Even as ‘Black-ish’ Ends, Here’s How the ‘-ish’ Franchise Remains Lucrative For Disney
variety.comMichael Schneider Variety Editor at LargeThere’s a bit of serendipity that some of ABC’s “Black-ish” takes place at an advertising agency, where Andre Johnson (played by Anthony Anderson) works.
Throughout eight seasons of “Black-ish,” viewers have seen Dre dream up with ways to capitalize and promote various brands, both fictional (“Boxable”) and not (Starbucks).As Dre was helping brands expand their footprint, so too was “Black-ish” turning into a lucrative and far-reaching franchise itself for Disney, ABC and creator Kenya Barris.
The comedy concludes its eight-season run on April 19, but that doesn’t mean the end of the “-ish” universe. The show has already spawned multiple spin-offs, including “Mixed-ish” (which ran from 2019 to 2022) and Freeform’s “Grown-ish” — which will now continue with a new focus, as Junior (Marcus Scribner) enters college just as Zoey (Yara Shahidi) graduates. (Another potential spinoff, “Old-ish,” never made it to air.) Barris continues as an executive producer of the universe, but he exited the day-to-day oversight of “Black-ish” several years ago.
That duty fell to showrunner Courtney Lilly, who worked on both “Black-ish” and “Mixed-ish” and is now also transferring over to “Grown-ish,” where he has taken over the reins along with Zakiyyah Alexander.
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