Anthony Anderson to Star in ABC Comedy Pilot ‘Black-ish’
A year after NBC’s short-lived comedy Guys With Kids, Anthony Anderson is back in the pilot mix.
ABC has picked up half-hour single-camera comedy Black-ish, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
From writer Kenya Barris (The Game), the semi-autobiographical comedy centers on an upper-middle class black man who struggles to raise his children with a sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions and obstacles coming from his liberal wife, old-school father and his own assimilated, color-blind kids.
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Barris will pen the script and executive produce for ABC Studios and Laurence Fishburne‘s Cinema Gypsy banner, with Principato Young Entertainment also on board to produce. Cinema Gypsy’s Helen Sugland and Tom Russo will also exec produce with Anderson and Barris as well as Principato Young’s Peter Principato, Paul Young and Brian Dobbins.
This marks the second African-American-themed drama pilot so far this season. It joins American Crime, a racially charged legal drama from 12 Years a Slave writer John Ridley.
For ABC, it’s the network’s sixth comedy pilot this season, joining British remake An American Education, fairy tale musical Galavant,Israeli adaptation Irreversible, Aussie paranormal effort Strange Calls and a romantic comedy from Jeff Lowell.
Anderson, meanwhile, could have two series on the air if Black-ish moves forward. The actor has already been tapped to host [2]NBC’s game show Wall of Fame.
E-mail: Lesley.Goldberg@THR.com [4]
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