"Grown-ish" is the TV series teenagers were waiting for. It’s a real, it’s now and it’s here.
And not only is Yara Shahidi a great all round actress, she’s also model and an activist- so the part is absolutely fitting.
It’s not a show that will fully prepare teenagers for when they get to college or when they are in college, but a lot of what the series talks about is very relatable- hack, even I picked some Gen Z buzz terms.
Starring Shahidi in the lead role alongside Francia Raisa, Emily Arlook, Luka Sabbat and others, "Grown-ish" is a spin-off from BET’s Black-ish, a very modern yet creative and funny take on an upper middle - class couple raising their five kids in a white neighbourhood.
While Shahidi’s character, Zoey didn’t have much of a demanding role in Black-ish, she’s proved in "Grown-ish" that she has the talent to pull off her own show, and of course, has won over my heart.
In "Grown-ish" season one and two, Shahidi’s character, Zoey Johnson, steps out into the adult world. She has to navigate her way through university all while experiencing things and learning from it. Things she’s never been exposed to before thanks to her overprotective dad, Andre 'Dre' Johnson in Black-ish.
She enters university - makes a bunch of cool, diverse friends and takes life by the horns.
It’s also great how relatable the core characters are without feeling forced.
I love Zoey’s character - the role suites Shahidi. She’s young, sweet, fun, pretty, quirky, a bit naive but most of all relatable and whose navigating through true-life teenage problems.
I’m talking about entering campus as a freshman, trying to make new friends, indulging in drugs, alcohol, parties, missing lectures, being peer pressured, protesting for what she believes in, finding love, losing love, befriending gays, lesbians, asexuals and liberals and learning from all her mistakes all while trying to earn a degree. We also get bold and unfiltered conversations.
Each episode deals with a new issue in a tasteful and educational way. And it’s so good, it’s just been renewed for a third season… Yay!