Season 8 Discussion

[LisaM]

I had stopped watching about a year ago and tuned back in for the last two episodes. Loved the funeral and the dancing with the cast/crew. My favorites have always been Jack and Diane; its been great watching them grow up. 

[Empress1]

10 hours ago, anna0852 said:

I'm guessing the Winebrary didn't survive the pandemic so Poppy got her real-estate license 😁

That was a great goodbye! And those pictures at the end. The kids were just babies!

Why do they always have that actress in such bad wigs?! Her Single Parents wig was bad too, but this one was worse.

I’d forgotten how young the twins were when the show started. The kid who plays Jack was particularly adorable.

[txhorns79]

12 hours ago, coconspirator said:

I kind of wish they had started some of tonight’s events last week so it didn’t feel so rushed

It was odd to me that Ruby and Pops got an entire episode dedicated to their leaving and saying good bye two episodes ago, but neither actually left.  Now that I think of it, their storyline would have made for a better final episode.  The two of them leaving to be on their own felt more natural than Dre randomly deciding to dramatically uproot his life with a job change and a move. 

[Mr. Sparkle]

I will say after watching the interviews afterwards that Jenifer Lewis was either perfectly cast, or they just decided to base Ruby on her real personality. 

[Irlandesa]

2 hours ago, txhorns79 said:

The two of them leaving to be on their own felt more natural than Dre randomly deciding to dramatically uproot his life with a job change and a move. 

Yeah. Their new house was nice but it felt irresponsible for Dre to quit his job just as they were buying it. 

I've never been a fan of BIG CHANGES finales where everyone ends up changing their lives and making them different than how we spent 8 (or however many) years we had with them. 

My favorite part was looking at the new owners speaking English to one another as they enjoyed their new house but pivoted to "No hablamos ingles" when the neighbor stopped by with taco salad.

[SoMuchTV]

8 hours ago, LisaM said:

I had stopped watching about a year ago and tuned back in for the last two episodes. Loved the funeral and the dancing with the cast/crew. My favorites have always been Jack and Diane; its been great watching them grow up. 

You should go back and watch the 3rd-to-last episode then. It had a cute montage of the twins through the years. At the time I wondered why they were doing that, not realizing how close we were to the end. 
 

oh I take that back- it was just last week’s episode. Still cute though.  

Edited April 20, 2022 by SoMuchTV
Wrong week!

[Shermie]

On 3/30/2022 at 6:06 PM, Madding crowd said:

I’m over Diane being threatening and scary, why can’t she be a normal girl?

I always liked it. Why do sitcom girls have to be either cute or sassy-cute? I like one that’s balls-to-the-walls brassy.

On 4/9/2022 at 7:11 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

Can you put an RV on a riverboat? Without it sinking to the bottom of the river? 🤔

You’ve heard of ferries, right? And cruise ships with 5000 people on them? And ships filled with shipping containers that are filled with cars and even RVs.

It was a pretty good finale. Yes, the trope of changing everything and then people complain about that. But if a finale has them carrying on as usual (Cheers, for example) then people complain nothing new happened. Can’t win.

The addition of Davonte was a mistake, to be sure. But that’s another sitcom trope, a surprise pregnancy as the kids age to keep some younger kids on the show. Growing Pain, Family Ties, Roseanne, etc all did it, and it was stupid for all. Some little kids can act (the Oleson twins) but it’s a gamble when you cast a preschooler. In the case of Black-ish, adding a kid wasn’t even necessary. There was enough plot potential already - they had 4 kids, 2 workplaces and grandparents. If they really wanted to have a younger kid on the show, I would have preferred they did what the Cosby Show did - have a stepkid show up, or maybe add a cousin or something. But I contend it wasn’t necessary for this show.

Anyway, another network show done. I’m watching fewer all the time as streaming options fill my tv time. Not many network shows left on my “must watch” list.

