-So get used to this face, pretty boy.
-In the '90s, Black comedy on TV is enjoying a moment.
-There was one point in the '90s where there was
the largest concentration of Black sitcoms we've ever seen.
-And print. Beautiful, guys. Dyn-o-mite.
-Fox opened the door to Black performers,
Black talent, Black producers. - The Homeboy Shopping Network.
-But what's really driving this transformation?
-Mo' money, mo' money...
-What matters more than Black and white?
Green, green. It's good for your bottom line.
-Until boosting the bottom line
leaves one star at rock bottom...
-Everybody knew that Martin was kind of falling apart.
- and an era ends just as it's getting started.
-They used Black culture to their benefit
until they were profitable and then deserted it.
♪♪
[ Dial-up modems screeching ]
♪♪
[ Drums beating rhythmically ]
-The '90s really was a beautiful golden age
for Black people on TV.
[ Drums beating rhythmically
-There was a seismic shift in sitcoms, dramas,
or any kind of projects coming from people of color.
-I think the case should be thrown out
due to the fact that I'm in insane.
♪ Do the pocket knife, do the pocket knife, ♪
-Man, it was... It was really exciting.
-My mommy say that I doctor.
♪ We'll be coming 'round the mountain when we come ♪
-You knew Sunday at 8:00 is "Living Color."
-I don't think so.
Homey don't play that.
-You know Monday at 8:00 is "The Fresh Prince."
-Back up! Back up!
Mind your business, that's all. Mind your business.
-You know Thursday at 8:00 is "Martin."
-I want you out. I don't even know why you're still here.
Step! Step!
[Squealing] Gina! Gina! Gina! Gina! Gina!
-And we got "Living Single."
-You are a virus with braids.
-And you're a leprechaun with a weave.
-It was appointment television.
-And it was television written and produced by Black artists
that centered Black characters and life experiences
in ways many Americans had never seen.
That's because, before the '90s,
the few Black sitcoms on TV were written and produced
almost exclusively by white people.
-What you talkin' 'bout, Willis?
-'Cause I don't think people realize how short a history
there is there.
And I'm Naima Cochrane.
I'm a music and culture journalist,
and I am a Gen X-er, which makes me
uniquely qualified to talk about the '90s.
-Marcia, Marcia, Marcia!
Prior to the '70s, sitcoms were still a very white landscape.
-Well, come on, everybody. Eat, eat!
-But that landscape changes
with the arrival of prolific TV producer Norman Lear.
-Norman Lear, although he is a white man,
is the pioneer of Black sitcom television.
- some white folks are better than other white folks.
-When the socially conscious and controversial sitcom
"All in the Family" becomes a ratings success...
- Who the hell is that? - It's Bob.
- Lear earns the freedom to spin off
other progressive sitcoms built around Black characters.
-Now, look here... Don't turn your back on me.
-"All in the Family" spun off into "The Jeffersons."
And "Maude" spun off into "Good Times."
-I hope you didn't have any trouble finding us.
-Oh, no, ma'am. I heard you all the way from the bus stop.
-By 1974, three of the nation's top ten sitcoms
are Norman Lear shows, starring Black casts.
♪♪
-All these shows show kind of a trajectory
of Black progress and Black livelihood on television.
My name's Adrien Sebro.
I'm a professor of media studies
at University of Texas at Austin.
And I teach history of media and television and film.
These shows were, from a comedic standpoint,
talking about what it's like to live
and be Black in America in the '70s.
-But while television is broadcast in living color,
these Lear sitcoms are still Black and white,
as in Black actors being told what to say by white writers.
-I mean, when you have Norman Lear
doing things for Red Fox,
it... it kind of kind of... Kind of dims it a little bit.
It's a big light right here next to me.
Let me introduce myself first of all.
My name is Tone Loc.
Back in the '80s and '90s,
I was singing "Wild Thing" and "Funky Cold Medina."
-We're gonna be free
from the nagging, persistent pain of taxes.
-You know, Red Fox might not have used
that particular saying. - You don't have enough soul...
-And the same... in "Good Times," when they would argue,
I mean, Thelma and J.J... You could honestly see
that certain words were written definitely
by a white person, you know.
-Handsome? You look like a string of spaghetti
with a little meatball on top.
-Actor John Amos is fired from "Good Times"
after frequently fighting with the writing staff
over the show's caricatured portrayal
of its Black characters.
And Amos is not the only one upset.
As Lear begins work on "The Jeffersons,"
he gets a visit from an organization
looking to dismantle white power.
