50 Fun Facts About Black TV Show

In The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Will is sent from which city to live with his wealthy relatives?

The show ran on NBC from 1990 to 1996. Quincy Jones was pitched the idea and produced it; a dramatic reimagining, Bel-Air, arrived on Peacock in 2022.

Who played the second Aunt Vivian on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air after Janet Hubert left?

The recasting became one of TV's most famous, and Will and Carlton acknowledged it in-show with a joke.

Martin Payne, played by Martin Lawrence, started the sitcom Martin as a DJ at which fictional Detroit station?

He later hosted the talk show Word on the Street. The Fox sitcom ran five seasons from 1992 to 1997.

Living Single followed six friends sharing a brownstone in which New York neighbourhood?

Yvette Lee Bowser created it for Fox in 1993, a year before Friends used a similar premise.

The Cosby Show spent how many consecutive seasons as television's top-rated show?

Only All in the Family has matched that. The Huxtables were an upper-middle-class Brooklyn family; the show ran on NBC from 1984 to 1992 for 201 episodes.

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

After Lisa Bonet left, the show centred on Whitley Gilbert and Dwayne Wayne. Howard alumna Debbie Allen was hired to make campus life more authentic.

Steve Urkel was originally written into Family Matters as what?

Jaleel White's nerdy neighbour arrived midway through season one and became the show's protagonist. The series was itself a Perfect Strangers spin-off.

Family Matters was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Harriette Winslow was the elevator operator at the Chicago Chronicle on that show. Family Matters ran eight seasons on ABC and one on CBS.

George Jefferson made his fortune from what kind of business?

The Jeffersons moved from Queens to a Manhattan high-rise. The show, spun off from All in the Family, ran 11 seasons and 253 episodes.

Good Times, television's first Black two-parent family sitcom, was a spin-off of which show?

Maude itself spun off from All in the Family. The Evans family's Chicago housing project is implicitly Cabrini-Green.

Sanford and Son was based on which British sitcom?

Redd Foxx's Fred Sanford ran a junk business at 9114 South Central Avenue in Watts. Till Death Us Do Part became All in the Family.

Brandy's 1996-2001 UPN sitcom was set in which Los Angeles neighbourhood?

The UPN show ran from 1996 to 2001 and spun off The Parkers, starring Mo'Nique and Countess Vaughn.

The Parkers, which ran on UPN from 1999 to 2004, was a spin-off of which show?

Mo'Nique and Countess Vaughn played mother and daughter Nikki and Kim Parker attending college together.

Who created the 2000 UPN sitcom starring Tracee Ellis Ross as Joan Clayton?

It ran on UPN from 2000 and then The CW until 2008, and spun off The Game. Akil later created Being Mary Jane.

The Game (2006) was a spin-off of which sitcom?

It launched on The CW, was cancelled, and was revived by BET, then Paramount+.

On The Bernie Mac Show, what did Bernie call the audience when he broke the fourth wall?

The Larry Wilmore-created Fox show ran 2001-2006; its premise came from Mac's stand-up about taking in his sister's kids.

Everybody Hates Chris was based on Chris Rock's teenage years in which Brooklyn neighbourhood?

Rock narrated; Tyler James Williams played young Chris and Terry Crews his penny-pinching father Julius.

Who created Black-ish, which ran on ABC from 2014 to 2022?

It ran 175 episodes and spun off Grown-ish, with Yara Shahidi's Zoey heading to college, and Mixed-ish.

Insecure grew partly out of which Issa Rae web series?

Rae co-created it with Larry Wilmore. It premiered on HBO in 2016 and earned Rae three Emmy nominations for lead actress.

In Atlanta, Brian Tyree Henry plays a rapper known by what stage name?

Donald Glover's Earn manages him. The FX show won two Peabodys and two Golden Globes for best comedy series.

Empire, the Fox musical drama about the Lyon family, was created by Danny Strong and which film director?

Terrence Howard and Taraji P. Henson starred as Lucious and Cookie. It ran from 2015 to 2020.

In Power, Omari Hardwick's James St. Patrick is a drug dealer known by what alias?

The Starz series was created by Courtney Kemp with 50 Cent and ran from 2014 to 2020 before several spin-offs.

Quinta Brunson plays Janine Teagues, a second-grade teacher, in Abbott Elementary. Where is the school?

The ABC mockumentary won the 2023 Golden Globe for best comedy series and Emmys for Brunson and Sheryl Lee Ralph.

Who created, wrote and starred in the Fox sketch show In Living Color?

It launched Jim Carrey, Jamie Foxx and David Alan Grier, and its Fly Girls dancers included Jennifer Lopez, with Rosie Perez choreographing.

