The Daily Star - Stay Tuned
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The Daily Star, Oneonta, N.Y., Friday, November 21, 2014 2 By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media T he major networks churn out new sitcoms like they're going out of style, but little of what makes it to air manages to garner enough popularity to become really successful. A precious few comedic gems continue to rake in the big numbers from one season to the next, but the vast majority of them fizzle out after a sea- son or two, if that. ABC struck gold back in 2009 with "Modern Family," which, over the course of its six seasons to date, has consis- tently drawn high ratings. The network might just have an- other success story on its hands with "Black-ish," an- other comedy centered around family life, which premiered back in September. While it would be overshooting to say the series enjoys universal ac- claim, it's pulling in mostly positive reviews from critics and has already scored a full season order. A new episode of "Black-ish" airs Wednesday, Nov. 26, on ABC. Despite "Modern Fami- ly's" huge fan base, the net- work has had a hard time finding a followup that man- ages to retain the comedy's audience; a number of short- lived contenders have tried and failed to live up to their lead-in's standards. The Rebel Wilson-starring "Super Fun Night," which, as it turned out, wasn't super fun- ny, consistently lost viewers until it was canceled after one season. The forgettable 2013 show "How to Live with Your Parents (For the Rest of Your Life)" met a similar fate, while the 2011 mid-season replace- ment, "Mr. Sunshine," made it through all of 13 episodes. "Suburgatory" and "Happy Endings" stood a fighting chance by comparison, both making it into a third season, but they, too, ultimately ended in the fashion of so many sit- coms and were canceled. It's safe to say then, that "Black-ish" has its work cut out for it, but it's off to a good start. With roughly 11 million people tuning in for the pre- miere, it's not quite scoring "Modern Family" ratings, but it's definitely holding its own, with each of its first five epi- sodes hovering around seven or eight million viewers, com- pared to its lead-in's roughly nine million. When you consid- er the show's ill-fated forerun- ners, that's not too shabby. The series follows an upper middle-class black family whose patriarch, Andre "Dre" Johnson, is played by comedi- an Anthony Anderson ("Law & Order"). Dre's an executive at a major ad agency and his mixed-race wife, Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross, "Girl- friends"), is a doctor, so the family is pretty well-to-do. Though he's happy to be able to give his four kids the opportunities and advantag- es he lacked growing up, it dawns on Dre that the afflu- ence they've always known has caused them to grow up detached from their racial background. It all comes to a head in the pilot episode when Dre's 13-year-old son, Andre Jr., declares that he'd rather play field hockey than basketball and wants to have a bar mitzvah, despite the fact that neither he nor the family is Jewish. Andre Jr., played by Marcus Scribner in the young actor's first starring role, prefers to go by Andy and, in the third episode, fails to give "the nod" to another black kid in his school. This incites disbe- lieving horror from his proud father, who has vowed to in- still in his kids the same racial identity he grew up with. The series is loosely based on the life of show-runner Kenya Barris, who has wit- nessed a similar lack of iden- tity in his own kids and an as- similation of today's young people in general. "I feel like my kids are a lit- tle bit of a lesser version of what I remember the ideolo- gy of what black was," the show's creator told the "Hol- lywood Reporter." "At the same time, all of their friends — who are mostly non-black kids — are a little bit more black than I remember. They're sort of black-ish, all their little friends, and my kids are sort of black-ish." Two-time Emmy winner Laurence Fishburne ("The Ma- trix," 1999), who lights up the screen as Dre's crusty and tell- it-like-it-is father, added to the explanation of the concept when he visited "The View." "For some people, it means when black folks kind of act white," he said. "For some folks, it means when white folks kind of act black. If you like rock 'n' roll, if you like rhythm and blues, if you like jazz, if you like hip-hop, you might be black-ish." Where the series stands strong is that it doesn't beat you over the head with the theme from week to week — which a lesser show would surely be apt to do. While the pilot was pretty heavily laced with Dre's borderline-obses- sive voiceovers about black this and black that, it's a fair enough expectation for the setup episode. The episodes that follow still keep to the theme, but the storylines incorporate broader issues and everyman problems that all families of all races face, from struggling to bond with one's teenagers to agonizing about whether to spank a misbehaving child. "It mirrors humanity," An- derson told "The Hollywood Reporter." "If you like life, you'll dig the show." This relatability, paired with genuine humor, could very well give "Black-ish" the staying power that previous "Modern Family" followers sorely lacked. Providing something that appeals to everyone is a hard thing to achieve, but just about everyone can relate to the ups and downs of family life. As Whoopi Goldberg commented after Fishburne's "The View" interview: "Whatever your 'ish' is, this is your family." Catch the newest episode of "Black-ish" airing Wednes- day, Nov. 26, on ABC. Christopher's Coins 2 x 2 coverstory Laurence Fishburne as seen in "Black-ish" Family fun ABC's freshman comedy has the makings of success By Adam Thomlison TV Media Q: Why does "Doc Martin" keep repeating the same storyline over and over instead of moving forward? A: This is a pretty fundamental question in TV-series pro- duction — how do you keep a long-running show fresh without changing the dynamic that made it successful in the first place? It's an even trickier problem in "Doc Martin's" case, though, because no one can quite figure out why it's successful at all. The show has been a hit in its native Britain since 2004, and has more recently become a global sensation, with new ver- sions being produced in Greece, Spain and even Iran. North America has opted not to remake it but simply rerun the origi- nal version on public television stations across the continent. There has been much discussion of why it's struck such a chord. The doctor himself is cranky and unpleasant, the setting (a small fishing village) is far from glamorous, and the star himself (Martin Clunes) is not exactly leading-man material — an article in Britain's "Daily Mirror" discussing the show's in- explicable success described Clunes' ears as "spectacular." Yet this formula has produced a hit, and so the producers (including Clunes' wife, Philippa Braithwaite) are reluctant to change much, including, as you point out, the main storylines. Clunes, too, acknowledges a fear that the show could be- come repetitive. The show will begin shooting its seventh sea- son soon, but Clunes told the "New York Times" that it is likely to be the last one. Q: Will there be a third season of "The Americans"? If so, when will it be shown? A: The third season of FX's hit period drama "The Ameri- cans" is currently being filmed and will premiere on the cable channel in January. The principals behind the show (including stars Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys) did an extensive panel session at New York Comic Con to discuss the upcoming season, while doing their best to not discuss the upcoming season. Being a plot-based show (one about keeping secrets, no less), they were all very wary of spoiling any plot points. The se- ries, based loosely on true events and set in the 1980s, follows a seemingly normal suburban couple, parents of two, who are actually Soviet spies. Showrunner Joel Fields was, however, willing to talk broadly about the direction of the show. "I do like to say, for us the show's working best when Philip and Eliz- abeth and the other characters are all struggling with things everybody struggles with. Have a question? Email us at questions@tvtabloid.com. Please include your name and town. hollywoodQ&A