A surprise awaited “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris and his family on a 2016 visit to the newly opened National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington: An exhibit on the TV series was on display.
“I was very, very emotional” at seeing the honor, Barris said. He returned to the Smithsonian museum earlier this month for a splashy salute to “black-ish” as the end of its eight-season run approached.
“It was just surreal. The Smithsonian, as a brand, is tied to things that are lasting, that are part of what the core DNA of this world is. To put our show in that, it meant a lot to me,” he said.
Sitcoms, especially family-centric ones, are more likely to be enshrined in viewers’ memories than museums. Shows such as “The Brady Bunch,” “Good Times” and “Full House” were part of their viewers’ coming of age, with the shows and their characters beloved well beyond their original runs.
