I've got really nothing to add about Black-Ish this week, as it's the same show it's been every week. The bullets, to save us all some time:
* The show still spends way too much time holding the audiences' hands establishing and re-establishing the episode's plot and them, which leads to a very slow comedic pace. In this particular case, it also took up so much time that there is no real B or C plot.
*The show employs four child actors, of whom none are good and three are terrible. This week spent more time than usual with them, and that helps nobody.
*Laurence Fishburne is routinely the best part of the show and rarely on screen for more than two or three minutes in an episode. That held true this week, as he got all the biggest laughs, but barely appeared for more than twenty seconds at a time.
*Black-Ish is a show that badly wants to talk about edgy things, but is too afraid to do anything edgy with them. This week was no different, with an episode (and even a few funny jokes) about child abuse, but no real depth or audacity.
*Beyond Fishburne, the rest of the adult cast is strong, but given very little of interest to do. Tracee Elliot-Ross got a few good moments to play this week, but poor Anthony Anderson at this point is basically just a narrator who happens to be on-screen.
* The show is never bad enough to complain about, or good enough to recommend. It simply exists.
NvTV 6: Black-Ish "The Talk" and #FreeFishburne
There may be hope for Black-Ish yet. Don't get me wrong, this is still a comedy that's not especially funny, but "The Talk" was a step in the right direction. While the first episode was burdened with beating us over the head with the series' central premise of Andre's gentrification paranoia, the second didn't much touch on anything racial, instead focusing on the relationships between the parents and their children. This was a mixed bag, on account of most of the child actors being terrible (though the eldest daughter is growing on me), but it gave Tracee Ellis Ross a lot more to do than she had last week, and it let Anthony Anderson play more than one note.
Read moreNvTV 4: Black-Ish "Pilot": Child Actors Are Still Terrible, News At 11
I had such high hopes for Black-Ish. I liked both the actors I knew in advance, I liked the premise, and I like the Scrubs/Famliy Guy cutaway-style gags in the trailer.
Pilots are always the odd duck, so maybe Black-Ish will win me over next week. This week, though, it's yet another over-narrated (3 for 3 so far!) pilot that doesn't quite know what it is yet. Worse, it forgot to be funny.
NvTV Episode 1: Nick vs. TV Part 1: The Beginning: Prelude
Welcome to Nick vs. TV. In this first installment, I ramble a bunch about why I'm bothering with this, then preview nine of the new sitcoms I'll be covering this Fall.
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