Movie Review: AMERICAN FICTION

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/15/2023
AMERICAN FICTION movie poster | ©2023 MGM/Orion/Amazon

Rating: R Stars: Jeffrey Wright, Tracee Ellis Ross, Issa Rae, Sterling K. Brown, John Ortiz, Erika Alexander, Leslie Uggams, Myra Lucretia Taylor, Miriam Shor, Adam Brody, Keith David, Okieriete Onaodowan Writer: Cord Jefferson, based on the novel ERASURE by Percival Everett Director: Cord Jefferson Distributor: MGM/Orion/Amazon Release Date: December 15, 2023 AMERICAN FICTION tackles some tangled subject matter with admirable wit and restraint. Based on the book ERASURE by Percival Everett, AMERICAN FICTION examines who gets to write what, why they write it, and how it’s decided what gets marketed. There are also a lot of family dynamics at play, […]Read On »


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MIXED-ISH: Executive producer Randall Keenan Winston on Season 1 – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 03/27/2020
Gary Cole as Harrison Johnson, Christina Anthony as Denise, Arica Himmel as Bow Johnson, Mykal-Michelle Harris as Santamonica Johnson, Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Paul Johnson, Ethan William Childress as Johan Johnson, and Tika Sumpter as Alicia Johnson in MIXED-ISH - Season 1| ©2020 ABC/Brian Bowen Smith

MIXED-ISH, on ABC Tuesdays in its first season, is spun off from the network’s long-running comedy BLACK-ISH. Tracee Ellis Ross, who co-created MIXED-ISH with BLACK-ISH creator Kenya Barris and Peter Saji, narrates from the point of view of her BLACK-ISH character, Rainbow, who is played as a child in the new series by Arika Himmel. MIXED-ISH chronicles the adventures of Bow’s family – siblings Johan (Ethan William Childress) and Santamonica (Mykal-Michelle Harris), and their parents, black mom Alicia (Tika Sumpter) and white dad Paul (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) – as they navigate the change from commune living to ‘80s suburbia. Randall Keenan […]Read On »


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MIXED-ISH: Actress Tika Sumpter on new ABC comedy – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 02/18/2020
Tika Sumpter as Alicia Johnson in MIXED-ISH - Season 1| ©2020 ABC/Brian Bowen Smith

ABC’s Tuesday-night comedy MIXED-ISH is a spinoff of the network’s BLACK-ISH. Co-created by BLACK-ISH star Tracee Ellis Ross, MIXED-ISH is very loosely based on Ross’s childhood; Ellis narrates the new series as her character’s adult self.  MIXED-ISH chronicles the adventures of Ross’s BLACK-ISH character Bow Johnson (played as a youngster by Arika Himmel) as a child in the ‘80s, with a little brother (Ethan William Childress) and sister (Mykal-Michelle Harris), white dad Paul, played by Mark-Paul Gosselaar, and black mom Alicia, played by Tika Sumpter. (Anna Deavere Smith plays Alicia when the character recurs on BLACK-ISH). The family is coping […]Read On »


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MIXED-ISH: Actress Arica Himmell on Season 1 of the ABC spin-off – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/10/2019
Arica Himmel as Bow in MIXED-ISH | ©2018/Brian Bowen Smith

MIXED-ISH, now in its first season Tuesday nights on ABC, is spun off from BLACK-ISH. In BLACK-ISH, Tracee Ellis Ross plays doctor, wife and family woman Rainbow Johnson. MIXED-ISH, which Ross created with Kenya Barris (who also created BLACK-ISH) & Peter Saji, chronicles Rainbow’s childhood. Arica Himmel plays the young Rainbow in MIXED-ISH (Ross narrates the show as Rainbow’s adult self). As MIXED-ISH begins, we’re in the ‘80s. Rainbow, her two younger siblings and their parents, black mom Alicia (Tika Sumpter) and white dad Paul (Mark-Paul Gosselaar) move from a free-spirited commune to suburbia, where the kids must deal with […]Read On »


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MIXED-ISH: Mark-Paul Gosselaar returns to comedy – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 11/12/2019
Mark-Paul Gosselaar in MIXED-ISH - Season 1 | ©2019 ABC/Brian Bowen Smith

MIXED-ISH, Tuesday nights on ABC, is a prequel spinoff of that network’s BLACK-ISH. Created by Kenya Barris (who also created BLACK-ISH) & Peter Saji & Tracee Ellis Ross, MIXED-ISH explores the childhood of Ross’s BLACK-ISH character Rainbow (played in MIXED-ISH by Arica Himmel – Ross narrates as Rainbow’s adult self), her two siblings and their parents, black mother Alicia (Tika Sumpter) and white father Paul, who is played in MIXED-ISH by Mark-Paul Gosselaar. (We’ve already met Paul’s older self as played in a recurring role by Beau Bridges on BLACK-ISH.)  We encounter the family as they’re forced to move from […]Read On »


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BLACK-ISH: Marsai Martin on Season 3 – Exclusive Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/29/2016
Marsai Martin in BLACK-ISH | ©2016 ABC/Bob D'Amico

Marsai Martin plays younger daughter Diane Johnson on ABC’s half-hour comedy BLACK-ISH. The series, created by Kenya Barris, about an upper-middle-class black family, returns for the second half of its third season on Wednesday, January 11. Diane’s parents are successful Dre (series executive producer Anthony Anderson) and doctor Bow (Tracee Ellis Ross). She has an older sister, college-bound Zoey (played by the likewise-higher-education-headed Yara Shahidi), and brothers Andre Jr. (Marcus Scribner) and Jack (Miles Brown). Grandparents Pops (Laurence Fishburne, another executive producer) and Ruby (Jenifer Lewis) are also often on hand as the family finds humor in topics like God, […]Read On »


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BLACK-ISH creator Kenya Barris on his new ABC comedy – Interview

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN 12/03/2014
Anthony Anderson as Andre "Dre" Johnson, Tracee Ellis Ross as Rainbow Johnson, Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, Miles Brown as Jack Johnson, special guest star, Laurence Fishburne as Pops Johnson, Marcus Scribner as Andre Johnson, Jr., and Marsai Martin as Diane Johnson in BLACK-ISH | ©2014 ABC/Bob D'Amico

Kenya Barris created the new ABC comedy BLACK-ISH, Wednesdays at 9:30 PM, with an eye to putting something like his own family life on television. BLACK-ISH stars Barris’ fellow executive producers Anthony Anderson and Laurence Fishburne.  Anderson plays Andre “Dre” Johnson, a successful, self-made man with a wife and three children, plus an opinionated father, portrayed by Fishburne. Dre is trying to balance wanting his children to grow up with a sense of racial inclusiveness while still maintaining their cultural roots. These issues are germane to both Barris and Anderson in their real lives. As Barris tells members of the […]Read On »


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