Johnson: The show 'Black-ish' left its cultural mark on America's TV landscape

This is a column by Athens native, Jessica Johnson, a lecturer at The Ohio State University's Lima campus. She is a regular contributor to the Athens Banner-Herald.

ABC's award-winning sitcom "Black-ish" recently ended an impressive eight-year run on primetime television. When it debuted back in 2014, the show quickly became America's No. 1 comedy, with a primary focus on the social, cultural and racial identity challenges of a well-off Black family living in plush Sherman Oaks, California. The Johnson clan consisted of Andre "Dre" Johnson, a successful advertising executive, his wife Rainbow, a surgeon who later becomes a partner at her hospital and their children Zoey, Andre Jr., Diane, Jack and Devante. Dre's parents, Pops and Ruby, were significant extended family members.

Dre and Rainbow, portrayed by Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross, were in many ways the perfect depiction of the old catchphrase "opposites attract." They had different hobbies and interests outside of work and did not consider themselves to be best friends. The comedic timing between them was very impressive due to "Bow's" quirkiness and oftentimes obliviousness to her husband's Black cultural banter on a range of topics including sports, politics and music.

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The Johnson children were spoiled to a degree but did not exhibit a condescending sense of privilege among their peers. The child actors in these roles have grown up to become very successful in the industry, with Yara Shahidi, who played the eldest Johnson child, Zoey, continuing her role in the "Black-ish" spinoff "Grown-ish" for a fifth season. "Grown-ish" will add Zoey's brother Andre Jr., played by Marcus Scribner, and explore how the two of them navigate their way through young adult life.

Marsai Martin, who played the shrewd and sassy Diane, became a teenage tycoon in Hollywood when she produced and starred in the 2019 film "Little," which earned her a spot that year on Time's "100 Next." Miles Brown portrayed Jack, Diane's twin brother, with a sweet innocence, and his fans are lobbying for him to play Miles Morales, the Spider-Man of the multiverse series, in a possible MCU movie.

For the past two years, I have ended my TV diversity course at Ohio State University's Lima campus with "Black-ish" episodes. This semester, I assigned the season five episode "Black like Us" and season seven episodes "Age Against the Machine" and "Babes in Boyland."

"Black like Us" examines the history of the hurtful bias of colorism within the African American community that has favored light-skinned Blacks over their darker-complexioned brothers and sisters, which was an eye-opening episode for many of my white students.

"Age Against the Machine" delved into the generation gap between Gen Z and Gen X-ers regarding the most effective way to protest police brutality and social injustice. And "Babes in Boyland" was an intriguing look into how teenage boys and girls are still treated differently by their parents in our present social media era. With thought-provoking episodes like these and many others throughout its ABC tenure, "Black-ish" kept lively conversations going among viewers and critics.

Having watched all episodes, my only disappointment was that "Black-ish" never committed considerable time to another significant institution that was and still is a bedrock of Black communities: the Black church.

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The season two episode simply titled "Churched" did include a snippet of the role Black churches played in the civil rights movement and some of the humor of childhood experiences in church that many African Americans can relate to, such as the long reading of announcements, several choir selections and extended sermons that easily push services over two hours.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with chuckling a bit at these traditional customs, but "Black-ish" could have done much more exploring how faith in God is the backbone that continues to get so many through the ongoing trials of systemic racism and discrimination in our nation.

Dre's mother Ruby, played by the veteran actress Jenifer Lewis, was an avid churchgoer, but regarding her faith she evolved into a comical, stereotypical character who displayed no consequential substance in what she professed to believe. In "Churched," many of her scenes poke fun at more serious subjects such as baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit. It's the kind of one-dimensional stereotype that Blacks have fought for years not to dominate television.

Most TV critics, however, agree that overall, "Black-ish" was a smashing success. In thinking back to my 2014 review of the show, I wrote that it was a "brashly atypical" sitcom. This definitely made it groundbreaking in its own unique way for devoted fans.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: 'Black-ish' was a TV show that was culturally significant