Here's Why ABC Shelved a black-ish Episode Over "Creative Differences"
It was supposed to run last month
ABC's black-ish has never been shy about tackling tough issues, especially ones concerning people of color in America, but a recent episode failed to please both the showrunner and the network, and thus was canned.
The episode, titled " Please, Baby, Please," was due to run on Feb. 27th, and had the following plot description:
Dre is on baby duty for the night during a storm, and the household is wide awake. He decides to read a crying Devante a bedtime story, but when that doesn't do the trick, Dre tosses it aside and begins to tell a story of his own about the current state of the country in a way Devante will understand.
According to Variety, the piece was pulled the week before airing and replaced with a re-run due to creative differences over certain scenes, including one in which Dre and his other son Junior disagreed about the NFL's #TakeTheKnee protests.
Creator Kenya Barris told the publication, "Given our creative differences, neither ABC nor I were happy with the direction of the episode and mutually agreed not to air it. Black-ish is a show that has spoken to all different types of people and brought them closer as a community and I'm so proud of the series."
ABC echoed those sentiments by saying in a statement, "One of the things that has always made b lack-ish so special is how it deftly examines delicate social issues in a way that simultaneously entertains and educates. However, on this episode there were creative differences we were unable to resolve."
black-ish's fourth season airs Tuesdays at 9/8c on ABC. The successful comedy also spawned a spin-off, grown-ish, which airs on Freeform.