-Norman Lear tells a story that the Nation of Islam
shows up at his production offices
and tells him that they want to see a Black family
who is not in the ghetto.
So, George and Weezy move to a deluxe apartment in the sky.
-♪ We're movin' on up... ♪
- ♪ Movin' on up ♪ - This is the first time
we're seeing an affluent Black family on television.
-♪ We finally got a piece of the pie ♪
-And the show was really talking about something,
'cause, again, we're... We're at a point in time
where this is something that Black people
are... are going through in general...
Embracing this access to this higher level of class.
-Louise, you own an apartment in the building, and she's a maid.
-Now, hold it right there, buster.
Ain't you forgetting where you came from?
-It ain't the question of where I came from.
It's the question of where I am.
-Well, by the time we get to, like, '84,
the show has lost its bite because America had changed.
-The civil rights gains of the '60s and '70s
are helped along by massive economic growth in the 1980's.
-Now the Black middle class has grown.
There's, like, an entire class of Black professionals
and Black entrepreneurs and Black kids in private schools.
-And one sitcom turns that shift in demographics
into the biggest hit of the decade.
[ Theme to "The Cosby Show" playing ]
-Of course, a groundbreaking show, "The Cosby Show,"
a show about a middle-class family
that happened to be Black.
-While the show is a departure
from many of the stereotypical Black sitcoms of the 1970's,
the very colorblindness of "The Cosby Show"
raises its own concerns.
-A lot of folks had the issues with the fact
that it ignored issues of the Black poor,
didn't talk about the social justice issues of the time.
Like, there was no real drama on The Cosby Show ever.
-A dozen chocolate devil's food donuts for breakfast?
-There's bran in those donuts.
-I would say there was a turning point when "The Cosby Show"
spins off into "A Different World."
-♪ I know my parents love me ♪
-That's when we kind of see a shift now to, "all right,
let's focus on the younger generation."
-And that younger generation
is increasingly obsessed with hip-hop.
What began as a uniquely American underground music genre
has expanded out of the Black community
and into the mainstream.
[ Crowd cheering ]
Pop rap artists like Tone Loc...
and Kid 'n' Play topped the charts.
-Ooh! In the '90s, we wore colorful clothing
and had very distinctive hairstyles.
Hey, what's up, y'all? My name is Christopher Reid.
I'm known as Kid from the group Kid 'n' Play.
I'm your auntie's favorite rapper, all right?
Was that a good enough info? [ Chuckles ]
-More than just a new kind of music,
the golden age of hip-hop
spreads to all corners of popular culture.
-Who are you?
-When I started seeing Fred Flintstone rapping,
trying to sell me some Fruity Pebbles...
-♪ He loves Fruity Pebbles in a major way ♪
- I'm like, "Okay, we made it."
-And in September of 1990,
the first sitcom built around a hip-hop star hits the air.
-♪ In West Philadelphia, born and raised ♪
♪ On the playground is where I spent most of my days ♪
-Will Smith at the time was really known as, like,
you know, The Fresh Prince... - ♪ With this much talent... ♪
- the very first hip-hop artist to win a Grammy
for the Hip-hop category.
-This is a milestone in our career,
and it's a milestone in the... the history of rap.
-While hip-hop has many powerful Black producers,
when it jumps over to TV,
the network execs put white producers in charge,
at least at first.
-So the control of production came to
a lot of the white producers at NBC.
So the first season is kind of more of a traditional sitcom.
And once the second season came about
and Will Smith's popularity just skyrocketed,
he himself got an executive producer credit.
-Well, Carlton is not like you and me.
You know what I'm saying? - With those credits,
they're able to hire more Black writers, more producers,
and that is when the show took off,
because it actually reflected
a more intimate Black perspective as well.
-I'm not accepting no prep school, Bel Air bred sellout
into my fraternity.
- Homey, you can stop all that. - No, wait, Will.
-There's, you know, episodes with absent fathers.
-[Sobbing] How come he don't want me, man?
-At one point, Carlton ends up somehow in gang.
-Yo, how you playin' me, Prince?
- What? - Yo, you dissin' me!
-Come on, man, stop it!
-There's an episode where they're racially profiled.
- I'm Henry Furth. - Good news, Mr. Furth.
Your car is safe and sound, and we've got the perpetrators.
-Those aren't the perpetrators.
Those are my partner's son and nephew.
- Partner? - Legal partner.
-You grow up rich, and you still have that skin tone,
that melanin in you... It doesn't matter.
