48 Fun Facts About Black TV Show

Carlton Banks's signature dance on The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is set to which Tom Jones song?

It's Not Unusual: Alfonso Ribeiro later sued the makers of Fortnite over the dance, but the US Copyright Office refused to register it as choreography.

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

Daphne Maxwell Reid: she played Aunt Viv for the final three seasons, and Janet Hubert and Will Smith only spoke again 27 years later, on the 2020 reunion special.

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

WZUP: in later seasons Martin leaves the radio booth to host his own TV talk show, Word on the Street.

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.

On The Cosby Show, what was Cliff Huxtable's medical specialty?

Obstetrics: Bill Cosby first pitched Cliff as a blue-collar limousine driver, until his wife, Camille, persuaded him to make the parents a doctor and a lawyer.

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

Virginia: after season one was judged not to capture life at a historically Black college, Howard University alumna Debbie Allen was brought in to revamp the show.

What is Steve Urkel's famous catchphrase on Family Matters?

Did I do that?: Urkel was slated for a single appearance, but viewers loved him so much that Jaleel White joined the main cast in season two.

Family Matters was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Perfect Strangers: Harriette Winslow ran the elevator at the newspaper where Larry and Balki worked, and ABC liked her so much it built a show around her family.

George Jefferson made his fortune from what kind of business?

Dry-cleaning stores: the success of his chain let George and Louise move from Queens to a spacious apartment on Manhattan's East Side.

Good Times was a spin-off of which sitcom?

Maude: the writers later killed off Florida's husband, James, prompting her famous anguished cry of 'Damn, damn, damn!'

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.

Which filmmaker created OWN's drama Queen Sugar and hired only women to direct its episodes?

Ava DuVernay: many of the directors she hired came from the Black independent film world, and Oprah Winfrey executive produced the drama with her.

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

Moesha: Countess Vaughn's Kim Parker left after season four for the spin-off, in which she and her mother, Nikki, both enroll at Santa Monica College.

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

Mara Brock Akil: with Kelsey Grammer among its executive producers, her sitcom was a big enough hit to survive UPN's merger and carry on at The CW.

Which UPN sitcom gave rise to the CW series The Game in 2006?

Girlfriends: after The CW cancelled The Game in 2009, BET revived it, and its 2011 return drew 7.7 million viewers.

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

'America': the show grew out of Mac's stand-up about suddenly raising his sister's children, which is exactly what his character does after she enters rehab.

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

Bedford-Stuyvesant: like the real Rock, young Chris is bused across town to a mostly white school, where he is bullied.

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

Kenya Barris: he drew the show from his own family, and like Dre's wife, Bow, his real-life wife was an anesthesiologist.

Insecure grew partly out of which Issa Rae web series?

Awkward Black Girl: when money ran out, Rae turned to Kickstarter, and fans pledged more than $56,000 to finish its first season.

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

Paper Boi: as Alfred's local hit takes off, his broke cousin Earn, stuck selling credit cards at the airport, talks his way into managing him.

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

Lee Daniels: he partly based Lucious, the mogul who rejects his gay son Jamal, on his own father.

In Starz's Power, what alias does Omari Hardwick's drug dealer character go by?

Ghost: by day James St. Patrick runs the upscale nightclub Truth, the business he hopes will carry him out of the drug trade.

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

Keenen Ivory Wayans: he gave early breaks to then-unknown comics Jim Carrey and Jamie Foxx, and cast several of his own siblings in the show.

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

Jennifer Lopez: after the Fly Girls she danced in Janet Jackson's 'That's the Way Love Goes' video, one of the other options here, before turning to acting.

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

Separated at birth, reunited as teens: the adopted twins find each other by chance while shopping at a Detroit mall, and Tamera's father invites Tia and her mother to move in.

On Nickelodeon's Kenan & Kel, which drink does Kel famously love?

Orange soda: Nickelodeon built the sitcom around the pair after their comic chemistry stood out on its sketch show All That.

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

Louder and Prouder: its creators said the original had to use coded language on social issues, but the revival could tackle them head-on.

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

Psychic visions: they are usually vague, so Raven often misreads them, and her schemes to stop a vision coming true can make things worse.

Who created and hosted TV's Soul Train?

Don Cornelius: in 1966 he gave up selling cars and insurance to take a broadcasting course, which led to radio and TV jobs.

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

227: it adapted a stage play set in the 1950s, but the series moved the action to present-day Washington, D.C.

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

Regina King: she voices both brothers, who move in with their grandfather in Woodcrest, a mostly white suburb where Huey plays the resident revolutionary.

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

Judy Smith: a former deputy press secretary to the first President Bush, she later advised clients such as Monica Lewinsky and co-produced the show.

After walking away from Chappelle's Show, Dave Chappelle flew to which country?

South Africa: leaving meant walking away from a $50 million deal with Comedy Central.

Which Key & Peele character serves as President Obama's 'anger translator'?

Luther: in 2015 Keegan-Michael Key brought him to the White House Correspondents' Dinner to 'translate' for the real President Obama.

In which city is The Steve Harvey Show set?

Chicago: former 1970s music star Steve Hightower ends up teaching music there.

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

FX: Singleton's drama was first set up at Showtime in 2014, until FX picked it up for a ten-episode first season two years later.

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.

ABC's 1977 miniseries Roots was based on whose book?

Alex Haley: he later settled a plagiarism suit by acknowledging that Roots contained material from Harold Courlander's novel The African.

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

Park Avenue: the boys' late mother had been Phillip Drummond's housekeeper, and her dying wish was that he look after her sons.

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

John Witherspoon: in one episode his Pops is thrilled that the president may stop by the diner to use the bathroom.

In Smart Guy, where does Tahj Mowry's 10-year-old genius end up after skipping ahead from fourth grade?

High school: after The WB cancelled the show in 1999, reruns moved to Disney Channel within months.

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

Kyla Pratt: her Breanna moves in with her dad, a playboy sportscaster whose NBA career ended with a knee injury, and he must suddenly become a full-time father.

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

Tulsa: the series opens with the 1921 Tulsa race massacre, which Damon Lindelof learned about late and felt compelled to teach viewers about.

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

Princeton: in the pilot, Earn's own parents won't let him into their house, so he stays with Van, the mother of his daughter.

Who co-created Insecure with Issa Rae?

Larry Wilmore: after he landed his own late-night show, he stepped back from the pilot, and Prentice Penny came in as showrunner.

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

Stanford: the final season opens with the friends returning to campus for their 10-year college reunion.

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?

The CIA: Teddy secretly helps move cocaine into Los Angeles to fund the Contras' fight against Nicaragua's communist government.