The official trailer for Mixed-ish was released a few days ago and well…. a lot of people are confused. Before we get into all of that, if you don’t know then Mixed-ish is the prequel to ABC hit tv series Black-ish. I initially spoke about my thoughts with my co-hosts a few weeks ago on The Brown Side of Disney. While I am excited for Mixed-ish to be giving it another go at sharing the black experience from yet another perspective, I’m kinda turned off by the name. Though I get it. They have a thing going so why stop a good thing. So I may be able to excuse the name thing. But then.. oh but then, ABC released the official trailer for Mixed-ish the other day. I’ll let you guys take a look yourself.
Mixed-ish Synopsis
In “mixed-ish,” Rainbow Johnson recounts her experience growing up in a mixed-race family in the ‘80s and the constant dilemmas they had to face over whether to assimilate or stay true to themselves. Bow’s parents Paul and Alicia decide to move from a hippie commune to the suburbs to better provide for their family. As her parents struggle with the challenges of their new life, Bow and her siblings navigate a mainstream school in which they’re perceived as neither black nor white. This family’s experiences illuminate the challenges of finding one’s own identity when the rest of the world can’t decide where you belong.
Let me start off by saying I LOVE the trailer. And the concept if the show itself is exciting. I cannot wait to see the world through young Bow’s eyes. And it will be interesting to see how Mixed-ish handles topics such as race, colorism and other controversial issues. Black-ish does a good job of handling all these things in a way that is real, and not too cheesy. But I couldn’t help but notice a couple of things odd about the casting.
Mixed-ish Casting is Just Sloppy
I LOVE Tika Sumpter… LOVE LOVE LOVE! But this was just sloppy ya’ll. Are they telling me that as Bow’s mother aged she got lighter? What exactly happened. I have seen people talking about this “reverse Aunt Viv” all over social media. Black-ish did you guys think we wouldn’t notice? On one hand it makes me sad because we fight so hard for representation for darker skinned women in the media. But this wasn’t it. This was not one of those times. This was sloppy AF and I’m disappointed.
I’m also a little leery about the casting of the younger version Rainbow’s siblings Johan and Santamonica. While it’s not as bad and blatantly obvious as Alicia Johnson, it still made me raise an eyebrow. Everyone just looks so…. different. Either way, like I said originally I am excited for another “ish” spinoff and I can’t wait to see where Mixed-ish takes us.
Mixed-ish is coming soon to Tuesday nights on ABC. Are you going to be tuning in?
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