Television series

black-ish

Name: black-ish
Genre: Comedy, Family
Released: 2014
Cast: Anthony Anderson, Marcus Scribner, Marsai Martin, Miles Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross

Comedy

A comfortable ad-exec dad and his family navigate the gap between success and identity, with grandpa Pops needling everyone about what they've lost along the way. It's a broad, big-laugh network sitcom that isn't afraid to build whole episodes around real arguments — respectability politics, colorism, gun ownership — then still land a joke. Good for anyone who wants their comfort-watch to occasionally have something on its mind.

TVMaze rating

3.1

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like family sitcoms that get their laughs from warm banter while taking race and class seriously without lecturing you.

Skip it if you want pure escapism, because the show keeps stopping to argue about identity and assimilation, and its talkier episodes can feel like lectures in a sitcom costume.

What it asks of you: Half-hour episodes and a long run: over a hundred seventy across eight seasons, so you settle into a family's ongoing life rather than chase one arc.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Fresh Off the Boat2015

Same ABC family-sitcom DNA, same era, same interest in what assimilation costs — this time through a Taiwanese-American family navigating 90s Florida with warmth and specificity.

But Leans more nostalgic and gentle than pointed; if you wanted Dre's confrontational energy, this is softer stuff.

The Carmichael Show2015

A multi-cam sitcom that turns every episode into an actual debate — guns, religion, Bill Cosby — with a studio audience laughing through real discomfort.

But Short-lived and talkier than plotty; some viewers find it feels more like a panel show wearing a sitcom's clothes.

Everybody Hates Chris2005

Chris Rock narrates his own teenage years in 80s Brooklyn with the same sharp eye for class, race and family friction, just filtered through nostalgia and adolescence.

But Single-camera and narration-driven rather than joke-joke-joke; the tone is wistful where black-ish is often loud.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from black-ish

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Good Times1974

black-ish is explicitly in dialogue with this show's legacy — Pops even references it — as the ancestor that proved a Black sitcom could argue with America and still get renewed.

The blueprint: one of TV's first sitcoms centered on a Black family, wrestling openly with poverty and dignity in a way that made network executives nervous.

But 70s multi-cam pacing and production values will feel genuinely old; some later seasons lean harder into caricature than the creators intended.

Modern Family2009

The other great ABC family ensemble of the era — mockumentary style, big blended cast, the same instinct for turning a dumb misunderstanding into genuine warmth.

But Politically toothless by comparison; it's comfort food where black-ish wants to argue with you.

The Bernie Mac Show2001

An earlier Black family sitcom that breaks the fourth wall constantly, with Bernie Mac talking straight to camera about raising kids that aren't his own.

But Sharper-edged and less polished than a 2010s network show; the humor can be blunter and more old-school.

One Day at a Time2017

A Cuban-American single mother, her Army vet mom, and two kids working through identity, coming out, and PTSD in a multi-cam reboot that earns every laugh and every gut-punch.

But Got cancelled repeatedly and never found the audience it deserved; some find its issue-of-the-week structure a bit tidy.

The Wonder Years2021

This reboot recasts the classic coming-of-age narration through a Black family in 1968 Montgomery, pairing warm nostalgia with the era's actual stakes.

But Gentler and more elegiac than black-ish; don't expect the same rapid-fire sitcom engine.

Family Matters1989

A foundational 90s Black family sitcom, warm and broad, that black-ish is in direct conversation with — before Steve Urkel took it somewhere weirder.

But Dated multi-cam pacing and eventually became a full sitcom about one breakout character; the family focus fades over the run.

Atlanta2016

Same questions about code-switching and Black identity in America, but stretched into surreal, art-house half-hours that barely resemble a sitcom.

But Deliberately strange and unresolved; if you want jokes landing cleanly on a laugh track, this will frustrate you.

The Proud Family2001

Same central question — what does a comfortable Black family owe its history and community — just handed to children's animation instead of primetime, proving the format is bigger than the genre.

An animated Disney Channel sitcom about a middle-class Black family, absurdly funny and unexpectedly willing to tackle colorism, activism and assimilation for a kids' audience.

But It's a cartoon aimed at ten-year-olds; the humor is broader and the stakes are lower by design.

I Am Not Your Negro2017

Strip away every joke black-ish tells and this is the argument underneath: what does it cost to be made comfortable in a country that was never built for you.

Raoul Peck assembles James Baldwin's unfinished writing into a documentary essay on race, assimilation and American self-deception, narrated with devastating clarity.

But There's no comedy here at all, and it doesn't offer resolution — it's built to unsettle rather than entertain.