A Black sitcom is a sitcom that principally features Black people in its cast. Prominent Black sitcoms to date typically come from the United States with African American casts, forming a branch of African American comedy. Although sitcoms with primarily Black characters have been present since the earliest days of network television, this genre rose to prominence in the 1990s, mostly then on upstart networks outside the Big Three. [1] [2] [3]
In the early days of television, Black actors were often cast in stereotypical roles, often as comic clowns in a tradition tracing back to the genre of black minstrelsy popular in the early 20th century through the late 1940s or as servants, usually maids. [4] In 1948, the sitcom, The Laytons starred singer and actress, Amanda Randolph. It was the first time a Black actor was a series regular on a network TV series in the United States. Randolph portrayed a problem solving maid to a white suburban family. [5] [6]
The first television sitcom to principally portray black people, Amos 'n' Andy , was widely popular among diverse audiences. The actors on the original radio show were both White, but the 1951–53 CBS television show portrayed them with Black actors, and represented Black individuals as businesspeople, judges, lawyers and policemen. After over seventy episodes, it was taken off the air after protests from the NAACP and others who alleged that the show engaged in stereotyping. [7] Beulah , a CBS radio sitcom 1945–54 and ABC television sitcom 1950–53, centered on a female Black character in a racially mixed cast and faced similar criticism.
Julia (NBC, 1968–71) and Room 222 (ABC, 1969–74) each had a black performer as first-billed lead of a racially mixed cast. The Bill Cosby Show (NBC, 1969–71) had Cosby as its sole billed star. For her portrayal of Julia, actress Diahann Carroll became the first black woman to receive an Emmy nomination. [8] Otherwise, after Amos 'n' Andy there were no new sitcoms with an all or mostly black permanent main cast in the U.S. until the 1970s.
Several popular black sitcoms appeared in the 1970s, including Sanford and Son , Good Times , That's My Mama , The Jeffersons , and What's Happening!! While the sitcoms were widely popular among diverse audiences, celebrated black culture and addressed social issues, [7] they were critiqued for an excess of loud and buffoonish characters, mostly in lower socioeconomic classes with the exception of The Jeffersons. [9] Impressed with child actor Gary Coleman, the president of NBC created the sitcom Different Strokes specifically as a vehicle for him. Coleman would eventually become NBC's highest paid actor on a comedic series during its run. [10] Although the series starred two black child actors and addressed social issues mainly from their perspective, it featured an otherwise all white cast and in retrospect has been criticized by some as a White Savior narrative. [11] [12] Good Times was adapted into the British sitcom The Fosters (ITV, 1976–77), one of the first British series with an all black cast.
In the 1980s sitcoms such as The Cosby Show , A Different World , 227 , and Frank's Place challenged stereotypical portrayals of black people, with subtler comedy and characterization and much increased representation of the black middle class. These series were well received with diverse audiences. [7] [9] The Cosby Show became the most-watched series of any genre on television for five consecutive seasons and in the top 20 for all its eight seasons. [13]
After the 1980s, the major U.S. television networks appeared to lose interest in black sitcoms. In the 1990s, newer networks such as Fox, The WB and UPN, anxious to establish themselves with a black audience, featured black sitcoms such as Martin and Living Single , which drew high ratings among black households and were profitable even with a limited white viewership. [7] [14] [15] [16] Several black sitcoms of the 1990s were successful with both black and white audiences, especially family, adolescent, and young adult oriented series like Family Matters , The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air , Moesha , and Sister, Sister. Roc , about a working-class family, was critically acclaimed for combining comedy and drama with a cast led by theater veterans. [17]
The WB released multiple sitcoms such as The Jamie Foxx Show , The Parent 'Hood , Smart Guy , The Wayans Bros. , and The Steve Harvey Show . The Famous Jett Jackson also debuted on the Disney Channel along with Hangin' with Mr. Cooper on ABC. [18] Beyond the sitcom format, In Living Color and Kenan & Kel innovated in sketch comedy, and Def Comedy Jam showcased black stand-up comedians. In Britain, Desmond's (1989–94) became the longest-running sitcom by number of episodes to originate on Channel 4.
Black sitcoms in the 2000s experimented with genre conventions. The Bernie Mac Show and Everybody Hates Chris used single-camera setup and narration. The Boondocks , an adult animated sitcom made for cable television, ran four seasons intermittently from 2005 to 2014. Its blunt style and social critiques were sometimes controversial. It won an NAACP Image Award and Peabody Award. The Disney Channel also released the popular animated family sitcom, The Proud Family and That's So Raven , both of whom would see a revival and return to TV - That’s SoRaven with Raven’s Home in the 2010s and The Proud Family with The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder in the 2020s. [18]
From 1997 to 2001, the number of Black sitcoms on U.S. television declined from 15 to 6 as white viewership declined, [19] and that decline generally continued into the 2000s. [20] Civil rights organizations accused networks of denying minorities equal opportunity as well as a broader participation in general television programming. [7] The explosion of reality television and the decline of broadcast audience numbers in the 2000s also challenged the sitcom genre. In Canada, Da Kink in My Hair (Global, 2007–09) had a successful first season but ratings faltered after rescheduling for its second season.
