50 Fun Facts About Black Sitcom

Which 1972 sitcom starring Redd Foxx as a Watts junk dealer was adapted from Steptoe and Son?

Norman Lear adapted it as NBC's answer to All in the Family, which he had also adapted from a British show, Till Death Us Do Part.

Redd Foxx's junk dealer Fred G. ran his yard in which Los Angeles neighbourhood?

The address was 9114 South Central Avenue. Fred had moved there from his hometown of St. Louis as a young man.

Which sitcom about the Evanses in a Chicago housing project was TV's first with a Black two-parent family?

It was a spin-off of Maude, itself a spin-off of All in the Family. Florida Evans had been Maude's housekeeper.

The Evans family's housing project on Good Times was implicitly which Chicago development?

They lived at 963 North Gilbert Avenue, apartment 17C. James Evans usually worked at least two manual-labour jobs.

Which future pop superstar joined the Evans family sitcom in season five as Penny, adopted by Willona?

Ratings were already declining by then, and stars Esther Rolle and John Amos had grown frustrated at J.J.'s clowning taking over the show.

George and Louise moved on up to a Manhattan high-rise thanks to George's chain of what?

Jefferson Cleaners took them from Queens, where they had been Archie Bunker's neighbours, to a deluxe apartment in the sky.

How many episodes of The Jeffersons aired over its eleven seasons on CBS?

CBS cancelled it so abruptly in 1985 that Sherman Hemsley said he found out from the newspaper. There was never a proper finale.

How was Florence's return to The Jeffersons explained after her spin-off Checking In flopped?

Marla Gibbs's Florence lasted four episodes at the hotel. Gibbs later starred in 227 as gossip Mary Jenkins.

What was the job of Harry Bentley, the eccentric British neighbour George cut off by slamming the door?

He also had a bad back that George was regularly asked to walk on.

Which 1968 sitcom starring Diahann Carroll was the first American series to star a Black woman in a lead role that was not a servant or slave?

She played a widowed nurse whose pilot husband had been shot down in Vietnam. It ran 86 episodes on NBC.

Besides The Cosby Show, the only sitcom to top the ratings for five seasons starred which bigot?

All in the Family is the other. The Cosby Show remains the only scripted show with a predominantly African-American cast to top the Nielsen ratings, and it never left the top 20.

What was Cliff Huxtable's medical specialty?

His wife Clair was a lawyer, and the family's brownstone was at 10 Stigwood Avenue in Brooklyn Heights.

A Different World was set at Hillman College, a fictional historically Black college in which state?

After a wobbly first season, Howard alumna Debbie Allen was hired to make it feel like a real HBCU, and Whitley and Dwayne became the focus.

Why was the original lead of A Different World written out after one season?

Denise instead dropped out, went home and travelled to Africa on The Cosby Show so viewers never saw the pregnancy.

Which music manager's real teenage move into a rich white family's home inspired The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

He pitched it to Quincy Jones, who took it to NBC. Will Smith needed the job because he was in debt to the taxman.

Besides Will Smith, who was the only actor to appear in every episode of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air?

He played Uncle Phil across all 148 episodes. Cousin Carlton was named after writer Andy Borowitz's friend Carlton Cuse.

Family Matters was a spin-off of which other ABC sitcom, on which Harriette Winslow ran the elevator?

Reginald VelJohnson, fresh from Die Hard, appeared there as Carl before the Winslows got their own show in 1989.

How was Steve Urkel originally supposed to feature on Family Matters?

Jaleel White's nerdy neighbour became the breakout character and eventually one of the show's protagonists.

Which show holds the record for most episodes of a live-action sitcom with a mainly African-American cast, at 400?

Family Matters is third with 215, behind The Jeffersons' 253.

In which city was Martin set, with Martin Payne working as a DJ at station WZUP?

He later hosted a talk show called Word on the Street. Martin Lawrence also played Sheneneh, Jerome and other characters.

In Living Single, what was the name of the magazine that Queen Latifah's Khadijah James published?

The six friends lived in a Prospect Heights, Brooklyn brownstone. Overton the handyman pined for Khadijah's cousin Synclaire.

Which network aired Moesha, starring Brandy, after CBS passed on the pilot?

It became the young network's biggest hit. Moesha's father Frank was a Saturn car salesman in Leimert Park.

Which spin-off followed Kim Parker and her mother Nikki, played by Mo'Nique, to Santa Monica College?

Countess Vaughn's Kim had been Moesha's best friend. The show ran 110 episodes on UPN.

What did Bernie Mac call the TV audience when he broke the fourth wall on The Bernie Mac Show?

He was raising his drug-addicted sister's three kids, Jordan, Vanessa and Bryana. The show was created by Larry Wilmore.

Everybody Hates Chris was set in which Brooklyn neighbourhood, where Chris Rock grew up?

The title parodies Everybody Loves Raymond. Tyler James Williams played young Chris, with Terry Crews and Tichina Arnold as his parents.