Well, and I think that's what Will
wanted to represent and... and was telling Carlton.
-We were detained for a few hours,
Dad clear things up, and we were released.
The system works.
-I hope you like that system 'cause you're gonna be
seeing a whole lot of it during your lifetime.
-It does run the gamut of real-life experience
and even a Black experience,
even if it's an alternative Black experience.
-And I think you needed a Black person
at the helm of these productions
in order to tell that story in a more sufficient way.
-People identified with it,
and I think it's one of those shows to show
that human stories are human stories.
It didn't matter if you were Black or white.
And so it brought in this great crossover audience.
-But, man, it was just a great show, man.
It was... whoo! a great show.
You know, like I said, we didn't have a whole bunch of shows.
So the ones we had, you know, we, you know, we clung to them.
You know what I mean? - The funniest night
on television just got funnier. - Yes, and I'm tickled pink.
-The success of NBC's "Fresh Prince"
doesn't go unnoticed by competitors.
-The recently launched and struggling Fox Network
sees there's money to be made with Black programming.
-What matters more than Black and white?
Green, green. It's good for your bottom line.
-From inspiration born of desperation, Fox ushers in
a new era of groundbreaking Black television...
- Am I Black or white? - You're under arrest.
- that some people see as a cynical bid
to build its brand. - Well, I guess I am Black.
-And they do it on the backs of Black artistry.
-Peace!
-These home installed dishes bypass local TV stations.
-By 1990, cable and satellite are starting
to lure affluent, mostly white households away
from traditional, over-the-air broadcast television...
-♪ ...from the channels on cable TV ♪
-...leaving a much more diverse audience
still exclusively watching network TV.
-And Fox said, "Okay, this is a market that's underserved,
so let's give them something."
-♪ It's on Fox with you ♪
-Their goal wasn't because they enjoyed Black culture so much.
The goal was profit. "How can we be different?
How can we get eyes away from those networks
onto our network?" - So where can one go
to find nice women here?
-They start by luring away talent
from their big screen rivals.
-We have been to every bar in Queens.
-There was a little bit of a... What I would call
a Black rat pack happening.
There was Robert Townsend, Eddie Murphy, Arsenio Hall,
you know, Damon and Keenen... Really funny Black guys
who were producing and doing their own thing.
-Keenen Ivory Wayans had just came off of a film,
"I'm Gonna Git You Sucka."
-Only thing you're gonna be able to handle, soldier boy,
is a wheelchair. - Yeah.
-Ain't nobody laying a finger on my baby.
- Ma! - And Fox said,
"Let's bring these individuals to television.
That's just money in the bank for us."
-How'd you do that?
-[ Grunts ]
-Fox had the money, so they said, "Here, take this money,
do whatever you want with it, and make us different."
-So, you know, they... they gave Keenen, you know, free rein.
-With this creative freedom,
Wayans creates a sketch-comedy show that will end up
laying the foundation for Fox's Black sitcom boom.
-♪ You can do what you wanna do ♪
♪ In living color ♪
-And what a lot of people don't know is that we shot the pilot
and it took almost a year, I think, for Fox to pick it up.
I'm Kim Coles, and in the '90s I spent time on two shows
that had the word "living" in the title...
"In Living Color" and "Living Single," too.
Ding!
And I do my own sound effects.
You know, while we were all waiting, someone said,
"Oh, I saw your show 'In Living Color.'"
And I was like, "How did you see the show?
It's not a show yet. We only shot the pilot."
Someone had taken the show and bootlegged it,
and they were selling VHS tapes on the street
in Harlem, in... in Brooklyn, in Queens.
And so I knew immediately that this show was going to work,
'cause people were so excited
that they were seeing people of color
doing these crazy, wonderful, funny, funny, funny things.
- Say hello to Mike Tyson. - Hi, Michael.
-Hi, Robin.
-Now that show was a funny-ass show.
- just a boxer from Brooklyn,
and of course, I was a Harvard medical student.
It was a meshing of talent that was groundbreaking.
I'm Monica Swann, and I was a part of the casting
of some of the best comedy there was in the 1990's.
-[Chanting] Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh! Ooh!
-Even if you watch it now, you know,
everything is still funny. - Not guilty.
It still works.
-You just set free the second most wanted criminal in America!
-Strive to be number one, Roland.
Yeah, yeah!
-I want to thank you all for joining us tonight.
- "In Living Color," with its mostly Black cast
soon draws a passionate fan base that is rival,
the mostly white sketch show "SNL," can only dream about.
