''#blackAF'' is an American sitcom created by

Kenya Barris Kenya Barris (born August 9, 1973) is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actor. He is best known as the creator of the ABC sitcom ''black-ish'' (2014–2022). Early life Barris was born in Inglewood, California, ...

. It premiered on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

on April 17, 2020. The title derives from Internet slang, where " AF" is a term of emphasis, meaning " as fuck". In June 2020, the series was renewed for a second season. A year later, the renewal decision was reversed and the series was canceled after one season.

Premise

The series stars Barris as a fictionalized version of himself. The official synopsis reads: "''#blackAF'' uncovers the messy, unfiltered, and often hilarious world of what it means to be a ' new money' black family trying to 'get it right' in a modern world where 'right' is no longer a fixed concept."

Cast

Main

Rashida Jones Rashida Leah Jones (; born February 25, 1976) is an American actress. Jones appeared as Louisa Fenn on the Fox drama series '' Boston Public'' (2000–2002), as Karen Filippelli on the NBC comedy series ''The Office'' (2006–2009; 2011), and ...

as Joya Barris *

as Kenya Barris *

Iman Benson Iman Benson (born June 25, 2000) is an American actress from Atlanta, Georgia best known for her roles in ''Uncle Buck'', '' Alexa & Katie'', and ''BlackAF ''#blackAF'' is an American sitcom created by Kenya Barris. It premiered on Netflix ...

as Drea Barris * Genneya Walton as Chloe Barris * Scarlet Spencer as Izzy Barris * Justin Claiborne as Pops Barris * Ravi Cabot-Conyers as Kam Barris

Recurring

* Richard Gardenhire Jr. as Brooklyn Barris * Gil Ozeri as Danny * Bumper Robinson as Broadway *

Nia Long Nia Talita Long (born October 30, 1970) is an American actress. Best known for her work in Black cinema, Long rose to prominence after starring in the film ''Boyz n the Hood'' (1991), and for her portrayal of Beullah "Lisa" Wilkes on the NBC sit ...

as Lavette * Angela Kinsey as Leeza * Doug Hall as Marquise

Ava DuVernay Ava Marie DuVernay (; born August 24, 1972) is an American filmmaker, television producer and former film publicist. She is a recipient of a Primetime Emmy Award, a NAACP Image Award, a BAFTA Film Award and a BAFTA TV Award, as well as a nominee ...

Will Packer Will Packer (born April 11, 1974) is an American film producer who founded Will Packer Productions, and Will Packer Media. Packer has produced or executive produced a wide range of movies that have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide at the ...

Tyler Perry Tyler Perry (born Emmitt Perry Jr., September 13, 1969) is an American actor, comedian, filmmaker, and playwright. He is the creator and performer of the Madea character, a tough elderly woman. Perry's films vary in style from orthodox filmma ...

, Issa Rae,

Tim Story Timothy Kevin Story (born March 13, 1970) is an African American film director. He is best known for '' Barbershop'' (2002), the '' Fantastic Four'' (2005) and the ''Ride Along'' franchise. He has been nominated for two NAACP Image Awards for O ...

Scooter Braun Scott Samuel "Scooter" Braun (born June 18, 1981) is an American entrepreneur, investor, and entertainment executive. Known as the manager for artists such as Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, J Balvin, Demi Lovato, The Kid Laroi and other artists ...

Lena Waithe Lena Waithe (born May 17, 1984) is an American actress, producer, and screenwriter. She is the creator of the Showtime drama series ''The Chi'' (2018–present) and the BET comedy series ''Boomerang'' (2019–20) and '' Twenties'' (2020–pres ...

Jay Rock Johnny Reed McKinzie Jr. (born March 31, 1983), better known by his stage name Jay Rock, is an American rapper, singer and songwriter from Los Angeles. He signed to indie label Top Dawg Entertainment (TDE), in 2005. Under TDE, Rock secured a rec ...

and

Steven Levitan Steven E. Levitan (born April 6, 1962) is an American television producer, director, and screenwriter. He has created such television series as ''Just Shoot Me!'', '' Stark Raving Mad'', ''Stacked'', '' Back to You'', ''Modern Family'', and ''R ...

made appearances as themselves in the series.

Episodes

Production

Development

Netflix ordered ''#blackAF'' (originally titled ''Black Excellence'') as the first series under Barris' deal with them. Announcing the production of the show, Netflix said, "Inspired by Barris' irreverent, highly flawed, unbelievably honest approach to parenting, relationships, race, and culture, ''Black Excellence'' looks to pull the curtain back and reboot the 'family sitcom' in a way we've never seen before." On June 23, 2020, Netflix renewed the series for a second season. A year later, on June 23, 2021, the renewal decision was reversed and the series was canceled after one season, but may return as a standalone film franchise.

Casting

On May 10, 2019,

and

were cast in starring roles. On December 20, 2019, Genneya Walton,

, Scarlet Spencer, Justin Claiborn, Ravi Cabot-Conyers, and Richard Gardenhire Jr. were announced as additional cast members.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series has an approval rating of 46% based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 6.97/10. The website's critical consensus states: "Solid one-liners and some sharp social critiques can't save ''#blackaf'' from feeling more like a stale retread than a fresh step forward for creator Kenya Barris." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, it has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 18 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:BlackAF 2020 American television series debuts 2020 American television series endings 2020s American black sitcoms 2020s American single-camera sitcoms English-language Netflix original programming Television series about families Works about race and ethnicity