Black-ish

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.

First of all those who are offended by the title of the show should just pipe down and realize that the creators where just being satirical. As a black man I find the over abundance of buffoonish television shows that are typically geared towards African Americans to be passe and very stereotypical. Tyler perry based shows like Meet the Browns and House of Pain, though well meaning in their portrayal of the Black experience, often suffer from poor writing ( a habitual issue with Tyler Perry productions) and out of date tropes and production values. These shows are typically successful due to Mr. Perry's built in audience and,quiet simply ,a scarcity of programming geared towards black viewers. What makes Blackish stand out is its strong writing, perfectly cast lead actors( Anthony Anderson and Lawrence Fishburn's chemistry is particularly impressive), and irreverent look at the issues facing an upper class black family. Obviously some may not "get" some of the humor if you are unfamiliar with the nuances of black culture, just as an African American might not get every funny referrence from "My Big Fat Greek Wedding". The vast majority of the show, however, deals with issues that anyone can relate too. I'm 3 episodes in, and like most good shows, Blackish gets funnier the longer the writers have time to flesh out the characters and progress with the story lines. One more note. In no way is this show racist like some misguided and ignorant reviewers ( with some admitting to having only watched 15 minutes of the pilot...talk about ADHD) suggest. To those individuals I would say give it an actual chance. Check out the first 3 episodes on ONdemand before you pass a hasty judgement on such a small sample size

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.

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.

Like some other reviewers here, when I watched the first episode, I turned it off after about ten minutes. It's an unfortunate pilot that leads viewers to think that the entire show will be a narrow diatribe on "blackness". But the show is titled "Black-ish" and it is appropriately titled.

I don't remember what made me give it another chance, but I decided to watch the second episode and I was pleasantly surprised. But one episode does not a series make, so I watched the third. And I found "Black-ish" to be a very enjoyable comedy that had me laughing out loud numerous times.

Like the Cosby family, this family speaks the Queen's English, and they prove to be rather genteel, despite the father's attempts to reconnect with "the struggle". He says, "They (the younger generation) have nothing left to struggle for." The mother replies, "Can't that be a good thing?" And he answers, "No!" This show reveals some truths without spelling them out, like "All in the Family" did so well.

"Black-ish" reveals that the father's discontent is a generational thing--something all of us feel who realize that young people cannot identify with the values and events of earlier generations. And it eventually shows that humanity trumps "blackness".

I hope this show pursues the path it is on. There are lessons here for everyone. And the writers are mining laughs far outside the topic of race.

The cast is excellent. I especially love the two youngest kids. The youngest daughter, Diane, is hilarious; she possesses a comic timing that far surpasses her age.

Update 10/30/14: The show has proved that it is consistently funny. I am upgrading my vote to "9".

Update 11/10/16: I am sorry to say that the show's focus and its comedic balance shifted in season 3. So my grading of the show applies only to the first two seasons. Enjoy them.