- Homey the Clown!
[ Cheering ]
- "In Living Color" had a way
of really bringing people to it like a cult.
-I think you got it backwards, son.
-They had mainstay characters... You know, Homey the Clown...
-That's why Homey don't play that.
- Fire Marshall Bill. - Let me tell you something!
-They made fun of Black people.
-Who are you?
-I am the Minister Louis Farrakhan.
-Well, they talked about class.
-He's right.
I've been sitting here for 15 years
with this damn thing in my ear and ain't got one raise yet.
- They talked about everything. - Is that all I'm good for?
To be your little secretary or your occasional
chocolate fantasy? - Shh! Shh!
-The show deliberately pushes boundaries.
-This one's called "Moby Dick."
-I get goose pimply
just thinking about that big Mr. Moby.
-They did push it far.
They were ridiculous with it, Which is what happens in comedy.
-Mr. Moby is a whale.
-I bet he is.
-It did what... What comedy should do.
There were no sacred cows.
-And they really embraced this young, urban, culture
to the max.
The first couple years, that's when you see
"In Living Color" really take form as a cultural phenomenon.
-Super Bowl 24 dedicates its halftime spectacular...
-And it became such a phenomenon
that it changed how we watch America's biggest game.
-40 Years of Happiness.
-Prior to "In Living Color,"
the Super Bowl halftime shows had this kind of edge.
-It's the first-ever all-kid Super Bowl halftime show.
-So in 1992, while CBS was airing
a quaint, Disney-produced halftime show...
-♪ Winter magic ♪
♪ Winter magic ♪
-I know what you guys were thinking.
You were thinking, "Hey, are these bozos gonna make us
miss any part of the second half?"
- Fox counters with their own halftime special...
a live 27-minute episode of "In Living Color."
-It'll be coming on later in the show to let you know
when to switch back to the second half.
You won't miss any of the senseless brutality.
-The stunt pulls almost 29 million viewers over to Fox
while tanking CBS's second-half ratings.
-People turned it off when it went... when it went to halftime
and went to watch "In Living Color."
-...looking forward to a great second half of football.
♪♪
-The next year...
[ Crowd cheering ]
Disney princesses are replaced by the King of Pop.
As for Fox, instead of letting "In Living Color"
press the attack, the network goes into a prevent defense.
-Fox at one point was like, "Okay,
we are being taken seriously now.
We should start to pull back on certain sketches and stuff."
-By the summer of '92, Keenen is in constant battles
with the network's censors
over what he can and can't say on air.
-I made my Michael Jackson Potato Head
looked like he looked when he was with the Jackson 5.
-And Keenen Ivory Wayans said, "You know, this control
is kind of stifling the creativity."
-Something's just not quite right. I know.
-Fox also dilutes the show's appeal
by syndicating it to local stations...
A decision made without consulting Wayans.
- to the maxillofaciary fun.
-Thereby weakening his ability to make money
and to make the show an even bigger success.
How do you put a show in syndication while it's still on the air?
Like, just, like, aah!
-Please welcome Keenen Ivory Wayans.
-In protest, on the season four premiere,
Keenen Ivory Wayans makes his last onscreen appearance.
-We got some new cast members for you to meet.
[ Laughter ]
-♪ "In Living Color" ♪
-Fox keeps it on the air, but within a year,
the entire Wayans family has left the show.
-First up, we got Ann-Marie Johnson.
-It continued after that, but just something in it
just wasn't there, and it's because
the creative force that started it had left.
-Fox cancels "In Living Color" in 1994 after its fifth season.
But the show's early success
drives Fox's programing decisions from much of the '90s.
-All you needed was the one comedy that becomes a major hit,
and, you know, this is a copycat business.
-This could hurt.
-At the height of "In Living Color's" success,
Fox was looking for more of the same.
- Baby, come on out. - You sure?
-Yes, Martin, I'm sure.
-And in Martin Lawrence...
-Is the swelling going down?
- they find their next Black comedy juggernaut to exploit.
-Yeah. A little.
-Do you know what this is all about?
Do you know why we're here? To be out.
-In the early '90s, sitcoms featuring stand-up comedians
are taking off. - To celebrate our success.
-My next guest can be seen in Spike Lee's newest film,
"Do the Right Thing."
-And one of the hottest stand-up acts of the day
is Martin Lawrence.
-Some Black woman went off on me.
"You were out of what?
Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on,
hold on, hold on, hold on." - Martin actually is a cousin
of one of the Chrises from Kid 'n' Play...
he's Play's cousin... And came up in the industry
with Kid 'n' Play and Salt-N-Pepa.
They all worked at the same call center together in Queens.
-It was an amazing array of talent
that jumped up out of that.
-The critical and commercial success
of Kid 'n' Play's movie "House Party"
provides a step up for many screen careers,
including Martin's. - Switch.
-We had a blast at the time, and these are friendships
and talents that, you know, that are around to this day.
I mean, who's bigger than Queen Latifah?
Who's bigger than Martin Lawrence?
- Yo, Chill! - You know, Tisha is my girl.
-You're pretty chill your damn self.
-Everybody went on to bigger and better,
but we all worked together.
It was all family.
-Mr. Martin Lawrence!
-In 1991, Martin Lawrence signs the deal
to make his self-named sitcom.
-Martin was that hot.
You know, if Fox didn't get him,
somebody else was gonna get him.
I'm quite sure there was a bidding war at that time,
and he made the most of it.
-But if you keep running off at the mouth,
I'm gonna have to body slam you.
Now get to going. Roll with it.
-You know, "Martin" is a...
Man, it's a classic show to this day.
-Maybe not necessarily like a high-brow comedy,
but a very relatable comedy to a young audience.
-You know, romance doesn't make sense to me, though.
Think about it. It was started by this little white boy, Cupid.
-The "Martin" Show, you know,
a Black man with a radio show in Detroit?
-I don't know. Talk to me, Detroit. What up?
-One of the things that's really amazing
about the "Martin" show is that he had the courage
to surround himself with strong performers
who could hold their own with someone
who is used to standing on a stage by himself.
-♪ Martin ♪
-There was not a weak one in that bunch,
and then therefore it made the whole show even stronger.
-This hotel is bossa nova.
-And he had this ability to create these other characters.
- It's Bob from marketing. - Hey, what's happening?
What's happening? What's ha-a-appening?
-He plays nine characters on the show himself.
-And these characters were great.
-Now, let me tell you how to take care of my Martin.
-Plays, you know, his own mother on the show.
-Child, have you lost your damn mind?!
You ain't too grown to get a double backslap.
-Or Jerome.
♪♪
Jerome with the, "Ah, eh, Jerome's in the h-h-h-h-h-h-house.
Watch your mouth!" - Watch your mouth!
-Still has a broken and missing teeth and cavities all over,
but still may think he has a great smile, you know?
-Give up the gold tooth, yuck mouth.
-None more famous than Sheneneh.
-What do you want, Sheneneh?
-Oh, my goodness, if it isn't Little Miss Attitude.
-The episode I was on was me with Sheneneh.
His first season, Martin calls me.
He says, "Yo, yo, I got the pilot.
Let me come through. I want to show it to you."
[ Knocking on door, door creaks open ]
So he comes through... Himself and another gentleman.
It was VHS, all this and that.
Throw it in. We watch it.
And I'm like, "Man, this is dope.
You're about to... You're about to win with this."
And he was like, "Man, you need to jump on the show with me."
And I'm like, "Of course.
You hot. I'm hot. Let's go."
And we just start talking about it.
Like, "I don't know. What if Kid goes on a date with Sheneneh?"
♪♪
So I'm dating my homeboy.
You know, I got him... I'm hugging him up every day.
And you know what I mean? Like...
-♪ Forever Sheneneh ♪
♪ Is life a dream? ♪
-But it was one of the most memorable episodes of "Martin."
So it was great for him, it was great for me,
and it was great for us...
[ Laughter ]
because if... if one of us wins, then that might be
an opportunity for somebody else down the line.
-And those opportunities came quickly.
Encouraged by the success of "Martin,"
Fox hires Black sitcom creators like no other TV network.
-And we see these shows, you know, "Roc,"
"South Central," "The Sinbad Show,
"Living Single."
-You know, these shows made it hip and fun to be Black,
which it is.
It's already hip and fun to be Black,
and to let people in, you know,
open the doors on the culture a little bit.
-And all these Black artists
that come through the Fox Network
are all coming off of huge films
and huge spaces of, like, Black popular culture.
-You know, the hottest artists of the day are showing up,
especially on "Martin." - Hey!
Boy, you didn't tell me you knew Biggie Smalls?
Come on in here, man. You know what?
I was just about to cook.
-And same thing with "Living Single."
- I was on an episode. - You got Henn all up over me.
The class reunion.