I liked the Jack and Diane montage last week, the grandparents (pre) farewell the week before, and the workplace farewell this week. Glad to see Zoe there. The coffin was a bit much. I get doing some sort of ceremony to say goodbye to your house, but that was a no for me. 

[charmed1]

Damn it Kenya. I always said I wanted “As” played at my home going service. Now all my mourners will think I got it from this show. Ah well. It was nice seeing all the people who made Black-ish possible in the last scene. I spotted Marsai’s parents and Miles’ father too. I couldn’t help but think of Deon. He is really struggling after his mother’s death.

Speaking of Deon, I really wish more of the awards had been spread amongst the rest of the cast besides Anthony and Tracee. They’re all so talented. I’m sad to see the show end, but I’m looking forward to see what the future holds for all these talented folks.

[Marley]

I dislike finales like this. I’m glad the show is over tho it has gotten stupid recently.

Dre and Bow are buying a bigger more expensive  house so Dre decides he’s quitting his job. Seems smart lol. 

The funeral was a bit ridiculous. I liked the dancing tho that was nice.

[tennisgurl]

The funeral for the house and the dancing with the whole cast was definitely the highlight of the episode, a very nice sendoff. The show has certainly not been of very high quality for quite some time, but I am still glad that this show existed, I can now think back on when this show really was great. Loved seeing the cast in their early years, Jack and Diane have grown so much, I forgot how little they were in the start of the show. Pretty decent finale, I felt like Dre quitting his job and everyone moving felt a little more like the show wanted to see things change for the Johnsons as the show ended than it happening for any real plot reasons, especially after the whole thing with Dre getting his big promotion, but it was still pretty good. Not a lot of laughs, but some real sincerity. 

Of course they had to get just one more celebrity guest star in before the show ended. 

Edited April 21, 2022 by tennisgurl

[Empress1]

6 hours ago, Marley said:

Dre and Bow are buying a bigger more expensive  house so Dre decides he’s quitting his job. Seems smart lol. 

And they’re about to only have one kid at home, and they’re going to have two kids in college at the same time. This would be a good time to downsize.

[Traveller519]

Well it's good to know there's one thing Simone Biles doesn't kick ass at, acting. There's hope for the rest of us!

But she was serviceable for what she needed to do and it was nice to have a quick cameo in the final episode. 

I'm glad they left with Dre and Bow agreeing on something form the jump and following through. I don't think they needed to have one more fundamental disagreement on how to handle a situation. I hope their new situation works out for them.

Yara's role with the original show this past year was really strange, but glad she was there for the final scene.

[Marley]

How much would that house be to buy tho? It looked like it had a good view and was pretty big. It would be millions. I know Dre and Bow were making good money but I didn’t think they had that kind of money.

[Joimiaroxeu]

Meth camper, lol. There must not have been a restrictive HOA in that neighborhood because some places won't let residents have an RV by their house for more than a short amount of time.

Wait, why was Dre back in Stevens' department? I thought he got promoted upstairs? And then took a leave of absence?

I didn't realize how tiny Simone Biles is. Anthony was looking down at her and he's not really tall himself.

Wonder when this episode was filmed? They were still doing some forced perspective camera angles and occasional social distancing. It was odd to see now.

So where were they going to take that casket?

I actually got teary-eyed when As starting playing. Perfect send-off song.

Quote

You’ve heard of ferries, right? And cruise ships with 5000 people on them? And ships filled with shipping containers that are filled with cars and even RVs.

Gosh, no! I live in a tundra and my awareness is completely water vessel-free. 🙄 (FFS, I did not think all riverboats were necessarily constructed to carry freight. The one I've been on certainly wasn't.)

[JenLily]

I really liked the finale. The homegoing ceremony was such a nice way to say goodbye. I admit to getting teary-eyed when Dre and Rainbow were talking to each other in the empty house. You could really see that it was Anthony Anderson and Tracee Ellis Ross saying those words to each other and it touched me. I know the show hasn't been amazing for a little while now but I loved it and I'll miss it.

