“Blackish” is a ‘hilarious and binge worthy’ show. PHOTO CREDIT: IMDB
To kick off Black History Month, we’re starting off by recognizing some of the work by Black actors and creators in the popular TV show “black-ish.”
“black-ish” is a sitcom set in Los Angeles, California and is centered around the Johnsons, a mixed raced family made up of four kids, a mom, dad and grandpa. Andre “Dre”, the dad, played by Anthony Anderson, Rainbow “Bow”, the mom, played by Tracee Ellis Rose, Zoey, the oldest daughter, played by Yara Shahidi, Andre jr “Junior,” the oldest brother, played by Marcus Scribner, Jack and Diane, the twins, played by Miles Brown and Marsai Martin and Pops, the grandfather, played by Laurence Fishburne.
In every episode, either one or more of the characters has a problem that needs fixing whether between two people or themselves. One thing that’s interesting about it is that Dre does voiceover to show the audience his feelings or emotions to a situation; giving dramatic irony for the audience to understand what’s happening in each episode.
From the first five episodes of season one, I learned that Dre works in advertising and is loving toward his family but overreacts to little things. For example, in the second episode called “The Talk” He finds out that Bow was the one that gave Junior the sex talk and he gets jealous. So, he gets the idea of teaching Junior what sex is “really like.” However, as he talks, the situation starts getting uncomfortable which makes him hide from his son. When Bow finds him on top of the laundry units playing video games, she uses reverse psychology to get him to talk to Junior by saying
“You know what we should do down here? Fold some clothes.”
In response, Dre gets up and says
“I’m going to talk to my son.”
After watching that scene, I noticed there was a smile on my face because I was impressed how she had the skills to make Dre stop avoiding what he needs to do.
I also learned that Bow is a doctor and tries her best to do everything for her kids and to be the best mom. In episode four “Crazy Mom,” while Dre is loading the dishwasher, she tells him how difficult it can be to balance her work life and her job as a mom. So Dre tries to help out more but only makes things worse. For example, He puts dishes in the wrong places, interrupts a Harriet Tubman play which makes Bow angrier.
Also shown in “Crazy Mom,” Pops provides comic relief to the show when things are tough but he guides whoever needs help or just for added comedy. At the end of episode four, Pops consoles Dre when he finds him sitting outside after a fight with Bow. Pops explains to him that Bow is being a mom and that Dre is too, but a crazy version. Then he makes a Freaky Friday (another pop culture movie) joke:
“See that? Freaky Friday, and you haven’t made it that far into the week. Even sadder than a Freaky Thursday sir.”
Dre answers:
“Alright Pops I get it, I messed up. You know, I’m just going to talk with Bow.”
“Go do that, lose whatever dignity you got left.”
This part just makes me laugh because I can relate to that scene. My family sometimes has fights like that and they get so big that they might lose “dignity.”
The fifth episode “Crime and Punishment” shows that the kids usually are the cause of a situation, but also care for each other. Zoey, Junior and Diane help Jack to get out of being spanked because he made his mom scared by hiding in the store. So, his punishment is spanking. Zoey tells him to be his cute self and it worked on Bow, calling him a “chupacabra.” Finally, instead of spanking, Dre sits down and tells Jack he’s disappointed which worked better on him and learned his lesson.
Overall, this show is hilarious and binge worthy. I can’t stop watching it and if you start, I hope you’ll get hooked on it too.