#blackAF | |
---|---|
Genre | Mockumentary |
Created by | Kenya Barris |
Starring |
|
Music by | Vincent Jones |
Opening theme | "Win" by Jay Rock |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language | English |
No. of seasons | 1 |
No. of episodes | 8 |
Production | |
Executive producers |
|
Producers |
|
Production location | Los Angeles |
Cinematography | Adam Bricker |
Editors |
|
Camera setup | Single-camera |
Running time | 32-48 minutes |
Production companies |
|
Original release | |
Network | Netflix |
Release | April 17, 2020 |
#blackAF is an American sitcom created by Kenya Barris. [1] It premiered on Netflix on April 17, 2020. [2] [3] The title derives from AAVE Internet slang, where "AF" is a term of emphasis, meaning "as fuck". [4] In June 2020, the series was renewed for a second season. [5] A year later, the renewal decision was reversed and the series was canceled after one season. [6]
The series stars Barris as a fictionalized version of himself. The official synopsis reads: "#blackAF uncovers the messy, unfiltered, and often hilarious world of what it means to be a 'new money' black family trying to 'get it right' in a modern world where 'right' is no longer a fixed concept." [7]
Ava DuVernay, Will Packer, Tyler Perry, Issa Rae, Tim Story, Scooter Braun, Lena Waithe, Jay Rock and Steven Levitan made appearances as themselves in the series.
No. overall | No. in season | Title | Directed by | Written by | Original release date [8] | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | 1 | "because of slavery" | Ken Kwapis | Kenya Barris | April 17, 2020 | |
Drea, Kenya's second eldest daughter, is making a documentary about her family as part of her application for NYU a film school.Kenya's family have a Sunday brunch to celebrate Kenya's new deal with Netflix.The deal is shown to be #blackAF. While leaving Kenya encounters Steve Levitan whose comments offend Barris. Barris back at his house starts to rant about how slavery made black people feel that they have to wear fashionable clothing to be accepted. He says that he wears track suits and gold chains because of the 'white gaze'. | ||||||
2 | 2 | "because of slavery too" | Ken Kwapis | Kenya Barris | April 17, 2020 | |
Kenya and Joya have a short fight in front of the children at breakfast. They decide to go to the Lunar Butterfly Festival as a way of working on their marriage. When the assistant jokingly says that they have to do Molly at the festival, Kenya and Joya share a memory of the last time they took Molly; when Chloe was young. Kenya, Joya and Danny go to an Armenian dealer to get Molly. While preparing to leave for the festival Kenya sees Chloe's Instagram post of her at their pool in a bikini. He is angered by this and confronts Joya about but she pretends to know little about the matter. At the festival Kenya bumps into Chloe and is initially repulsed by her presence. They later apologize to each other for their initial reaction and admit to both being high. The episode ends during Pops' birthday party as Joya and Kenya talk about white gaze'. | ||||||
3 | 3 | "still...because of slavery" | Rashida Jones | Esa Lewis & Helen Krieger | April 17, 2020 | |
4 | 4 | "yup, you guessed it. again, this is because of slavery" | Ken Kwapis | Doug Hall | April 17, 2020 | |
5 | 5 | "yo, between you and me... this is because of slavery" | Kenya Barris | Hale Rothstein | April 17, 2020 | |
6 | 6 | "hard to believe, but still because of slavery" | Kenya Barris | Alison McDonald | April 17, 2020 | |
7 | 7 | "i know this is going to sound crazy... but this, too, is because of slavery" | Brennan Schroff | Hunter Covington | April 17, 2020 | |
8 | 8 | "i know you may not get this, but the reason we deserve a vacation is... because of slavery" | Brennan Schroff | Danny Segal & Isaac Schamis | April 17, 2020 |
Netflix ordered #blackAF (originally titled Black Excellence) as the first series under Barris' deal with them. [1] Announcing the production of the show, Netflix said, "Inspired by Barris' irreverent, highly flawed, unbelievably honest approach to parenting, relationships, race, and culture, Black Excellence looks to pull the curtain back and reboot the 'family sitcom' in a way we've never seen before." [9] On June 23, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. [5] A year later, on June 23, 2021, the renewal decision was reversed and the series was canceled after one season, but may return as a standalone film franchise. [6]
On May 10, 2019, Kenya Barris and Rashida Jones were cast in starring roles. [1] On December 20, 2019, Genneya Walton, Iman Benson, Scarlet Spencer, Justin Claiborn, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, and Richard Gardenhire Jr. were announced as additional cast members. [10] [11]
On Rotten Tomatoes, the series has an approval rating of 46% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 6.97/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Solid one-liners and some sharp social critiques can't save #blackaf from feeling more like a stale retread than a fresh step forward for creator Kenya Barris." [12] On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [13]
Rashida Leah Jones is an American actress and filmmaker. She is best known for her roles as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series Boston Public (2000–2002), Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series The Office, Ann Perkins on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation (2009–2015), and as the eponymous lead role in the TBS comedy series Angie Tribeca (2016–2019).
Michael Herbert Schur is an American television producer, writer, director, and actor. He was a producer and writer for the American remake of the comedy series The Office, and co-created Parks and Recreation with Office producer Greg Daniels. He created The Good Place, co-created the comedy series Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and was a producer on the series Master of None. He also played Mose Schrute on The Office. In 2021, he was one of three co-creators of the Peacock comedy series Rutherford Falls. In 2024, he created the Netflix comedy series A Man on the Inside.