[needschocolate]

I liked the finale.  Seemed rushed and not necessarily good decision making on Dre's part (probably a bad time to quit his job).

But, as I watched this episode, I wondered why we didn't get to see this grown-up version of Dre more often instead of the man-baby he was in so many episodes.  

[nilyank]

I didn't get the idea of having a casket but once they started dancing and everyone from the show showed up, it all made sense.

On 4/21/2022 at 3:59 PM, Empress1 said:

And they’re about to only have one kid at home, and they’re going to have two kids in college at the same time. This would be a good time to downsize.

Three based on the Grown-ish summer promo.

 

On 4/21/2022 at 6:15 PM, Marley said:

How much would that house be to buy tho? It looked like it had a good view and was pretty big. It would be millions. I know Dre and Bow were making good money but I didn’t think they had that kind of money.

Well they did have all cash offer for the original house so maybe they got a good price.

[Welshman in Ca]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:15 PM, Marley said:

How much would that house be to buy tho? It looked like it had a good view and was pretty big. It would be millions. I know Dre and Bow were making good money but I didn’t think they had that kind of money.

For her job in a big LA hospital she probably earns well above $1 million a year.

[Empress1]

On 4/21/2022 at 7:10 PM, Joimiaroxeu said:

I didn't realize how tiny Simone Biles is. Anthony was looking down at her and he's not really tall himself.

She’s like 4’9” - definitely under 5’.

On 4/23/2022 at 9:17 PM, nilyank said:

Three based on the Grown-ish summer promo.

Oh, Junior must be giving college another shot. I stopped watching Grown-Ish a while ago. Zoe must have graduated by now.

[Shermie]

On 4/21/2022 at 3:59 PM, Empress1 said:

And they’re about to only have one kid at home, and they’re going to have two kids in college at the same time. This would be a good time to downsize.

I don’t get the idea that parents whose kids are grown suddenly should downsize to a small house. If they want to, sure. But my parents hosted all the family gatherings for years after us kids grew up, and the family got bigger as we had families of our own. Now we do that with our kids and grandkids. If I lived in a little house or condo, we could never comfortably have all of our own kids and grandkids over at the same time, much less have a meal together. 

Plus, many kids in their 20s come back to live with their parents again because home ownership or even rent is unaffordable and finding good-paying work at that age is difficult, unfortunately. My younger kids and their spouses all went back to get their Masters so they would be considered for good paying jobs and eventual promotions. It’s not like when I was young, and you could get a decent job straight out of high school (or even as a dropout) that would be there for your entire life with a big union retirement package at the end. 

Dre and Bow’s finances have always been a mystery to me, as far as spending goes. Obviously she makes 7 figures as a surgeon, but does an ad exec really make enough to justify spending tens of thousands on sneakers and clothes every year?

As far as affording that beautiful house, I’m wondering if Dre’s parents have been contributing financially over the years since they’ve been living there. It would seem fair.

[Empress1]

10 minutes ago, Shermie said:

I don’t get the idea that parents whose kids are grown suddenly should downsize to a small house. If they want to, sure. But my parents hosted all the family gatherings for years after us kids grew up, and the family got bigger as we had families of our own. Now we do that with our kids and grandkids. If I lived in a little house or condo, we could never comfortably have all of our own kids and grandkids over at the same time, much less have a meal together. 

Plus, many kids in their 20s come back to live with their parents again because home ownership or even rent is unaffordable and finding good-paying work at that age is difficult, unfortunately. My younger kids and their spouses all went back to get their Masters so they would be considered for good paying jobs and eventual promotions. It’s not like when I was young, and you could get a decent job straight out of high school (or even as a dropout) that would be there for your entire life with a big union retirement package at the end. 