-And if it makes you feel any better,
keep on picking on the homeless guy.
-It's something about that era.
Those actors, rappers, producers, singers, writers...
You know, we were all looking out for each other.
-Bruh, men need love, too.
-...and... and how can we help?
- Awwww! - Awwww!
-These off-screen relationships lead to on-screen performances
that draw in audiences. - They felt very authentic to us.
They didn't feel like a version of us
that a bunch of white people wrote.
They felt like a version of us that we wrote
and that we created.
-Tuesday, Sheila gets a boyfriend.
-I know how 12 year old boys think.
I used to be one. - "Roc."
-By 1993, the once-fledgling network is now home
to most of the highest-rated shows amongst Black audiences.
-25% of their revenue
or their audience stream was African-American.
If you wanted to watch a show
that focused on Black popular culture,
Fox was the place to watch that show.
-Martin Lawrence!
-Martin's popularity
and authentic, no-holds-barred comedy
lands him the hosting gig on "SNL."
It also lands him in trouble with the NBC censors.
-But I'm meeting a lot of women out there,
and, yo, you've got some beautiful women,
but you got some out there that I got to say something.
Some of you are not washing your [bleep] properly.
[ Laughter ]
-The monologue is censored on repeat airings,
and he's banned from ever returning to the show.
But his fans love it.
The next year, he launches what will become
a half-billion-dollar film franchise with Will Smith.
-Back up off me.
-Man, you don't sit your lanky ass down,
bottom line, I will knock you the... out.
The... is wrong with you? - "Bad Boys," of course,
is Martin Lawrence and Will Smith,
because in early '90s, they were the two Black men
that were on top of the world. - Bad enough?
Come get some! - But Martin's fast-rising career
is about to come crashing down.
-Thursday, It's an all new "Mad About You" day at the races.
- Slap me! - In 1994, NBC is number one
in the ratings on a rebuilt Thursday night... Must See TV.
-It was the lineup that followed "The Cosby Show"
and "Different World" leaving the air.
-You can't go by the audience that night.
It was late. They were terrible. - It's very white.
-I'm... I'm thinking soup, but...
-Basically, you went from a Black Thursday night,
'cause "Cosby" and "Different World" was Thursday night
to a very white Thursday night.
-Thursday, can Martin's new sneakers...
-Fox counters by creating a Black Thursday night lineup
anchored by two of its most popular sitcoms,
"Martin" and "Living Single."
-Only one thing stands between Kyle and a promotion.
-It was wildly successful, and while NBC's Thursday night
is number one overall in all households,
Fox's Thursday night is number one
in Black and Brown households.
-But television reporters didn't seem to live
in Black or Brown households.
-But that Thursday night anchor
was also like critics didn't get it.
People were like, "Who wants to see
a bunch of young Black women, sitting around,
talking about men and... and sex?"
With "Martin," It's too much, it's slapstick,
it's buffoonery.
-[ Barking ]
-And even some established Black actors didn't get it.
- made a great deal of progress.
-The most established being the then sitcom legend Bill Cosby.
-Don't get me started on that dude.
Yeah, I read those quotes back in the days.
Bruh, there's all different kinds of... of Black people.
There's all different kinds of people of color.
You do it your way. It was very popular.
Loved the sweaters. But look how you turned out.
[ Helicopter blades whirring, indistinct shouting ]
So Bill Cosby's shaking his finger
at those TV shows and those comics at that time
that idolized him.
They loved him.
Pshh! Got some nerve.
[ Applause ]
-Meanwhile, the person doing the most harm
to Martin Lawrence is Martin Lawrence.
What makes us so funny, everyone you see up here...
You know, we work hard.
-He was kind of suffering from the results
of... of... of a meteoric success.
There was a little bit of substance abuse there.
-What has been known through tabloids, through papers,
was already that Martin was then with a lot of... of issues
that came to be known as either bipolar disorder
or manic depressive.
-By all reports, there was a lot of tension on set.
He was at odds with most of the cast.
-Violent acts, allegations of harassment,
where cast members, as well as crew members
were threatened verbally... Physically, as well, too.
-And in May of 1996, his private demons become very public.
[ Horns blaring ]
Lawrence wanders into L.A. traffic,
packing a loaded gun and ranting incoherently.
[ Horn blaring ]
After fighting with police,
he is restrained and hospitalized.
[ Police radio chatter ]
More reports of public violence follow.
-Not at all excusing any of his wrongdoings,
but it is heartbreaking to see that these mental-health issues
that are happening came out to violence
and contributed to kind of the downfall of the show.
