There’s a bit of serendipity that some of ABC’s Black-ish takes place at an advertising agency, where Andre Johnson (played by Anthony Anderson) works. Throughout eight seasons of “Black-ish,” viewers have seen Dre dream up with ways to capitalize and promote various brands, both fictional (“Boxable”) and not (Starbucks). As Dre was helping brands expand their footprint, so too was Black-ish turning into a lucrative and far-reaching franchise itself for Disney, ABC and creator Kenya Barris. The comedy concluded its eight-season run on April 19, but that doesn’t mean the end of the “-ish” universe.
While Black-ish took on thorny issues, it never surrendered the laughs in its more than 170 episodes, said Courtney Lilly, a writer on the series since its first season who became an executive producer and its showrunner. “Obviously, there were episodes where we made sure we approached issues. But even in doing those we were relevant and funny,” Lilly said.
Comedy Abbott Elementary and drama Promised Land will also premiere in early 2022.
Michelle Obama will appear on an episode of the ABC comedy in its eighth and last season, the show announced on social media Thursday. Details of the former first lady’s appearance are being kept under wraps for now.
ABC has renewed comedy series Black-ish for an eighth and final season. Creator Kenya Barris first shared the news on social media.
ABC’s Black-ish will air a pair of special episodes — one of them animated — in early October prior to its official premiere later in the fall. The hourlong special will focus on the upcoming election, with Junior (Marcus Scribner) embarking on his journey as a first-time voter and Dre (Anthony Anderson) exploring local politics. Both the live-action and animated portions of the special will be directed by Oscar winner Matthew A. Cherry (Hair Love).
Exclusives
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A politically charged episode of “black-ish” from 2017 that was shelved by ABC has found a home on Hulu, a corporate sibling of the Disney-owned broadcast […]
Black-ish has been moved back up for a fall premiere, taking the place of the new Kari Lizer comedy Call Your Mother. Black-ish will now air at 8:30 p.m. following The Goldbergs, with American Housewife moving to 9:30 p.m. The Conners and Stumptown remain at 9 and 10 p.m., respectively.
Lizzo was named Entertainer of the Year at the 51st NAACP Image Awards on Saturday. The singer-rapper edged out Angela Bassett, Billy Porter, Regina King and Tyler Perry for the night’s top prize. On Friday night, in a pre-telecast ceremony, some of the other winners were announced. OWN’s Greenleaf nabbed the best drama series prize while ABC’s Black-ish won six awards, including outstanding comedy series.
ABC has picked up a sixth season of its hit comedy series Black-ish for the 2019-2020 season. In addition, the network has given an early season order to Mixed-ish, a spinoff about Rainbow Johnson’s (Tracee Ellis Ross) experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the 1980s.
Champions‘ Anders Holm and The Haves and the Have Nots‘ Tika Sumpter have been tapped to play mom and dad to a pre-teen version of Tracee Ellis Ross’ matriarch in ABC’s in-the-works Bow-centric, 1980s-set black-ishprequel/spinoff,
Bob’s Burgers writer Kelvin Yu called the ABC reboot “reductive” and “belittling” for its jab about the starring black and Asian families on the network’s other sitcoms.
Could Kenya Barris be the next prolific producer to move from the broadcast studio system to Netflix? Multiple sources tell The Hollywood Reporter that the Black-ish creator and Girls Trip writer is actively trying to get out of his overall deal with ABC Studios, his creative home since 2015.
Citing “creative differences,” an episode that included a debate on athletes kneeling during the national anthem was shelved before it aired.
Ava DuVernay, Daniel Kaluuya and the cast of ABC’s Black-ish were among the big winners at a politcally-charged NAACP Image Awards ceremony Monday evening.
“Black-ish” has been renewed for Season 4 at ABC. In addition, Stacy Traub is joining the show for Season 4 as an executive producer. Traub was previously the showrunner on fellow ABC series The Real O’Neals, which was canceled after two seasons on Thursday.
Disney-ABC has completed broadcast syndication sales for the sitcom, which has been cleared in more than 90% of the country with Tribune Broadcasting as the core station group for its launch in fall 2018 when the award-winning comedy also begins airing on FX and BET.
Yara Shahidi, who plays the show’s oldest daughter, would topline the potential backdoor pilot from series creator Kenya Barris and former showrunner Larry Wilmore.
ABC is extending its episode orders for six of its comedies. The Middle, American Housewife, Fresh Off the Boat, The Goldbergs, Speechless and Black-ish have all been given marching orders for additional episodes.
The Middle, The Goldbergs, Black-ish and Fresh Off the Boat have each received an order for two additional episodes, bringing each of them to 24 for this season.
The two new fall series with the biggest premiere ratings are the first to get full-season orders. ABC has handed drama How To Get Away With Murder and comedy Black-ish pickups for two and nine more episodes, respectively, bringing their first-season orders to 15 and 22 episodes, respectively.
