I don’t believe there’s anything wrong with a television network trying to appeal to everyone equally, as long as all parties are given the same creative freedom.
Black-ish is an amazingly written sitcom centered on black issues & topics, meant to enlighten America, as a whole, on what’s happening within a significant segment of its population. ABC is a Disney-owned network, and if you’ve been following the whole “stick to sports” fiasco ESPN is embroiled in, you know how political television is consumed by a good number of viewers. In other words, many people don’t give a damn about black issues in America.
ABC knows this, so it launched it’s ‘Rosanne‘ reboot, aimed it at appeasing the MAGA crew, which it did, & balanced the scales. Again, there would be nothing wrong with this if not for reports of Black-ish creator Kenya Barris going through hell trying to create his show the way he wants.
In fact, according to The Hollywood Reporter, the rift between Barris & ABC has grown so much recently, he’s feverishly working to get out of his current deal, & over to greener Netflix pastures:
[Kenya Barris] is actively trying to get out of his overall deal with ABC Studios, his creative home since 2015. Barris, who earned a Peabody and two best comedy Emmy nominations for his ABC show, has three years remaining on the lucrative four-year deal he signed in 2017. Those same sources say that Barris is in preliminary talks to join Shonda Rhimes and Ryan Murphy with a mega-deal with Netflix. “Talks are very real,” says a source of Barris’ potential move to the streaming giant. ABC Studios and Netflix declined to comment; calls and emails to CAA and Principato-Young, who rep Barris, were not returned.
It’s not surprising that a show like Black-ish would be having issues on cable tv. A move to Netflix would instantly grant Barris all the freedom he’d want, & likely improve the overall content of the show.
Why stay where you aren’t wanted? Malcolm X asked this a long time ago.