-The ratings of his show decline,
along with his mental health.
-♪ Living single ♪
-But Martin's Thursday night sibling is soaring.
-"Living Single" is a classic, particularly "in the community."
You know, right, because, as opposed to a show like "Martin,"
which was, you know, obviously male lead,
the ladies ran this.
-You slept with Kyle? You hate Kyle.
I can't even believe you let him touch you.
-We used a condom.
-We had never had a show that was just about a bunch
of single Black women... Hadn't happened.
Wasn't the thing, you know,
and young, single Black women, kickin' it.
-I picked Mary Tyler Poppins, and that's who we're going with.
-They are all just so pretty. I don't know which one to hit.
[ Laughs ]
-I was very aware that we were the first of our kind.
-Might want to back it up, honey.
-And here is a Black show run by a Black woman.
-And Yvette Lee Bowser did a great job
of bringing this Black feminist energy
to television where nothing was like it at the time.
-Well, what about that full house, baby?
-I did not come here to get whacked by these bitches.
- Who you calling a bitch? - All right, watch yourself.
Set it off. - No, it's just an expression.
-No, man, it's a jacked-up attitude.
How dare you come in my house and disrespect my friends?
Man, get out of my house.
-The minute the six of us had our first table read,
I felt that energy of, "Wow, this is going to work."
-All right, look, let's get to the point.
Y'all are not a couple, are you?
-Very quickly, we all became a family.
- Scarecrow. - Mop head.
-Oh, pay up. I win, I win. Give me my money.
- The show's successful focus
on a family of friends
does not escape the notice of network rival NBC.
-Here's the thing.
It has been said that, when Warren Littlefield,
who was the president of NBC at the time,
was asked, "Are there any shows that you wish
you had bought this season?"
he said, "I wish I had bought 'Living Single.'"
- "Living Single" premiered in 1993, right?
And that was the show anchored by Queen Latifah
as the star character
about four Black women living in New York
and their two Black men friends
who live across the hall from them.
And then a year later comes "Friends."
-♪ So no one told you life was gonna be this way ♪
-And "Friends" is a white "Living Single."
-And if you go back and look at the themes side by side,
you will see quite a few similarities.
Quite a few. Except in the paychecks.
Just saying.
-The all-white "Friends" instantly becomes a top-ten show
while "Living Single," airing in the same timeslot
is never able to find its crossover audience.
-You've got your Scooter, she's got her Darryl,
and you've got your...
-And it was... it was hard.
It was hard to see this show receive money
and support and marketing dollars.
It's, you know, it's still a sticky point.
-The same year "Friends" premieres on NBC,
Fox does offer up a huge amount of money
to secure new, diverse programing.
-Today, the curtain opens on a new era.
But what attracts Fox is the promise
of its large, white, male audience.
- The NFL on Fox. - And in 1994, they win
the much-coveted broadcast rights to NFL Sunday football.
-And with that right, they're able to bring in
much more people to their... to their network.
And now they're no longer feeling like the little...
Little brother, little sister network.
Now they feel like they're competing.
They didn't need narrow casting in each market anymore.
-They had built the network to where they wanted it to be,
and there was a new network president that came in
and decided that he wanted to change the tone.
And by "tone," I mean "skin tone" of the network.
And that's when you saw, you know,
all these shows start to kind of fizzle away.
-When the NFL comes to Fox,
the network cancels four of its six Black primetime comedies.
-"Martin" and "Living Single" are moving to Thursdays.
- Hope to see you soon. - Hope to see you naked.
-Only "Living Single" and "Martin" survive the culling.
-This party's out of control!
-Martin Lawrence's battles with his personal demons,
on and off the set, transform his once-loved sitcom
into something fans don't recognize.
-The last season of "Martin" is the season
that nobody wants to talk about.
-There was ongoing allegations
of sexual assault on set or sexual harassment.
-Campbell walks off the show midseason.
Then she sues Lawrence for sexual abuses
endured throughout the run of the show.
The suit is quickly settled out of court.
Campbell even agrees to return for the series finale
with one seemingly impossible condition,
and she does not appear in any scenes
opposite her longtime costar... - Baby, I'm home! You here?
- setting the stage for a different kind of Must See TV.
-Martin, is that you?
-As the series finale of "Martin"
goes into production,
tensions between the cast are worse than ever.
-Tisha Campbell came back, said,
"I don't want to do any more scenes with him."
