by Monica Pierce
I watched the first episode of Black-ish and I like it. This is coming from a person who isn’t a fan of sitcoms. However, I’ve heard some criticisms of the show that I’m confused about.
(1) “It’s too much black this and white that”…So what. Isn’t that the point of the show? He’s talking about preserving what he feels it means to be black while providing your family with things that will often have them in a situations where they are truly the minority.
(2) “I don’t know where the show will go from here”…Huh? It’s a sitcom…SITUATION COMEDY. This means where it will go from here is onto another situation and add comedy to it.
(3) “Anthony Anderson is over the top”…Again, it’s a sitcom. Sitcoms are over the top. Remember when Cliff took everything out of Theo’s room and sold it back to him? Or when Gina got her head stuck in the bed frame on an episode of Martin? How about the time when Fonzie was water skiing and literally jumped a shark? These things are all over the top and the shows I mentioned had very successful runs.
(4) “I hate the name of the show”…Ok, fine, I don’t like the name of the show either, but how is that an opinion of the quality of the comedy or the actors’ ability to make you laugh?
(5) “Laurence Fishburne and Anthony Anderson had a moment at the end that seemed forced”…That’s just ridiculous. Sitcoms, especially family sitcoms always have a movement in the end where there is a message or a teaching moment. And that’s what that moment was between Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne.
I’ve heard some other criticisms but some of them are so ridiculous I don’t want to discuss them. I like this show. It has the formula that we see on family shows like Modern Family and The Goldbergs. It seems that people, black people in particular, are overly critical of this show while they praise the aforementioned shows. And for the non-black people, mainly white people who say Anderson’s character focuses too much on race, you may not relate to it but trust me as black people, we focus on race.
Sometimes shows need time to develop. Remember at one time the Cosbys had four kids until one day they had five. Theo was called Teddy in the pilot of the Cosby Show and then was never referred to as Teddy again. Some shows get better with time. I will continue to watch the show. I thought it was funny and I related to some the things Anderson’s character was saying and going through in his work place. I hope people give this show a chance to flourish. I’m partially biased because there are few shows with full back casts on TV, but I’m not completely blind to the quality of the show just because the faces are brown. And for the people who won’t watch because of the so-called bad reviews, ask yourself who wrote the review? What’s the reviewer’s perspective?
Monica Pierce, for War Room Sports