By the early 2010s, Black sitcoms had faded from broadcast television but there were signs of a comeback on cable including The Game , canceled by The CW in 2009 then renewed on BET, A.N.T. Farm on Disney Channel, Are We There Yet?, Tyler Perry's For Better Or Worse on TBS, Love That Girl! on TV One, and Let's Stay Together and Reed Between the Lines , on BET. Popular Black sitcoms from prior decades returned in reruns on BET, BET Her, Bounce TV, TV Land, TV One, MTV2, and TBS. [21]
In 2012, Tyler Perry's House of Payne surpassed The Jeffersons to become the longest-running sitcom with a predominantly African-American cast by number of episodes. [21]
Also in 2012, Debbie Allen, showrunner of A Different World from 1988 to 1993, wrote on Twitter that she wanted to reboot the series. Over a million people on Facebook, Twitter, and blogs reacted to the tweet signalling approval of the potential reboot. [21]
In 2014, Black-ish premiered on ABC to over 11 million viewers and mostly positive reviews. [22] The show addressed many current racial issues. [23] [24] Black-ish spawned the spin-offs Mixed-ish and Grown-ish , also with African-American leads and addressing racial issues.
Abbott Elementary , a workplace comedy about the staff of a predominantly Black Philadelphia public school, debuted in 2021 on ABC. By its second season it was the network's most-watched comedy and received universal critical acclaim. [25] [26] The Wonder Years , ABC's 2021 series about a Black family in the 1960s – a reimagining of the 1988 series of the same name about a White family in the 1960s – lasted two seasons.
The favorite programs of television audiences tend to reflect their different ethnic origins and affinities. The exposure of the black community on U.S. TV has been greater than that of other minorities but continues to reflect racial divisions within American society.
After U.S. networks were criticized by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) for a lack of racial diversity, drama shows, such as The West Wing , began casting more black characters. [27]
From the 1980s to early 2000s, Black sitcoms such as The Cosby Show, Family Matters, Living Single, Moesha, and One on One , showed an evolution of how the lives of African Americans were portrayed. [28]
Black sitcoms feature highly in the black audience's top 10 programs but have limited success with white audiences, attributed by Doug Alligood, senior vice-president at the advertising agency BBDO which has analyzed ratings figures, to the failure of humor to translate. The high ratings achieved by The Cosby Show have been ascribed to humor that has appealed to both whites and blacks. [27] Black households make up over 20 percent of regular TV viewers. [7]
The Cosby Show is an American television sitcom created by and starring Bill Cosby that originally aired on NBC from September 20, 1984, to April 30, 1992, with a total of 201 half-hour episodes spanning eight seasons, including an outtakes special. The show focuses on the Huxtables, an upper middle-class Black-American family living in Brooklyn, New York; the series was based on comedy routines in Cosby's stand-up comedy act, which in turn were based on his family life. The series was followed by a spin-off, titled A Different World, which ran from September 24, 1987 to July 9, 1993, with a total of six seasons consisting of 144 episodes.
In Living Color is an American sketch comedy television series that originally ran on Fox from April 15, 1990, to May 19, 1994. Keenen Ivory Wayans created, wrote and starred in the program. The show was produced by Ivory Way Productions in association with 20th Television and was taped at stage 7 at the Metromedia Square on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California.
Damon Kyle Wayans Sr. is an American stand-up comedian, actor, producer, and writer. He performed as a comedian and actor throughout the 1980s, including a year-long stint on the NBC sketch comedy series Saturday Night Live. He later became a writer and performer on Fox's sketch comedy show In Living Color (1990–1992), on his animated series Waynehead (1996–1997) and on his TV series Damon (1998). Since then, he has starred in a number of films and television shows, some of which he has co-produced or co-written, including Mo Money, The Last Boy Scout, Major Payne, Bulletproof, and the sitcom My Wife and Kids. From 2016 to 2019, he starred as Roger Murtaugh in the Fox television series Lethal Weapon. He is a member of the Wayans family of entertainers.
Malcolm-Jamal Warner is an American actor. He rose to prominence for his role as Theodore Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), which earned him a nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 38th Primetime Emmy Awards. He is also known for his roles as Malcolm McGee on the UPN sitcom Malcolm & Eddie (1996–2000), and Dr. Alex Reed in the sitcom Reed Between the Lines.
Jaleel Ahmad White is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Steve Urkel on the sitcom Family Matters. The character was originally intended to be a one-time guest appearance on the show; however, he was an instant hit with audiences and White became a regular cast member, and eventually the main protagonist. The series aired for a total of nine seasons, from 1989 to 1998. White then reprised his role as Urkel for the first time in 21 years in the 2019 series Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?.
TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and classic television series, original scripted series and limited theatrically released movies. The network is headquartered at One Astor Plaza in New York City.
