There is little coincidence that some of ABC’s “Black-ish” action takes place at an advertising agency, where Andre Johnson (performed by Anthony Anderson) works. Throughout the eight seasons of “Black-ish,” viewers have seen Dre dream up ways to cash in and promote multiple brands, whether they are fictional (“Boxable”) or not (Starbucks).
As Dre has been helping brands expand their presence, “Black-ish” has also turned into a lucrative and far-reaching franchise for Disney, ABC, and content creator Kenya Barris. The eight-season comedy ends on April 19, but that doesn’t mean the end of the “shaded” universe. The show has already spawned several spin-offs, including “Mixed-ish” (which ran from 2019-2022) and Freeform’s “Grown-ish” – which will now continue with a new focus, with Junior (Marcus Scribner) just entering college as she graduated Zoe (Yara Shahidi). (Another possible minor element, “Old-ish”, was never aired.)
Barris continues to serve as executive producer for Universe, but he walked out of the day-to-day stewardship of “Black-ish” several years ago. That duty once fell to model Courtney Lilly, who has worked on both Black-Ash and Mixed-ish and is now also moving to Brown-Ash, where he takes the reins with Zakiya Alexander. It reminds us in some ways of how Dick Wolf kept the “Law & Order” world going even after the original series finished its run, via extensions like “SVU”.
“I’m keeping the ‘-ish’ privilege alive and the ‘-ish’ privilege keeping me alive,” Lily says. “I’m so lucky to be here. It’s great to be in the world. I love working. We’re excited to see what people like Marcus think of in this new world, see the new cast we bring.”
Besides being a primetime hit, “Black-ish” was a rare off-network success story in this era that saw few sitcom shows aired, and sold jointly to station groups led by the Tribune; In the SVOD deal with Hulu; and in a new common window cable deal between BET Networks ($500,000 per loop) and FX Networks ($300,000 per loop). The show became such a lucrative part of the Disney empire that the company named one of its local digital television networks “Localish,” undoubtedly inspired by the “-ish.”
Meanwhile, due to the events of his ad agency, “Black-ish” was also able to add product integration to his stories—something that might be embarrassing in time, but Lilly says it was necessary to expand the show’s budget. “Honestly, it pays to pay for things, to be able to do some of the things we do and have extra reps,” he says. “We licensed the Beat It song from Michael Jackson’s estate because God knows how much money he had to license the choreography, all that stuff. It’s a little bit of making sure the money is well spent, that we’re doing it well.”
“Black-ish” spawned 175 episodes, and during that time, the show’s kids had grown up, the outside world had changed dramatically (all explored on the show, from Black Lives Matter to COVID-19), and television itself experienced a revolution.
“How many other eight season shows will we be watching, which will lead to 175 episodes?” Lily asks.
Perhaps a return to “Black-ish” or another iteration of the show could do that. “We live in a world where, literally, I’m sure every show that has ever existed has been talked about about a reboot,” Lilly adds. “So who knows, nothing went away at all.”
On the awards front, the show’s awards included AFI’s Best Show list; Peabody Several NAACP Image Mattresses; Television Critics Association Award for Comedy; And countless Emmy nominations, including four for Best Comedy, and multiple Emmy nominations for both led by Anthony Anderson and Tracy Ellis Ross. The show won an Emmy Award in 2020 for Contemporary Hairstyling, for the distinguished episode “Poetry Day”.
But the true legacy of “Black-ish” is storytelling. “I think ‘Black-ish’ is a promise of what’s to come next in the industry,” Ross says. Television can be a medium of entertainment, but it is also very broad in changing or supporting people and understanding humanity. And I think Black-ish has done such a transformative job that we’re leaving a space that I hope will be a promise that the industry will fill.
“The beauty of it is that those things were born out of a truly special offering that was deliberately and custom built by Kenya, and then allowed to blossom and grow into something I think we all wished for, but no one expected,” he adds. “To tell this story across generations to explore race, identity, culture, and tradition, and through the lens of character-driven comedy.”
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