is literally the radar. “What’s on the Radar today? Another Mel Gibson tape, of course.”

Radar’s decision to release these one-by-one seems increasingly bizarre. (An editor for the site claims that the audio came from a third party, not Grigorieva herself.) It’s beginning to feel like a record company “dropping” albums. Vol. 1: The N Word, Vol.