The Business
Kenya Barris Draws on Real Issues for ABC's 'Black-ish'
Writer-producer Kenya Barris tells us how he runs his writers room on his ABC show Black-ish, and what led him to write a much talked about recent episode about police brutality.
When Kenya Barris came on The Business in 2009, he had just finished writing for the CW show The Game. At that point, he didn’t know exactly what he was going to do next, but now, several years and many scripts later, he’s got a show of his own -- Black-ish on ABC. He tells how he incorporates stories from his own family’s life into the show, including one recent episode that discussed how to talk to your children about police brutality and the violence they see on TV news.
Photo: Executive Producer Kenya Barris on the set of Black-ish (ABC/Kelsey McNeal)
In this episode
2 storiesHollywood News Banter
TV Guide magazine chief content officer Michael Schneider joins Kim Masters to talk about three lawsuits related to celebrity and privacy in the news right now. Reporter Erin Andrews was awarded $55 million by a jury after a stalker took videos of her in a hotel room and posted them online. Andrews used to work for ESPN, and during the…
Read the story7 minBlack-ish
Kenya Barris created the ABC sitcom Black-ish , which follows Andre and Rainbow Johnson, a well-to-do black couple trying to raise four kids in a predominately white Southern California neighborhood, while still holding onto their cultural identity. Anthony Anderson plays Andre Johnson and Tracee Ellis Ross plays Dr.
Read the story20 min