The ABC sitcom Black-ish has been a major hit since it debuted in September of 2014. The comedy show follows the lives of the Johnsons, an upper class black family living in LA. The characters consist of the father Dre, the mother Bow, and their kids, who include their daughter Zoey, their son Junior., and the twins Jack and Diane.
Like many sitcoms, Black-ish uses the Johnsons’ story to deal with relevant issues, focusing in particular on race, class, parenting, pop culture, and contemporary politics. While uproariously funny, the show manages to stay relevant to current events. That said, not every joke has kept up with the time, as can be seen in these ten jokes that aged poorly:
Bow in College
Bow has a white father and a black mother, so an ongoing plot thread in the show involves her dealing with identity issues that come from being mixed race. She frequently reacts incredulously to things her husband Dre claims are inherent to his blackness and has spoken about her childhood being filled with insecurities and anxiety.
In a flashback scene, fans are treated to what Bow was like in college. The result is a cringe-inducing scene where she loudly performs various exaggerated stereotypes, followed by another scene of her reacting with joy to the final verdict in the trial of OJ Simpson only to then try to hide her reaction from her white schoolmates.
Walter Mondale
In one of the sequence that mixes social commentary with humor, Dre finds out his son Junior has become part a member of the Young Republicans Club at his school. Dre is horrified, since, as he says, “Sure, the other side may trot out a token black face every now and again, but the fact of the matter is that being a black Republican is something we just don’t do.”
This line of logic continues as Dre names various candidates supported by the majority of black voters. “91% of black people voted for this guy,” Dre says in a voice over that shows a picture of Walter Mondale. “Fact: 91% of Walter Mondale’s family didn’t vote for Walter Mondale.” Since Mondale ran for President in 1984, the joke was dated even before the episode aired.
Voting
There is an impassioned exchange between Bow and her father-in-law, known as Pops. Upon learning that Bow’s polling place has changed, Pops says, “Of course they did. They want to make it harder for us to find them. That there’s the reason I don’t vote in the first place.” Then, both Pops and Bow’s brother Jonah comment on how voting is rigged with Jonah even citing Bernie Sanders not being the Democratic Presidential nominee in 2016.
The show handles this somewhat cavalierly, but a real ongoing issue has been the targeted suppression of black voters by Republican politicians in states like North Carolina, Florida and Georgia. Furthermore, current discussions online about Bernie Sanders possibly not becoming the Democratic nominee if he receives a plurality of votes has sparked debates about the undemocratic nature of the Democratic Party’s inner workings.
The Prince Episode
Prince was one of the most important musical icons of recent decades. When he passed in 2016, it shook many of his fans all across the world. He was a major figure in multiple styles of music, performing rock, funk, new wave, R&B, and soul music. He even had microphones hooked up to every room of his house so he could record a song no matter where he was.
Black-ish dedicated their 100th episode to celebrating Prince’s legacy. Every member of the family explains why Prince was important to them as they try to pass on this cultural legacy to Jack and Diane. Unfortunately, the whole episode feels hoakey.
Watching Game of Thrones
Game of Thrones was the defining TV show of the 2010s. Everyone watched it. People who didn’t have HBO found a way to watch it, no matter what it took. It only makes sense that Dre and his son Junior would bond over watching the show together.
When the two get into a fight, Junior storms off, telling his father that they don’t need to watch it together. Dre agrees, saying he will watch it on a bigger TV in his bedroom. The two do stream the show separately (each with a plastic sword in hand) but come together to resolve their differences after a major plot twist happens. Unfortunately, the disappointment most fans felt over the final season of Game of Thrones has ruined such bonding experiences even more than the ending of the series.
Speaking Dothraki
Every generation of geeks has their fictional language. It can be traced back at least as far as the Sindarin and Quenya elven languages studied by fans of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. Later, Trekkies began speaking to one another in Klingon. More recently, Game of Thrones has given nerds the option of speaking Dothraki.
Junior is definitely the nerdy one in the family. When he gets a new girlfriend, the two have an impassioned conversation in Dothraki. Unfortunately, this is another joke soured by the disappointing end of Game of Thrones.
2019 Halloween Costumes
Dre approaches his family in one episode with a simple question about the preparations they need to make for Halloween: “How do we capture the entirety of the black experience in 2019 through costume?” It turns out, every year the Johnsons do group costumes.
In 2018, they dressed as characters from Black Panther. In 2015, they were the Obamas. They eventually decide to make costumes based on Jordan Peele’s hit horror movie Us. Us is a fantastic movie that addresses massive issues of race and class in America, but any attempt to capture the zeitgeist of a year will instantaneously become dated.
“Colored”
One of the ongoing jokes of the show is Dre explaining issues about race to his white coworkers. This provides important cultural and historical lessons, but also offers humor as his white coworkers - and especially his boss, Leslie Stevens - show their ignorance with well-meaning but casual displays of racism that need to be addressed.
At one point, Leslie advocates for bringing back the word “colored.” All the black workers in the room stand up, clearly upset, and one of them even produces a gun. Beyond the gun being stereotype, the scene is made more uncomfortable when, after being told the word is offensive, Leslie responds, “maybe someone should tell that to the NAACP.”
Obama Fundraiser
When Junior brings some friends home, Dre greets the group warmly, then begins to chide Junior on his choices in shoes. This prompts the group to excuse themselves. As one of the boys gets up, he gives his excuse, saying, “I’ve got the Obama fundraiser.” When enviously Dre asks Junior’s friend how he is able to go to the Obama fundraiser, it is revealed that the boy’s parents are hosting the event.
With President Obama out of office, jokes about him holding fundraisers are no longer timely. In fact, any talks about money in politics have very different connotations in mainstream circles than was the case when this episode aired.
Jumpstarting Creativity
If the nature of the sitcom was not obvious, Black-ish follows the example of many other sitcoms in that the father figure comes up with some harebrained scheme or says something not quite right and the plot spins out of this inciting incident. In this final instance, Dre tries to help the twins “jumpstart their creativity.”
He forces them to dress differently, to draw on tablets while walking for hours, and prompts them into asking questions that challenge conventional thinking - questions which make a concerned teacher ask if the kids are on drugs. The part of this sequence that has aged poorly has the three walking down a hall, where Dre is dressed in Steve Jobs’s iconic turtleneck, never mind that the twins may not even recognize the reference to the deceased inventor’s fashion.