Alan Michael Yang is an American screenwriter, producer and director. He was a writer and producer for the NBC sitcom Parks and Recreation, for which he received his first Emmy nomination. With Aziz Ansari, Yang co-created the Netflix series Master of None, which premiered in 2015 to critical acclaim. The series was awarded a Peabody Award, and at the 68th Emmy Awards in 2016, Yang and Ansari won for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series for Master of None and became the first writers of Asian descent to win in the category, which was also nominated in the Outstanding Comedy Series category. Yang also was the screenwriter of the 2014 comedy Date and Switch. In 2018, Yang co-created the Amazon Video series Forever.
Black-ish is an American sitcom television series created by Kenya Barris. It aired on ABC from September 24, 2014, to April 19, 2022, running for eight seasons with 176 episodes. Black-ish follows an upper class well-off black family headed by Andre "Dre" Johnson, a successful advertising executive, and his wife Rainbow "Bow", an anaesthesiologist. The show revolves around the wealthy Johnson family as they juggle personal, familial and sociopolitical issues, particularly in trying to reconcile their desire to stay true to their black identities with their choice to live in a wealthy, suburban white neighborhood.
Kenya Barris is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the ABC sitcom Black-ish (2014–2022).
Dear White People is an American comedy-drama television series on Netflix that follows several black college students at an Ivy League institution, touching on issues surrounding modern American race relations from a politically progressive perspective. It is based on and a continuation of the 2014 film of the same name. The film's writer and director, Justin Simien, returned to write and direct episodes of the series. This series stars Logan Browning, Brandon P. Bell, DeRon Horton, and Antoinette Robertson. With a few exceptions, generally season finales, each episode focuses on one particular character. The series premiered on April 28, 2017. On October 2, 2019, the series was renewed for its fourth and final season, which was released on September 22, 2021.
Brenda B. Jones is an American politician who served as a member of the Detroit City Council from 2006 to 2022, and as the president of the City Council from 2014 to 2022. A member of the Democratic Party, Jones also briefly served as the U.S. representative for Michigan's 13th congressional district from November 29, 2018, to January 3, 2019. She won the 2018 special election to succeed John Conyers following his resignation in December 2017, and was succeeded by Rashida Tlaib. She ran for the seat again in 2020, losing the Democratic primary to Tlaib by a wide margin.
Family Reunion is an American sitcom created by Meg DeLoatch that was released via streaming on Netflix on July 10, 2019. In September 2019, the series was renewed for a second season which premiered on April 5, 2021. Part 4 was released on August 26, 2021. In October 2021, the series was renewed for a third and final season, Part 5, which premiered on October 27, 2022.
Mixed-ish is an American single-camera sitcom created by Kenya Barris, Peter Saji and Tracee Ellis Ross that aired on ABC from September 24, 2019, to May 18, 2021. The series is a prequel to Black-ish, and the second series to be spun off from the parent series after the Freeform series Grown-ish. In May 2020, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on January 26, 2021. In May 2021, the series was canceled after two seasons.
Khaneshia Smith, known professionally as KJ Smith, is an American actress, known for her role as Andrea "Andi" Barnes in the comedy-drama, Sistas.
Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show is an American sketch comedy television series created by the comedy troupe Astronomy Club, the Upright Citizens Brigade's first all black team. The show stars the team's eight members: Shawtane Bowen, Jonathan Braylock, Ray Cordova, James III, Caroline Martin, Jerah Milligan, Monique Moses and Keisha Zollar. The show features comedy sketches, intermixed with clips from a reality television show where the members live together in a house. The series premiered on December 6, 2019 on Netflix. In June 2020, the series was canceled after one season.
Entergalactic is a 2022 adult animated music television special created by American musician and actor Kid Cudi, that serves as a visual companion piece to the album of the same name. Initially announced as a television series, in August 2022, Entergalactic was then redeveloped as a TV special. The special premiered on September 30, 2022, exclusively on Netflix, simultaneously with the album.
Rashida Jones is an American actress, writer, and producer, best known for starring on the NBC comedy series Parks and Recreation (2009–2015) as Ann Perkins, and as Karen Filippelli in The Office.
Iman Benson is an American actress from Atlanta, Georgia best known for her roles in Uncle Buck, Alexa & Katie, BlackAF, and The Midnight Club.
Genneya Walton (born February 22, 1999) is an American actress. She is known for playing Bryden Bandweth in Project Mc2, and Chloe Barris in BlackAF.
Kevin Can F**k Himself is an American dark comedy television series created by Valerie Armstrong, who also serves as an executive producer.
Entergalactic is the eighth studio album by American musician Kid Cudi. The album was issued on September 30, 2022, by Republic Records and Cudi's Wicked Awesome imprint. The album was released alongside its visual component, an adult animated special of the same name, starring Cudi, exclusively on Netflix. This album features guest vocals from Ty Dolla Sign, 2 Chainz, Steve Aoki and Don Toliver.
Scarlet Spencer is an American teen actress. She played Ivy in the Nickelodeon sitcom series Cousins for Life and Izzy in the Netflix series BlackAF.
Ravi Cabot-Conyers is an American actor. He starred in the Lucasfilm Ltd. series Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (2024). He is also appearing in the upcoming film Grassland alongside Mía Maestro, Quincy Isaiah and Jeff Kober.
Emily Taryn Arlook is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Nomi Segal on the Freeform comedy drama Grown-ish (2018–2024), Kate Harris in Big Time Adolescence (2019), and Kim Glassman in You People (2023).