Entertainment

Black-ish: The Best New Show, Comedy

Published

9 years ago

June 22, 2015

In this image released by ABS, Anthony Anderson, left, and Tracee Ellis Ross appear in a scene from "Black-ish." The series was created by Kenya Barris, who was motivated to write the comedy about an African-American familys efforts to honor its heritage in part by the unreality of what he grew up watching on television. (AP Photo/ABC, Kelsey McNeal)

In this image released by ABS, Anthony Anderson, left, and Tracee Ellis Ross appear in a scene from “Black-ish.” (AP Photo/ABC, Kelsey McNeal)

Matt Zoller Seitz, VULTURE

(Vulture.com) — All this week, we’re presenting the Vulture TV Awards, honoring the best in television from the past year.

The nominees are:

Fresh Off the Boat
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Black-ish
Jane the Virgin
Last Week Tonight With John Oliver

And the winner is…

Black-ish.

There are a lot of recent sitcoms and sketch shows that plausibly lay claim to the adjective revolutionary, including Key & Peele, Inside Amy Schumer, Jane the Virgin, Fresh Off the Boat, and Transparent. But Black-ish is by far the sneakiest, because when you’re watching it, the tone is so disarmingly relaxed that it takes a while to realize that what you’re seeing is at all unusual. The show’s narrator, advertising executive Andre “Dre” Johnson, isn’t just an educated, upper-middle-class black man with a house in the suburbs, three smart-alecky kids, and a beautiful, kooky surgeon wife named Rainbow (Tracee Ellis Ross); he’s the anchor for a weekly referendum on African-American life, and race relations generally, that’s very specific in its humor but presents every joke in such a brisk, confident way that it feels as though it’s been on the air forever.

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Bay Area

A’s Last Game in Oakland Ends Baseball Team’s 57-Year Tenure Congresswoman Barbara Lee’s Efforts to Save Team Blocked by GOP-Controlled House

After 57 years, the Athletics have left Oakland following a home series this week. Though Congresswoman Barbara Lee introduced legislation to keep the team in Oakland, she could not get the backing she needed from other legislators in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Published

2 days ago

October 1, 2024

Oakland Post

Wikimedia image.

By Post Staff

After 57 years, the Athletics have left Oakland following a home series this week.

Though Congresswoman Barbara Lee introduced legislation to keep the team in Oakland, she could not get the backing she needed from other legislators in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives.

Lee tried 15 months ago, the day before Nevada politicians approved $380 million in public funds to build a Las Vegas ballpark. Lee proposed a bill that would have stopped the A’s move by requiring a hefty exit fee that would have made them reconsider a move.

“That’s only fair,” Lee said in an interview in the Los Times by sportswriter Bill Shaikin. “That’s the only fair way to do it,” she said. “You’ve got to compensate the community, because the community has invested a heck of a lot.”

However, Lee’s bill could not go forward without the backing it needed. First, it went to the House Judiciary Committee chaired by Rep. Jim Jordan, the Ohio Republican. Jordan did not co-sponsor Lee’s bill or permit the committee hearing required for the bill to move forward.

“We put up a good fight. The city put up a good fight, the county, everyone,” said Lee.

“Unfortunately, we are losing a team that really, in the day, exemplified Black excellence in Oakland. It’s more than just the team leaving. It’s a part of Oakland’s history, and our culture,” she said.