ABC is currently developing a spinoff of the popular sitcom Black-ish. Titled Old-ish, the series would focus on Earl “Pops” Johnson and Ruby Johnson, the parents of lead character Dre Johnson (Anthony Anderson) portrayed by Laurence Fishburne and Jenifer Lewis.
Hell yes! We all need some more Jenifer Lewis in our lives!
Variety reports the spinoff series centers on Fishburne’s Earl and Lewis’ Ruby — the parents of Anthony Anderson’s Black-ish character Dre — as they give love a second chance. “When they move to a rapidly gentrifying neighborhood of L.A., they’ll meet characters who represent the old and new faces of the community as they try to make it work as a married couple. Again.”
If it goes to series, Old-ish will be the third spinoff of Black-ish, following Grown-ish and Mixed-ish.
Fishburne and Lewis have played Earl and Ruby on black-ish since the ABC comedy’s freshman season back in 2014. Fishburne has been recurring as Earl (aka Pops) for all six seasons, while Lewis has been a series regular since Season 2 after recurring during the first season.
Fishburne will executive produce with Helen Sugland via Cinema Gypsy, along with Anderson and E. Brian Dobbins.
Black-ish creator Kenya Barris is set to write and executive produce the show, which is somewhat of a surprise. Barris famously left ABC after creative disagreements over the show for a lucrative deal with Netflix, where he developed the comedy series #BlackAF starring Barris as a fictional version of himself.
