- Network: ABC
- Series Premiere Date: Sep 24, 2014
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Critic Reviews
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Black-ish, is fun, cool, and hip. It just so happens to also have a lot going on upstairs.
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Let’s hope it can maintain the joy of the pilot and not fall into broad shtick.
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In its own sweet way, this is a landmark show.
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Even in a better season, ABC's provocative and very funny Black-ish would stand out for its broad and biting satire of an uneasily post racial society seen through a very modern-family prism.
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Black-ish is one of the best new shows of the season.
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While the big set pieces are very funny, there are too many lulls between them. But odds are you'll come away believing the show will get better and hoping it does--because TV will be all the better for it.
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Black-ish has a lot packed into its oft-amusing opening half-hour. It’s both fairly daring and also endearing, sharply written but with an overdose of narrative exposition. The kids and adults are all well-cast and there’s no laugh track to gum anything up.
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Black-ish arrives as a comedy that knows what it's about, and how it wants to be about it in a very smart way.
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Yes, "black-ish" can be fiercely funny, sharply observed, and unfailingly good-humored about the racial divide. But just beyond that glossy surface is a serious and even compelling undercurrent.
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Depending on how far it’s willing to press and poke at the issues it raises, Black-ish displays a welcoming sense of humor that might be illuminating in the present context.
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The series has transformed from hokey formula into one of the goofiest, most reliably enjoyable comedies around.
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The show is, first and foremost, incredibly well written, with astute observations about pop culture, particularly as it relates to ethnic identity.
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It's not a perfect pilot; most sitcoms aren't. But, like a precious few others, you can see that everyone involved is funny and connected to the concept.
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The jokes are tight, and Anderson, whipsawing between smooth playa and high-pitched dismay, is a very likeable lead. There is is a feel-good resolution, although not quite as sappy (and sappily effective) as those on "Modern Family."
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Like the many, many sitcoms about the affluent white experience, this is a show that is meant to be seen and enjoyed by everyone.
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It should be enough that it's smart and funny. Which it is, though there's always room for funnier.
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The pilot sometimes takes a few broad strokes to cement its concept but there’s a believable dynamic in the core of this family that works to the degree that most sitcoms take years to develop.
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Most of the jokes work, some of them don't but creator and executive producer Kenya Barris never stops addressing race in unflinching ways.
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It's hard not to compare the comedy to past shows such as "The Bernie Mac Show" and "The Cosby Show" and rightfully so. Black-ish continues the momentum these shows started and brings in issues of this generation.
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The pilot (which is ABC has released to the media) is a polished, entertaining and promising half-hour of comedy about a well-to-do American family.
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As Pops, the sitcom cliche of grumpy old grandpa, Laurence Fishburne (most recently on “Hannibal” and billed here a special guest star) squeezes every line until it coughs up a laugh.
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Like "The Cosby Show," to which it inevitably will be compared, Black-ish balances credible family situations with universally appealing comedy.
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It's funny, but it's not revolutionary.
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All of which adds up to a pilot that is much more admirable in its intent than its execution, a better conversation-starter than episode.
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Black-ish‘s nuance is promising--it’s aware that there’s not just one way to be black--and the sheer level of execution suggests it has staying power.
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In all, black-ish is Everybody Hates Chris meets Modern Family, but not quite as funny as either. Well, not yet, at least.
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The pilot is a little light at bringing the funny, but the concept has promise--and Laurence Fishburne.
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It’s funny. It’s also scattered, and in the first episode it doesn’t push envelopes or test edges.
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Yes, the show will be funny, in an innocuous sort of way, if it continues to stay off that pulpit. But if it becomes a little less cautious occasionally, it might rise from merely diverting to important.
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It’s the conversation about race and African-American culture in the pilot that gives Black-ish a little bit of edge. Whether that will be maintained in future episodes or dulled into familiar family sitcom pabulum remains to be seen.
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In the pilot, the writing hews toward the obvious and predictable, perhaps in part because it’s racing along to establish the premise.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 57 out of 99
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Mixed: 16 out of 99
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Negative: 26 out of 99
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Sep 26, 2014
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Sep 26, 2014
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Oct 4, 2014