![]() ![]() “I would be a liar if I said the goal wasn’t to get an episode two and a little bit more money in my bank account, but as the show went on, we realized we wanted to talk about things,” he said. The power of what could be done with the show was revealed to him and his team as they continued working on the show. In the beginning, Barris said, his initial intent was just to get the show on the air and get the green light beyond the pilot. “It was something for us, by us, but in the best version of anything, the way we broaden ourselves is to speak to the populace.” “You don’t have to be Black to get it, but you really get it if you’re Black,” he said. At its best, black-ish was adept at showcasing Black culture in a way that was consumable and understandable for everyone, and Barris says that was intentional. We had seeped into a little bit of everything.” Related Story ‘Abbott Elementary’ gets an ‘A’ in its first season Read nowīlack culture dictates so much of popular culture that for many people who are not Black, those lines can become blurred to the point of erasing its origins. It was an homage to what Black culture meant to everyone. “It can sound like ‘Black s-’ or like Black ish. We had different names, but that was the one I was determined to go with,” Barris told Andscape. “I remember the controversy about the name. ![]() Series creator Kenya Barris - who also wrote, at times directed and is an executive producer of the show - remembers the initial uproar. The show centers on Andre “Dre” Johnson Sr., a successful advertising executive who’s worried about his Blackness Rainbow Johnson, his biracial wife, who is a doctor and their five kids - Zoey, Junior, Diane, Jack and eventually Devante. It used its platform to teach, not preach, and as the series comes to a close Tuesday night, the takeaway is that it accomplished what it set out to do. Over the years, the show made us laugh, cry and think - and it won the critics and viewing audiences over. For better or for worse, black-ish was a topic of conversation throughout its entire eight-season run. The petition claimed the show and its name were “racist, socially damaging and offensive based on its concept that nonstereotypical Black people are less their race than others, that hip-hop culture is all Blacks are supposed to embrace, and that culture and race are one in the same.”Īll of this happened before anyone had even seen one episode of the show. ![]() Others found the idea of the show offensive - so much so that there was a petition launched to get ABC to cancel it. Some people, including me, were turned off by the name. Back in 2015 when ABC announced its newest show, black-ish, there was immediate controversy. ![]()
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