There Is A New Resurgence In Black Sitcoms

If you aren’t aware, there has been a resurgence in black sitcoms in television and the “mainstream” media recently. For most people, the golden years for black sit-com television was the 1990s, you had legendary shows like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Martin, A Different World, & Living Single.

Black sitcoms have always been great not just in the 90s. In The 2000s you had shows The Bernie Mac Show, The Steve Harvey Show, My Wife & Kids, & Girlfriends.

For most of these shows, they had a great following while on air. Currently, most of the early 2000s black sitcoms like The Parkers and My Wife and Kids are doing well on streaming platforms. Going back and watching those shows today, I don’t know why they didn’t get the mainstream acceptance that other shows of that era had but were less funny.

I believe that the recent resurgence of black sitcoms is due to the success of Black-ish. Before Black-ish, in the early 2010s, there wasn’t a major black sitcom that everybody tuned into to watch. When Black-ish premiered on ABC in 2014, it sent waves through the entertainment industry.

“Since it premiered, it has run for seven seasons on ABC. Black-ish follows an upper-class black family led by Andre ‘Dre’ Johnson (Anthony Anderson) and Rainbow Johnson (Tracee Ellis Ross). The show revolves around the family’s lives, as they juggle several personal and sociopolitical issues.”

“Throughout its run, Black-ish has received positive reviews. The show has received Emmy and Golden Globe nominations for Outstanding Comedy Series, and a TCA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Comedy. Meanwhile, Tracee Ellis Ross has received individual praise, winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress. The show also ranks relatively high among shows broadcast by ABC in terms of television season ratings and ranks among the top ten in the United States for estimated total audience size.”

With Black-Ish being so popular there were spin-offs of the show like Grown-ish & Mixed-ish.

With the success of Black-ish, more people wanted shows that aren’t always centered around the white family or just a white person.

After Black-ish we have shows like Insecure, “the series about the awkward experiences of a contemporary African-American woman”. Insecure premiered online on September 23, 2016, via HBO Now and HBO Go, before airing weekly on HBO from October 9, 2016.

Insecure has received critical acclaim since its debut in 2016. In 2017, the American Film Institute selected it as one of the top 10 television programs of the year. In 2020, the series received eight Primetime Emmy Award nominations for its fourth season, including the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.”

Then we have Atlanta which is my favorite show right now. It premiered around the same time as Insecure.

“Atlanta is an American comedy-drama television series created by Donald Glover that premiered on September 6, 2016, on FX. The series centers on college dropout and music manager Earnest “Earn” Marks (Glover) and rapper Paper Boi (Brian Tyree Henry as they navigate the Atlanta rap scene. It also stars Lakeith Stanfield and Zazie Beetz”.

Atlanta has been acclaimed by critics and received many awards and nominations, including two Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Television Series Musical or Comedy for Glover, and two Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series and Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series. Glover’s Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Comedy Series was the first ever awarded to an African-American, and his work as the series writer and executive producer has received praise.”

The next show that should be is another personal favorite of mine and that is Abbott Elementary.

Abbott Elementary is an American mockumentary sitcom television series created by Quinta Brunson for ABC. It stars Brunson as a second-grade teacher at Abbott Elementary. Tyler James Williams, Janelle James, Lisa Ann Walter, Chris Perfetti, and Sheryl Lee Ralph also star. The series premiered as a midseason entry in the 2021–22 television season on December 7, 2021, and received critical acclaim. In March 2022, the series got renewed for a second season.

The last and final show to premiere is Bel Air. Some say Bel Air is more drama than comedy, but for the sake of this article, we’ll say Bel Air is comedy.

“Bel-Air is an American drama streaming television series developed by Morgan Cooper, Malcolm Spellman, TJ Brady, and Rasheed Newson. It is a reimagined version of the sitcom The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, based on Cooper’s short fan film of the same name. It stars Jabari Banks, Adrian Holmes, Cassandra Freeman, Olly Sholotan, Coco Jones, Akira Akbar, Jimmy Akingbola, Jordan L. Jones, and Simone Joy Jones. The series premiered on Peacock on February 13, 2022.”

There was backlash social media backlash about the show when it first aired. Because people thought it would be somewhat similar to the original Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air with Wil Smith. But when you watch Bel-Air it’s more of a drama with comedy sprinkled in. Overall I enjoy the show, and I’ve said this to people when watching Bel Air, don’t watch this thinking about the Will Smith version. Go into it like it is a brand-new show and you will enjoy it.

As a whole, the resurgence of not only black sitcoms but black television is having a resurgence in American culture today. People want more diverse voices on TV, and we are beginning to see that. It should be fun to see what other shows will pop up in the future that will change the game just like Black-ish did almost a decade ago.