Black Jesus (TV series)

Last updated

Black Jesus
Black Jesus title card.png
Genre Sitcom
Created by Aaron McGruder
Mike Clattenburg
Starring
ComposerJonathan "Jon" Jackson
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons3
No. of episodes31 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers
Producers
EditorJean Crupper (season 3)
Running time20 minutes
Production companies
  • 5 Mutts
  • Triage Entertainment
  • Mainstay Entertainment (season 3)
  • Williams Street
Original release
Network Adult Swim
ReleaseAugust 7, 2014 (2014-08-07) 
November 30, 2019 (2019-11-30) [1]

Black Jesus is an American sitcom created by Aaron McGruder (creator of The Boondocks ) and Mike Clattenburg (creator of Trailer Park Boys ) that aired on Adult Swim. The series stars Gerald "Slink" Johnson, Charlie Murphy, Corey Holcomb, Kali Hawk, King Bach, Andra Fuller, and John Witherspoon. The series premiered on August 7, 2014. On December 10, 2014, the series was renewed for a second season, [2] which premiered on September 18, 2015. [3] Its third and final season premiered on September 21, 2019. [4]

Contents

Premise

The scripted live-action comedy features Jesus Christ living in modern-day Compton, California, on a mission to spread love and kindness throughout the neighborhood with his small group of followers. [5]

Series overview

SeasonEpisodesOriginally aired
First airedLast aired
1 10August 7, 2014 (2014-08-07)October 9, 2014 (2014-10-09)
2 11September 18, 2015 (2015-09-18)November 27, 2015 (2015-11-27)
3 10September 21, 2019 (2019-09-21)November 30, 2019 (2019-11-30)

Cast

International broadcast

The series premiered in Australia on June 8, 2015, on The Comedy Channel, [6] and in Canada on April 1, 2019, on Adult Swim. [7]

Reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the first season received an average score of 73, which indicates "generally positive reviews", based on five reviews. [8] Brian Lowry of Variety gave the series a positive review, saying "Black Jesus is funny in part because it ventures so eagerly into areas most producers and networks, worn down by years of calls for sponsor boycotts and bad publicity, have simply decided it’s easier to avoid." [9] Robert Lloyd of the Los Angeles Times gave the series a positive review, saying "I'm not saying it's particularly deep, and it is filled with language that cannot be reproduced in this newspaper, but it's good-natured and, compared with a lot of what's on television, the comedy is gentle and hopeful." [10] Soraya Nadia McDonald of The Washington Post said, "Like his earthly counterparts, Black Jesus doesn’t have a perfect track record, but he gets the big concepts and leads by example. If anything, it seems McGruder is trying to tell his audience that if Jesus is just like us, maybe it’s not so much of a stretch for us to be just like him." [11] James Poniewozik of Time stated, "You might expect McGruder, given his Boondocks history, to be out for pointed religious satire, but Black Jesus is really more of a stoner hangout comedy with a heart." [12]

As the series shows Jesus using several curse words, smoking marijuana, and drinking alcoholic beverages, several pastors called for its removal from broadcasting. [13]

Related Research Articles

Mike Clattenburg is a Canadian television and film director, producer and screenwriter. He is best known as creator, executive producer, writer and director of the TV comedy series Trailer Park Boys (2001–2008), for his work with This Hour Has 22 Minutes (2004), and as the co-creator of the Adult Swim series Black Jesus (2014–2019).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aaron McGruder</span> American writer and cartoonist (born 1974)

Aaron Vincent McGruder is an American writer, cartoonist, and producer best known for creating The Boondocks, a Universal Press Syndicate comic strip and its animated TV series adaptation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charlie Murphy (actor)</span> American comedian and actor (1959–2017)

Charles Quinton Murphy was an American comedian, actor, and writer. He was best known as a writer and cast member of the Comedy Central sketch-comedy series Chappelle's Show as well as the co-star of the sitcom Black Jesus. He was the older brother of actor and comedian Eddie Murphy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Comedy Channel</span> Television channel

The Comedy Channel was an Australian subscription television channel available on Foxtel, and Optus Television. The channel ceased broadcasting on 1 September 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Witherspoon (actor)</span> American actor (1942–2019)

John Witherspoon, was an American actor and comedian who performed in various television shows and films. Witherspoon played Willie Jones in the Friday series, and starred in films such as Hollywood Shuffle (1987), Boomerang (1992), The Five Heartbeats (1991), and Vampire in Brooklyn (1995). In addition, Witherspoon made appearances on television shows such as The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air (1994), The Wayans Bros. (1995–1999), The Tracy Morgan Show (2003), Barnaby Jones (1973), The Boondocks (2005–2014), and Black Jesus (2014–2019). He wrote a film, From the Old School, in which he played an elderly working man who tries to prevent a neighborhood convenience store from being developed into a strip club.

<i>The Boondocks</i> (2005 TV series) American anime-influenced adult animated sitcom

The Boondocks is an American adult animated sitcom created by Aaron McGruder for Cartoon Network's late-night programming block, Adult Swim. It is based upon his comic strip of the same name. The series premiered on November 6, 2005. The show focuses on a dysfunctional Black American family, the Freemans, settling into the fictional, friendly and predominantly White suburb of Woodcrest. The perspective offered by this mixture of cultures, lifestyles, social classes, stereotypes, viewpoints and racialized identities provides for much of the series' satire, comedy, and conflict.

