Kenan Thompson’s NBC Sitcom Will Represent ‘Progressive Ideologies’ – But Don’t Expect a BLM Episode
Kenan Thompson doesn’t expect his new NBC sitcom that (finally) premieres in a few weeks to get too overtly political, despite centering on a Black family. But the show, set in Atlanta, will definitely have a progressive slant.
“I don’t think we’re getting too political necessarily, but we definitely touch on kind of the mentality where we think everybody should be as far as like, how the jokes are and what a lot of the punch lines are,” Thompson said Tuesday during a virtual TCA panel for the series. “We don’t necessarily have to have a Black Lives Matter episode necessarily. But we do want to show you know, a nice strong African American cast and a strong African American cast in a professional setting.”
Later in the panel, Thompson expanded on the show’s political leanings by saying that it will be reflected naturally through the fact that it features a diverse writing staff.
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“We want to stay on tone, you know, what I mean? I think, you know, we’ve put together a diverse enough writers room and stuff like that, to make sure a lot of different voices are being represented, as far as current voices is concerned. We want the show to be as current as possible and as forward-thinking and progressing the needle forward on, you know, progressive ideologies as much as possible.”
The show stars the longtime “SNL” vet as a recently widowed father of two who hosts an Atlanta area morning show. Don Johnson stars as his father-in-law, and fellow “SNL” castmember Chris Redd plays his brother. His two kids are played by Dannah and Dani Lockett. It premieres on Feb. 16.
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