Growing up-ish
Season 3 of family sitcom Black-ish is ageing up as the kids become young adults in front of their parents’ eyes.
Black-ish Season 3 Sundays (from 9 September) e.tv (*194) 19:30
Zoey and Junior (Yara Shahidi and Marcus Scribner) have gone from gawky adolescents to full-blown teens in just two seasons of Black-ish (2014- current) and it hasn’t been just a physical transformation, says Marcus. “We have grown up. We have changed – you can see. I’ve got a bit of a moustache, Yara is gorgeous. We are different and I think that has affected how we come across as our characters. And I think that it makes us better because we are the same ages as the people we are playing on the show.”
ART IMITATING ART
The current season 3 is the beginning of the end of Zoey being on Black-ish full time. She’s got her own spin- off called Grown-ish (2018- current) and having his onscreen sister on set with him daily is something that Marcus admits he took for granted. “We miss her as an entire family, I think. We had three years of running lines, rehearsals and growing together in front of and behind the scenes. Now she’s doing her own thing – we didn’t think that would come, so I’m really happy that we had a lot of fun filming season 3 [in 2016]. We went to Disney World in episode 1 – you can’t not have fun there! Now Yara is studying herself and her character is too. She’s still living Zoey’s life and she is still going to hopefully visit us in future seasons.”
MAN ON THE MOVE
It’s not just the kids who’re growing up – dad Dre (Anthony Anderson) might be an adult but he’s still learning life lessons in each episode. “It’s the great thing about our show,” says Anthony. “Dre thought that his days changing diapers were over – there’s a baby on the way. He thought that
President Barack Obama
would stay in office forever and he’s stressing in episode 3 (23 September) because the president is leaving office and no one is going to remember the things he’s done. Dre is growing as a father and a man and a son and a husband. Every lesson that we use in the episode, that is something that I can take home with me and make me a better man.” Hold on tight, sitcom fans – the Johnsons are going to do a whole lot of learning before this season is over!