Great Black Shows you should be watching
Happy Rihanna's Pregnancy! Happy Lunar New Year! and Happy Black History Month!
In honor of the latter, I thought it would be nice to talk about some of the great new shows from Black creators that are out now. Starting with the absolutely excellent Abbott Elementary:
I love Quinta Brunson, I have been watching her work for a very long time now and it feels so good to see her leading this show.
For the uninitiated, this is a direct-to-camera docu-style show in the style of the Office or Parks and Rec that takes place in a chronically underfunded school in Philly.
The colorful ensemble sees Brunson as an over-eager newbie, keen to learn from the older Black teacher at her school played by the icon and Queen Ms. Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Stand-up Janelle James is laugh-out-loud funny as the n'er do well Principal and Everybody Hates Chris's Tyler James Williams plays the "will they won't they" substitute teacher whom Brunson's Janine takes under her wing.
The rest of the cast is pitch-perfect and the show isn't afraid to offer an actual satirical critique of school systems. If you aren't watching, you should be, it is the type of show that makes you laugh and leaves you optimistic.
Up next: is Grand Crew, this was something that took me a minute to watch because I never saw a trailer, just the still. Which seemed promising anyway because I love Nicole Byer. So I had no expectation going in.
Like Black-ish, it is a bit post-modern in its execution, it is a reaction to a lack of representation of Black life and states itself as such overtly in the first few minutes. Its laughs are light and its themes heavy. I like this show but do feel like it could push a bit further in either a more wacky campy direction or a more rapid-fire one-liner space, right now it is sitting uncomfortably in the middle. I do hope this gets more seasons because it has a lot of potential.
The Ava DuVarney helmed Naomi is good clean fun. Admittedly, it can be a bit twee but it is a superhero show for tweens, it has no reason not to be. I love a campy romp and as a 90's kid, it's giving me The Secret Life of Alex Mac which was a show I loved as a kid.
The visuals are incredible, I am sure we owe that to Ms. DuVarney. At times the writing can be clunky but it's easy to forgive that in a kid's show, it's not like this needs to be Breaking Bad. It's just fun, and it gives me braid envy.
Betty is such a hidden gem. Show-run by the very funny Aida Ossman this heartfelt dramedy offers so much more than you would expect. Its characters are thoughtful representations of young women which isn't something we get often.
Based on the movie Skate Kitchen, the show follows young women skaters as they form a community and explore the contours of adulthood on the streets of New York. The soundtrack is killer and the characters are treated with compassion and curiosity, it is a live-action Magical Girl show that is tender and honest.