television
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Mona Scott-Young’s Major Keys to Success
Love her or hate her, one thing’s for sure: Mona Scott-Young is a boss. The music turned television executive has built an empire in a space that is dominated by men; but in Scott-Young’s world, there are women on both sides of the camera—putting in work. “Women, especially women of color, have always been the…
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Living Single Cast and Creator Reflect on Legacy 20 Years After Series Finale
Since leaving the air 20 years ago today, Jan. 1, Living Single continues to resonate in the hearts of loyal fans. Its legacy alone has dismissed critics (i.e., Newsweek’s 1993 article with its “booty-shaking sugar mamas” comment), paving the way for shows like Insecure, and still reigns as a beloved fixture of black entertainment and…
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‘She’s Gotta Have It’ … but Do We?
I remember the first time I saw She’s Gotta Have It, Spike Lee’s groundbreaking, critically acclaimed and very first “joint,” which premiered in 1986. When it debuted on HBO a year later, I was 12, a latchkey kid, and the parental controls that would lock me out of my parents’ premium channels after school had…
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Hey, Y’all, I Met Oprah. Here’s What Happened
A little backstory on how we got to the point where this is even a thing: On Nov. 17, 2016, I wrote a piece called “Queen Sugar Hits This Dad Right in the Feels.” By the end of that day, life was different; anything was possible. The piece published first thing in the morning that…
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30 Years Later, 7 Ways A Different World Was Woke AF
A Different World was an American sitcom that aired for six seasons beginning in September 1987, making it 30 this year. The show focused on students attending a fictional historically black college in Virginia, Hillman, the alma mater of Clair and Cliff Huxtable of The Cosby Show. While the show has been cited as a…
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The Black Person’s Guide to The Walking Dead
Because The Walking Dead returns Sunday night and it always makes me a little upset. Although I love the show, I always get sad because every season splits everyone into two factions. In my opinion, there are only two kinds of people in the world: 1. People who watch The Walking Dead. 2. People who…
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To the ‘Unapologetically Black’ Beth Pearson of This Is Us, With Love
Editor’s note: Season 1 spoilers throughout! This Is Us has wrecked me. I hopped aboard the hype train later than most, but when I did … I bought a season (or series?) pass immediately. There’s an uncanny moment in life when you’re introduced to something that you never knew you needed until you experience it.…
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Jaimee Foxworth Speaks Out About Not Being Invited to Entertainment Weekly’s Family Matters Reunion Photo Shoot
In 1989, five years after The Cosby Show aired, a new black-family sitcom made its way to prime-time television, and the world was introduced to the Winslows on Family Matters. The Winslows were a family from Chicago, and the series started out with patriarch Carl (Reginald VelJohnson); his wife, Harriette (Jo Marie Payton); his son,…
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A Prayer for My Emotions as This Is Us Embarks on Its 2nd Season
Let us bow our heads in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, so luminescent and full of zinc and other elements available only in theory via the periodic table of elements, I come to you in supplication, oh Lord. Tonight, Father God, the second season of This Is Us begins on your network, NBC, as all network…
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The Richard Pryor Show: A Master Class of Innovation vs. Censorship
The severity of Richard Pryor’s influence on comedy—black comedy especially—cannot be quantified. The late comedian-actor shaped the art form with his uncanny ability to retain all the unique turmoil of his upbringing and disdain for institutional prejudice, and use it to tell amazing, gut-busting stories and jokes, all while sliding in biting social commentary along…