Dre and Bow’s finances have always been a mystery to me, as far as spending goes. Obviously she makes 7 figures as a surgeon, but does an ad exec really make enough to justify spending tens of thousands on sneakers and clothes every year?

As far as affording that beautiful house, I’m wondering if Dre’s parents have been contributing financially over the years since they’ve been living there. It would seem fair.

Pops said he was grateful for saving $36K in rent so I doubt they were contributing anything significant financially (though the child care they provided is significant).

Re: downsizing, I think it makes sense for them because they’re going to have a lot of expenses and a reduced income. three kids in college is a ton of money and Dre just quit his job. They could downsize and still be in a place big enough to host the family - there’s a lot of room between small condo and the huge house they ended up with.

[possibilities]

I was more worried about how they were going to childproof that house for Devonte. It looked like a deathtrap for a young kid.

[KittyQ]

RE: S08.E11: The (Almost) Last Dance

Still catching up on the remaining episodes.

I agree with some of the other posters, my recollection was that Pops was NOT a great dad, and he either split when Dre was a kid or Ruby kicked him out, so Dre's rosy-colored memory of the three of them in the past was more like wishful thinking. 

I have a little more sympathy for Dre's financial panic because I think if a person spent a significant part of their life worrying about money, it doesn't go away completely even if they are making a good salary. What people don't always realize about retirement is that it means that you no longer have a job. That is completely contrary to how many of us spent our lives - pushing for the next job or promotion. Once that stops, it can make you question what you are doing with your life. Like the dog who caught the car and doesn't know what to do with it. :-)

 

[Sile]

On 4/26/2022 at 8:08 AM, Shermie said:

Dre and Bow’s finances have always been a mystery to me, as far as spending goes. Obviously she makes 7 figures as a surgeon, but does an ad exec really make enough to justify spending tens of thousands on sneakers and clothes every year?

.

Bow is an anesthesiologist, not a surgeon (although I'm sure she wouldn't mind you thinking that).  She's definitely making excellent money, but not surgeon-level dough.

I have to admit that I teared up a little at the end, but not about the show.  New Orleans funerals always do that to me.

[KittyQ]

It seemed like a lot of time was compressed in that episode - No sooner do Dre and Bow decide to move than it is a done deal, and even the furniture it out of the house well before the moving day / homegoing celebration. It was a little too quick to squeeze all that in. Ironically, Ruby and Pops still hadn't taken off in their RV by then. I guess you could rationalize that they came back and put the RV in the driveway for the ceremony, but...

As others have said, it also seemed as though Dre and Bow chose to make several huge changes to their lives all at once, which most people try to avoid doing. If they have a really comfortable financial situation, they could probably ride out any bumps caused by Dre not having a new job yet and what is bound to be a bit higher mortgage payment. 

TBH, the first thing I thought when I saw the coffin was that it was a great expense to go through just to say some nice things and throw roses in it. Plus the band! But - suspension of disbelief is necessary here. The street dancing with all the neighbors (who I guess were not just the actors, but the crew) was touching, though! Everyone looked so happy/sad. 

[King of TV]

The finale was very underwhelming. It moved way too fast. I heard it only had an extra minute because of the credits. There wasn't much build up to the events leading up to the finale throughout the rest of the season. It was a mangled mess when Dre and Bow announced that they were moving. Zoey barley appeared at all (I'm surprised she even showed up at all). The funeral for the house was tacky. Not the worst finale I've seen, but this would rank below average in my opinion. Also should've included a scene where Junior is about to go to college. 

[Johnny Dollar]

Thirty plus years ago, I worked with an anesthesiology practice that was not in a large metro area, and the principals there were each making over half a million. Bo making seven figures is not that far fetched. 

[King of TV]

Glad they finally decided to put a cap on Black-ish, things started to get very stale, especially towards the end. It was time to wrap everything up once and for all. 

[BluBarbi98]

This show had it's ups and downs but I mostly liked it and will miss it now that it's gone.