After springing a successful spinoff to Freeform in the form of the Yara Shahidi-led ‘Grown-ish,’ ABC’s hit series ‘Black-ish’ attempts to prove itself evergreen by sprouting a prequel in the form of the Mark-Paul Gosselaar and Tika Sumpter-toplined ‘Mixed-ish.’
Executive produced by creator Kenya Barris and Tracee Ellis Ross (who portrays ‘Rainbow Johnson’ on ‘Black-ish’), ‘Mixed-ish’ tells the story of Ross’ character growing up as a biracial child in the 1980’s. Loosely based on the early life of Dr. Rania Barris (co-creator Kenya’s soon-to-be former wife), the comedy series also chronicles the dilemmas her family faces trying to adjust from “hippie life” to suburbia.
Despite being given an extra promotional push by securing biracial Pop icon Mariah Carey to sing its theme song (as we reported here), the series premiered on September 24 to a moderate audience. Details inside:
Viewership: 3.91 Million
A respectable start for a show having to compete with big names like FOX’s ‘Empire,’ NBC’s ‘This Is Us,’ and CBS’ hugely rated, ‘FBI,’ the series managed to rope in 3.91 million viewers. Despite being a far cry from the 11 million its forerunner, ‘Black-ish,’ pulled in for its September 24, 2014 premiere, the critical acclaim that accompanies ‘Mixed-ish’ could see its ratings rise in the coming weeks. [source]