But the crux of the show is their relationship.
- Martin? - Hey, Gina, what's up, baby?
-Hey. Hey, baby. How you doing?
-The creative team has to make them look like a loving couple
on screen... - Martin, come on, baby.
Let's go. I'll meet you in the car, okay?
We're gonna miss our flight. - Without the two actors
ever appearing in the same room.
-And for the show to have been such a mainstay,
for it to end so poorly and... and kind of fizzle out
was really sad.
But the same thing happened with "Living Single."
Fox decided kind of abruptly to cancel it,
and it just wasn't wrapped up well at all.
-The only thing that has not changed
is the love I have for all of y'all.
- Cheers. - Cheers.
-And I remember that we were replaced with a show
that was wrong, wrong, wrong, because you weren't catering
to the audience that had built you up.
-Thursday night on Fox becomes home to shows
where things crash and burn.
-And that is kind of like an analogy
for the trajectory of Black sitcom altogether.
-What a cute little grill, Carmine.
-By the summer of '98, Fox has dropped
all Black-led sitcoms from its schedule.
- ...TGIF. - Ow.
- It's a wild... - So Fox inadvertently
redefined Black popular culture and then deserted it.
-But rival film studios like Warner Bros.,
who are just getting into the TV network game,
see an opportunity to crib from Fox's playbook.
-Fox's upstart strategy to target a Black demo
and grow their viewer base was so successful
that, when the WB started...
when UPN started...
-Welcome to the first night of the first network
for the next century.
-...they adopted a similar path.
-Good behavior, yes.
-Initially, this leads to an even bigger explosion
in Black-led sitcoms.
-And there was one point in '97, actually,
where there's the largest concentration on Black sitcoms
we've ever seen.
-And UPN picks it up
to the point where there was a joke
amongst Black people for a very long time
that it stood for "You Peoples' Network,"
because there was just so much Black television on the UPN.
So you see shows like "Moesha" and "The Jamie Fox Show."
- "Sister, Sister." - "Malcolm & Eddie."
-They had "Homeboys in Outerspace."
They had "The Wayans Bros."
-But the revival is short lived.
-And once again, typically...
Both those networks did it as well...
When they feel like these shows have outlived their usefulness,
then they'll cut them.
-By the end of 1997, just two years after its launch,
the WB network shifts its focus to white, teen TV.
[ Whistle blows ]
-UPN continues
courting Black audiences a little while longer,
but the balance of power has shifted.
-What changed largely was many of the shows weren't produced
by Black people, they didn't have Black writers,
so UPN and WB definitely satisfied the look
in the search for Black images on screen,
but they didn't ever have the same effect
as the shows at Fox in its Prime.
-By the end of the '90s, the golden age of Black sitcoms
is truly over.
-By the time we get to, like, 2010,
Most of Black programing you see on television is reality TV.
So we had a dearth of Black storytelling for about a decade.
-Only reinforcing the importance of the Black-led shows
that did make it to air in the '90s.
-We have the talent, the production team,
and story writers... everyone.
That is why these shows were so important to this moment,
because they were giving Black artists the authenticity
and giving them the leeway to really construct their shows,
how they wanted to see Blackness on screen.
-And the work was good.
Talking about "Martin," talking about "Living Single"...
People busted their ass to get home on time
to see "Living Color."
Please! You know what I mean? That's good stuff.
-It all happens Sunday at 8:00, 7:00 Central.
-Fox was really the place where so much
great African-American talent got a chance
to work and be seen, because not very many other places
were talking to us. - You know, this decade
was the bridge decade.
And of course, now the box is open,
and we're all, you know, going full force into diversity.
-Time has also helped heal one of the decade's biggest stars.
- Yeah, we got to go, though. - I appreciate that.
-Martin Lawrence has now made amends
with his former castmates,
and he's gotten his career back on track.
Meanwhile, the rise of streaming platforms, hungry for content,
has driven an industry-wide resurgence
in shows controlled by Black creatives...
-Present tense.
- right down to the reimagining of a '90s classic.
-Welcome to Bel Air.
-What the hell is my life?
-And as of now, streaming seems like to be
the best and most free place
to produce Black content from a Black perspective.
However, at some point,
it's gonna be too much for streaming as well, too,
so you might just see the same thing repeat itself.
-I think we're in a better place.
But you could always do more.
I mean, it'd be great if one day, it wasn't even...
we didn't even have to talk about it.
You know, it'd just be like... you know what I mean?
"This is a new show. Hope you like it."