“Awkward.”
That’s the best way Rainbow Edwards-Barris can describe the first time she watched black-ish, the acclaimed sitcom her husband, Kenya Barris, created. Barris’ conception of the show was autobiographical — a black family navigating upper-middle-class American life — and four full seasons in, he still regularly mines his family’s actual experiences for plot. Watching intimate stories about their marriage and children play out on the screen, as if reflected in a fun-house mirror, often made for uncomfortable family viewing.
