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*According to Variety, some serious drama is going down at ABC with execs and and the folks at “Black-ish.” The report says the network has decided not to air a recently filmed politically and socially themed episode because of “creative differences” with Kenya Barris, the series’ show’s creator and showrunner.
The network has no plans at this time to air the episode and to make sure it doesn’t see the light of day, it won’t make it available through other forms of distribution.
Well dang, given the free hand Barris and the cast have had in the past, and the controversial themes they’ve put out there for all to see, it’s really interesting to see this development happening. We can only wonder why they are now not on the same page.
Titled “Please, Baby, Please,” the episode was originally set to air Feb. 27. ABC revealed in a scheduling announcement on Feb. 22 that the episode would be replaced with a rerun of the single-camera family comedy, but did not provide any additional detail at that time about why the change had been made or when “Please, Baby, Please” would air.
“One of the things that has always made ‘Black-ish’ so special is how it deftly examines delicate social issues in a way that simultaneously entertains and educates,” an ABC spokesperson told Variety Friday. “However, on this episode there were creative differences we were unable to resolve.”
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“Please, Baby, Please” features Anthony Anderson’s patriarch Dre caring for his infant son on the night of an intense thunderstorm that keeps the whole household awake. Dre attempts to read the baby a bedtime story, but abandons that plan when the baby continues to cry. He instead improvises a bedtime story that, over the course of the episode, conveys many of Dre’s concerns about the current state of the country.
The episode covers multiple political and social issues. In one scene, Dre and oldest son Junior (Marcus Scribner) argue over the rights of athletes to kneel during the performance of the national anthem at football games.
“Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it,” Barris, the show’s creator, told Variety. “‘Black-ish’ is a show that has spoken to all different types of people and brought them closer as a community and I’m so proud of the series.”
“Black-ish,” in its fourth season, has received critical praise for episodes addressing a broad range of political and social topics rarely discussed in the context of a broadcast sitcom — including Donald Trump’s election, the N-word, postpartum depression, and police brutality.
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