Who created Black-ish?

Anthony Anderson's Dre is an advertising executive and Tracee Ellis Ross's Bow an anaesthesiologist. Ross won a Golden Globe for the role.

What was the name of the Black-ish spin-off that followed Zoey Johnson to college?

Mixed-ish was a short-lived prequel about young Bow's biracial family in the 1980s.

Which Quinta Brunson mockumentary sitcom is set at an underfunded West Philly public school?

She plays second-grade teacher Janine Teagues. The show won the 2023 Golden Globe for Best Comedy Series and Emmys for Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Which FX comedy about degenerate bar owners crossed over with Quinta Brunson's school sitcom in 2024?

The show has been nominated for 37 Emmys and won four.

Which 1976 ABC sitcom about three teens in Watts was TV's first Black show about teenagers?

Raj, Dwayne and Rerun were created by Eric Monte, who had co-created Good Times. A sequel, What's Happening Now!!, ran in syndication in the 1980s.

Which NBC sitcom starred Marla Gibbs as Mary Jenkins, with Jackée Harry and a young Regina King?

It ran from 1985 to 1990 as part of NBC's wave of Black-cast hits alongside The Cosby Show and A Different World.

In Amen, Sherman Hemsley played a church deacon in which city, his real-life hometown?

It was his first series after The Jeffersons ended in 1985 and ran five seasons on NBC.

Sister, Sister starred Tia and Tamera Mowry as twins who had been what?

ABC cancelled it after one season and The WB picked it up for four more. Jackée Harry and Tim Reid played their adoptive parents.

The radio version of Amos 'n' Andy, which ran from 1928, was written and voiced by whom?

Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll played nearly everyone. Black actors took over for the 1951–53 CBS TV version, with Tim Moore's Kingfish the star.

In My Wife and Kids, Damon Wayans's Michael Kyle raised his family in which Connecticut city?

Wayans co-created the show with veteran writer Don Reo. It ran 123 episodes on ABC.

Which network aired The Wayans Bros., starring Shawn and Marlon alongside John Witherspoon?

It ran from 1995 to 1999. Their older brother Keenen had created the sketch show In Living Color on Fox.

Kenan & Kel was one of three spin-offs from which Nickelodeon sketch show?

Set in Chicago, it featured guest stars from Ron Harper to Britney Spears. Kenan Thompson went on to become SNL's longest-serving cast member.

In Hangin' with Mr. Cooper, Mark Curry played a substitute teacher who had formerly been what?

It was set in Curry's hometown of Oakland and became part of ABC's TGIF lineup alongside Family Matters.

In Diff'rent Strokes, Arnold and Willis moved from Harlem to a wealthy widower's home at which Manhattan address?

Their late mother had worked for Phillip Drummond. Housekeeper Mrs. Garrett spun off into The Facts of Life.

Which UPN sitcom created by Mara Brock Akil starred Tracee Ellis Ross as lawyer Joan Clayton?

Joan, Toni, Maya and Lynn ran for eight seasons across UPN and The CW, and the show spun off The Game.

In Julia, Diahann Carroll's character worked as a nurse in the medical office of what kind of employer?

Lloyd Nolan played her boss Dr. Chegley, who refused a manager's order to lay off minority staff.

How many episodes did The Cosby Show run for on NBC between 1984 and 1992?

TV Guide called it the biggest hit of the 1980s and credited it with reviving both the sitcom and NBC.

Which Fresh Prince character was named after a friend of writer Andy Borowitz, a future Lost showrunner?

Borowitz based Will's cousins on Quincy Jones's daughters and says the pilot was written and taped in about three weeks.

Family Matters moved from ABC to which network for its ninth and final season in 1997?

CBS paid $40 million for a season each of Family Matters and Step by Step to build its own Friday 'Block Party' against TGIF.

Living Single's six friends shared a brownstone in which Brooklyn neighbourhood?

The show ran on Fox for five seasons from 1993 to 1998; the men, Kyle and Overton, had been childhood friends in Cleveland.

Which rapper was originally intended to play Synclaire on Living Single before Kim Coles took the role?

She was a long-time friend and collaborator of Queen Latifah, whose character Khadijah is Synclaire's cousin.

Everybody Hates Chris was originally developed for which network before landing at UPN?

Its title parodies CBS's Everybody Loves Raymond; the real Chris Rock narrates his own teenage misadventures.

What mob-inspired name does Chris's mostly white school carry on Everybody Hates Chris?

His mother Rochelle sends him two bus rides away to an Italian neighbourhood school for a better education, where the bully Caruso awaits.

Which Girlfriends character grew up poor on a farm in Fresno with an alcoholic mother?

Played by Jill Marie Jones for six seasons, Toni had been Joan's friend since they were eight; her mother Veretta was played by Jenifer Lewis.

Under what working title did ABC originally order the pilot of Quinta Brunson's school sitcom?

The final name honours Joyce Abbott, one of Quinta Brunson's favourite teachers; her mother taught for 40 years.