Cedric Percelle Yarbrough is an American actor and comedian. He has starred in the series Reno 911! as Deputy S. Jones and as Kenneth on the ABC sitcom Speechless, as well as voicing Gerald Fitzgerald on the Netflix comedy Paradise PD, Officer Meow Meow Fuzzyface on the Netflix comedy-drama BoJack Horseman, and Tom DuBois and Colonel H. Stinkmeaner on the Adult Swim sitcom The Boondocks.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gary Anthony Williams</span> American actor

Gary Anthony Williams is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He has voiced the characters of Uncle Ruckus on The Boondocks, General Horace Warfield in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and Dr. Richard Tygan in XCOM 2, portraying Anton "Bebop" Zeck in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows. He has also appeared on shows such as Boston Legal, I'm Sorry, Malcolm in the Middle and The Soul Man. He was a cast member on the sketch comedy series Blue Collar TV and currently the improv comedy series Whose Line Is It Anyway?. He is also a co-founder of the L.A. Comedy Shorts Film Festival.

"A Huey Freeman Christmas" is the seventh episode of the first season of the American animated television series The Boondocks. It was first broadcast on Adult Swim in the United States on December 18, 2005. In the episode, protagonist Huey Freeman seizes complete creative control of his elementary school's annual Christmas play, but runs into trouble with administration when he wishes to portray Jesus as black. Meanwhile, Riley Freeman rekindles an old grudge he has against Santa Claus.

LeSean Thomas is an American television animation producer, director, animator, comic book artist, writer, character designer, and storyboard artist, based in Meguro, Tokyo.

The members of the DuBois familyTom (husband), Sarah (wife), and Jazmine (daughter) — are fictional characters and featured players in Aaron McGruder's Boondocks comic strip and animated TV series. They live across the street from the main characters, the Freeman family — Robert and his grandsons, Huey and Riley.

<i>The Boondocks</i> (season 3) Season of television series

The third season of the animated television series, The Boondocks originally aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Season three started on May 2, 2010, with "It's a Black President, Huey Freeman" and ended with "It's Goin Down" on August 15, 2010, with a total of fifteen episodes. The season debuted at 2.55 million viewers.

<i>The Boondocks</i> (season 2) Season of television series

The second season of the animated television series, The Boondocks originally aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. The second season features 15 episode, it originally premiered on October 8, 2007 with "...Or Die Trying" and ended with "The Story of Gangstalicious 2" on February 4, 2008.

<i>The Boondocks</i> (season 1) Season of television series

The first season of the animated television series, The Boondocks originally aired in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. Season one started on November 6, 2005, with "The Garden Party" and ended with "The Passion of Reverend Ruckus" on March 19, 2006, with a total of fifteen episodes.

<i>Orange Is the New Black</i> American comedy-drama television series

Orange Is the New Black is an American comedy-drama streaming television series created by Jenji Kohan for Netflix. The series is based on Piper Kerman's memoir Orange Is the New Black: My Year in a Women's Prison (2010), about her experiences at FCI Danbury, a minimum security federal prison. Produced by Tilted Productions in association with Lionsgate Television, Orange Is the New Black premiered on Netflix on July 11, 2013. Its seventh and final season was released on July 26, 2019.

<i>The Boondocks</i> (season 4) Season of television series

The fourth and final season of the animated television series The Boondocks premiered in the United States on Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim, on April 21, 2014, with "Pretty Boy Flizzy", and ended with "The New Black" on June 23, 2014, with a total of ten episodes. The season was produced without any involvement from series creator Aaron McGruder nor from executive producer Carl Jones. This is the only season produced and animated by the South Korean studio Mir. The season received generally negative reviews from both critics and fans.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andra Fuller</span> American actor

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The Boondocks is an unproduced American adult animated sitcom created by Aaron McGruder and loosely based upon his comic strip of the same name. Produced by Sony Pictures Animation and Sony Pictures Television, it was conceived as the second television series based on the comic, following the 2005–2014 TV series that aired on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim programming block for four seasons. The series was set to premiere on HBO Max before development failed to get off the ground.

References

  1. "Shows A-Z - black jesus on adult swim". The Futon Critic. Retrieved August 27, 2021.
  2. O'Connell, Michael (December 10, 2014). "Adult Swim Renews 'Black Jesus,' 'Mike Tyson' and 'Mr. Pickles'". The Hollywood Reporter . Retrieved December 12, 2014.
  3. Henne, B. G. (September 9, 2015). "And on the third day, Black Jesus arose with its season two trailer". avclub.com. Retrieved September 10, 2015.
  4. Steinberg, Brian (May 12, 2016). "Adult Swim Revives Samurai Jack As Network Courts Linear, Online Viewers" . Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  5. Goldberg, Lesley (March 10, 2014). "'Boondocks' Creator Brings 'Black Jesus' to Adult Swim (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Lynne Segall. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  6. "Foxtel in June: 200+ new shows including Orange Is The New Black, True Detective, Suits, PLL, Wimbledon and more". The Green Room. Foxtel. June 1, 2015. Retrieved June 4, 2015.
  7. "Canadian Adult Swim Channel launch lineup revealed, app gets discontinued". March 22, 2019.
  8. "Black Jesus – Season 1 Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved September 7, 2014.
  9. Lowry, Brian (August 6, 2014). ""Black Jesus" TV Review on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim". Variety. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  10. Lloyd, Robert (August 7, 2014). "Review: 'Black Jesus' on Adult Swim has good-natured stoner humor". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved July 28, 2023.
  11. Nadia, Soraya (August 8, 2014). "'Black Jesus' may drink, smoke, and curse, but he's still Messiah-ish". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  12. Poniewozik, James (August 7, 2014). "Review of Black Jesus on Adult Swim". Time . Retrieved August 15, 2014.
  13. Gallop, J. D. (August 6, 2014). "'Black Jesus' stirs controversy among pastors, youth". Florida Today . Retrieved July 28, 2023.

Notes

  1. 1 2 Crofford and Newman are executive producers for Williams Street.
  2. Costa is producer for Williams Street
  3. Slink Johnson is credited as co-producer