Which future superstar danced as one of In Living Color's Fly Girls?

Carrie Ann Inaba, later a Dancing with the Stars judge, was another Fly Girl.

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

It began on ABC's TGIF in 1994 and moved to The WB, running 119 episodes in all.

Kenan & Kel, starring Kenan Thompson and Kel Mitchell, was set in which city?

The Nickelodeon sitcom ran from 1996 to 2001. Kel's character was famous for loving orange soda.

The Proud Family's 2022 revival on Disney+ carries what subtitle?

The original ran on Disney Channel from 2001 to 2005, following 14-year-old Penny Proud.

That's So Raven centred on a teenager with what secret ability?

The Disney Channel hit ran four seasons from 2003 to 2007 and later spawned Raven's Home.

Soul Train aired nationally in syndication from 1971 until which year?

Don Cornelius created it in Chicago and remained its longest-serving host. Johnson Products, maker of Afro Sheen, was an early sponsor.

Marla Gibbs starred as gossipy housewife Mary Jenkins on which 1985-1990 NBC sitcom?

Gibbs had previously played maid Florence on The Jeffersons. Jackée Harry's Sandra was the show's breakout.

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

It ran on NBC from 1986 to 1991, part of the network's wave of Black-cast sitcoms alongside The Cosby Show and 227.

The Boondocks' brothers Huey and Riley Freeman are both voiced by which actress?

Aaron McGruder adapted his comic strip for Adult Swim in 2005; the Freemans live in the white suburb of Woodcrest.

Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope in Scandal was partly based on which real Washington fixer?

The former Bush press aide was a co-executive producer. Shonda Rhimes' show ran on ABC from 2012 to 2018.

Dave Chappelle walked away from Chappelle's Show and a contract worth how much?

The Comedy Central show premiered in January 2003; a three-episode 'lost episodes' season aired in 2006 without him.

Key & Peele ran for how many episodes over five seasons on Comedy Central?

It ran from January 2012 to September 2015 and made 'Luther, Obama's anger translator' famous.

The Steve Harvey Show was set at Booker T. Washington High School in which city?

Harvey played a former funk musician turned music teacher; Cedric the Entertainer was his coach buddy. It ran on The WB from 1996 to 2002.

Which network aired John Singleton's Snowfall, about crack dealing in 1980s South Central LA?

Damson Idris starred. It ran six seasons from 2017 to 2023.

What was the job of Diahann Carroll's title character in Julia (1968)?

The NBC sitcom ran 86 episodes to 1971 and made Carroll the first Black woman nominated for a comedy lead actress Emmy.

The 1977 miniseries Roots aired on ABC over how many consecutive nights?

Its finale remains the third-most-watched series finale in US history. It won nine of its 37 Emmy nominations.

Diff'rent Strokes' Arnold and Willis were taken in by a wealthy businessman living on which street?

Housekeeper Mrs. Garrett spun off into The Facts of Life. Gary Coleman's 'Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?' became a national catchphrase.

Which veteran comedian played the brothers' father on The Wayans Bros.?

Shawn and Marlon Wayans played versions of themselves; Anna Maria Horsford joined in season two.

Smart Guy starred Tahj Mowry as a child genius who jumps from fourth grade to which grade?

T.J. Henderson lands in high school with his older siblings. Mowry is the younger brother of Sister, Sister's Tia and Tamera.

One on One starred Flex Alexander as a single sportscaster raising his teenage daughter, played by whom?

The UPN sitcom ran from 2001 to 2006. Pratt also voiced Penny Proud.

HBO's 2019 Watchmen series is set around racist violence in which city?

Damon Lindelof's sequel to the comic opens with the 1921 Tulsa race massacre and won 11 Emmys.

In Atlanta, Donald Glover's Earn Marks is a dropout from which university?

He manages his rapper cousin Paper Boi while struggling with homelessness and an on-again-off-again relationship with Van.

Who co-created Insecure with Issa Rae?

The pair began work on the pilot in 2013; the finished HBO series ran five seasons, ending on December 26, 2021.

Issa and Molly, the two best friends at the heart of Insecure, met as students where?

The first season follows the two women, both in their late twenties, through the awkward realities of contemporary Black womanhood in Los Angeles.

Which rapper collaborated with creator Courtney A. Kemp on the Starz drama Power?

The show ran from 2014 to 2020 and became one of Starz's highest-rated series, spawning several spin-offs.

In Snowfall, Carter Hudson's Teddy McDonald works undercover for which agency?

His mission ties the crack trade in 1980s Los Angeles to the American war against communism in Nicaragua.