Anthony Anderson is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series Black-ish (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the drama series K-Ville (2007), and NYPD Detective Kevin Bernard on the NBC crime drama Law & Order. He has also had major roles in feature films such as Me, Myself & Irene (2000), Kangaroo Jack (2003), Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London (2004), Hustle & Flow (2005), The Departed (2006), Transformers (2007), and Scream 4 (2011).
The "rural purge" refers to the mass cancellation in the early 1970s of rural-themed television programs by American networks, in particular CBS. The term was coined within the entertainment industry, although its exact provenance is unclear. The majority of these cancellations occurred at the end of the 1970–71 television season. In addition to rural-themed shows such as Mayberry R.F.D., The Beverly Hillbillies, Petticoat Junction, and Green Acres, the cancellations ended several highly rated variety shows that had been on CBS since the beginning of television broadcasting. CBS saw a dramatic change in direction with the shift, moving away from shows with rural themes and toward more appeal to urban and suburban audiences.
Melissa Peterman is an American actress, television host and comedian. She has played the role of Barbra Jean in the television comedy series Reba, appeared as Bonnie Wheeler in the ABC Family/Freeform series Baby Daddy, and was host of ABC Family's Dancing Fools, ABC's Bet on Your Baby, and CMT's The Singing Bee. From 2017 to 2024, she played Brenda Sparks in The Big Bang Theory spinoff series Young Sheldon. Since September 2023, she is the host of the television game show Person, Place or Thing.
Dondré Terrell Whitfield is an American actor. He began his career appearing in a recurring role as Robert Foreman on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1985–87), before playing Terrence Frye in the ABC Daytime soap opera, All My Children (1991–94). He received three Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Younger Actor in a Drama Series nominations for his performance on All My Children.
Kym Whitley is an American comedian, actress and podcaster. She is known for her roles on television sitcoms, such as My Brother and Me, Sparks, Animal Practice, The Boondocks, Young & Hungry, The Parkers, The Cleveland Show, Black Dynamite, and Act Your Age. Whitley was nominated for a 2004 BET Comedy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Box Office Movie for her role as Ormandy in the 2003 comedy film Deliver Us From Eva.
"Pilot" is the pilot episode and the first episode of the first season of the American sitcom The Cosby Show. "Pilot" originally aired in the United States on NBC on Thursday, September 20, 1984, at 8:00 PM ET. This episode debuted the week before the official start of the 1984–85 United States network television season. They only have 4 children in this episode: Denise, Theo, Vanessa & Rudy. Sondra, the first born, is introduced later in that season, episode 4; she however, is not in the featured/mentioned in the intro. The confrontation with Theo in this episode is seen again in a flashback in the series finale "And So We Commence". The episode was directed by Jay Sandrich and written by Ed. Weinberger and Michael J. Leeson. The episode was a critical and commercial success, achieving both high ratings and positive critical feedback.
A sitcom is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent setting, such as a home, workplace, or community. Unlike sketch comedy, which features different characters and settings in each skit, sitcoms typically maintain plot continuity across episodes. This continuity allows for the development of storylines and characters over time, fostering audience engagement and investment in the characters' lives and relationships.
A teen situation comedy, or teen sitcom, is a subgenre of comedic television program targeted towards young people. In general, these type of programs focus primarily on characters between 10 and 18 years of age and routinely feature characters involved in humorous situations, and often focus on the characters' family and social lives. The primary plot of each episode often involves the protagonist(s) the program centers on, while secondary plotlines often focus on the character(s') parents, siblings or friends, although the secondary characters may sometimes also or instead be involved in the episode's main plot.
Tempestt Bledsoe is an American actress. She is best known for her childhood role as Vanessa Huxtable, the fourth child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable on the NBC sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–92). In December 2010, it was announced that Bledsoe would be the host of Clean House on the Style Network, replacing Niecy Nash. From September 2012 to February 2013, she was one of the stars of the NBC TV sitcom Guys with Kids, portraying Marny.
Yara Sayeh Shahidi is an American actress and producer. She began her career as a child, appearing in the films Imagine That (2009), Butter (2011) and Alex Cross (2012).
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.
Denise Huxtable Kendall is a fictional character on the American sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–1992), portrayed by actress Lisa Bonet. Denise also leads the first season of its spin-off A Different World (1987). The second-born child of Cliff and Clair Huxtable, Denise is a free spirit known for her eccentric clothing. Alternating between regular and recurring character, Denise appears on the sitcom on-and-off throughout its eight-year run, from its pilot "Theo's Economic Lesson" to the seventh-season episode "Cliff and Jake", for a total of 98 episodes, after which Bonet departed for the remainder of the series.
Khaneshia Smith, known professionally as KJ Smith, is an American actress, known for her role as Andrea "Andi" Barnes in the comedy-drama, Sistas.
Situation comedies, or sitcoms, have long been a popular genre of comedy in the US, initially on radio in the 1920s, and then on television beginning in the 1940s. A sitcom is defined as a television series featuring a recurring cast of characters in various successive comedic situations.
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