While in Los Angeles for The Good Dinosaur premiere event, I had the opportunity to visit the set of ABC’s television show black-ish on the Disney Studios Lot. It was such a cool experience to see where the 22 minutes of magic we see each week comes from. And can you believe it takes 5 days to film each episode? Read on the hear more behind the scenes scoop from black-ish.
One of my family’s favorite TV shows is ABC’s black-ish. It’s funny and relevant and fresh and ALL of us – including my hubby – just snicker and laugh out loud each week. Black-ish follows a black family, The Johnsons, adjusting to suburban life, ok really, it’s the DAD who is having trouble adjusting and he is hysterical. Played by Anthony Anderson, Dre Johnson is a cut-up. But he is not he only one that carries the show. The Johnson children, played by Yara Shahidi (Zoey), Marcus Scribner (Andre Jr.), Marsai Martin (Diane) and Miles Brown (Jack), are all fantastic actors on their own.
Photo Credit: (ABC/Ron Batzdorff)
While in Los Angeles a few weeks back, we had the opportunity to meet the amazing Tracee Ellis Ross, who plays Dr. Rainbow “Bow” Johnson on the show. She showed us around the Johnson home and told us some fun behind-the-scenes scoop from the hit ABC Show. You can read more about our time spent with her here. But I wanted to also show you around the set as well:
8 Cool Facts from the Set of black-ish
The Johnson home is set up like a real home. You can actually walk from room to room on the set. The rooms, doors and hallways are a bit wider than you would find in a real home, as they need the room for cameras. Having the home set this way allows the actors to walk from room to room in a shot. Also, the “second story” of the home is set up right next to the first story.
All the walls in the Johnson home are removable. To get a shot from any angle, the walls in every room can be lifted up.
The stairs go no where! The front entryway stairs lead up to nothing. So when you see them walking up the stairs next time, think of that!
What’s the backyard like? The “outdoors” is actually a huge curtain that gets moved around depending on what room they will be shooting in. They place fake trees, lights and a fan to create the illusion of the “backyard”. And it looks pretty real!
From this, to this:
Photo Credit: (ABC/Ron Batzdorff)
There are signs everywhere saying “Do Not Sit or Sleep on the Furniture”. Obviously, to keep crew and cast off of the furniture while shooting is not happening, but do you think Anderson (Dre) and Ross (Bow) listen to that?? Ross told us that their bed in the Johnson home is the best place to take a nap!
photo credit: Melissa Mitchell
The pictures throughout the home are actual baby & childhood pictures from the Johnson kids! it was adorable to see Yara Shahidi (Zoey), Marcus Scribner (Andre Jr.), Marsai Martin (Diane) and Miles Brown (Jack) as babies!
The Art in the Johnson house is real. Ross pointed out that several paintings on the walls of the house are done by well-know black artists.
Dre has the best closet EVER! It was sad to see that the best closet I have ever been in happened to be on a TV show set! Will you take a look at all the shoes in Dre’s closet?!
Make sure you watch tonight’s episode of black-ish.
Tonight’s episode is called “Stuff” where Dre thinks Christmas has become commercialized and is all about “stuff.” No one loves “stuff” more than his kids – sound familiar to anyone?? Pops and Ruby think they have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas and come up with a new plan to pare down gifts and spend more time together. The kids don’t handle the news well and hope that if they put on their best behavior Dre and Bow will cave in. And last week, we met Daphne Lido (played by Wanda Sykes) – she invites herself to the Johnson family home to celebrate with them. I can’t wait to watch it! Black-ish airs on Wednesdays at 9:30/8:30 Central on ABC.
Behind-the-scenes photo Photo Credit: (ABC/Ron Batzdorff)
Follow black-ish on social:
https://www.facebook.com/blackishABC
https://twitter.com/black_ishABC (#blackish)
http://instagram.com/blackishabc
http://abc.go.com/shows/blackish
Check out more of the fun we had on the #GoodDinoEvent press trip:
Making of Disney Junior’s The Lion Guard: Return of the Roar
LIVE Taping of Dancing with the Stars
Creation of The Good Dinosaur with Director Peter Sohn
The Good Dinosaur Red Carpet Movie Premiere
The Good Dinosaur Toys & Disney Infinity 3.0
4 Things You Will Learn from Disney Pixar’s The Good Dinosaur
A Walk with Tracee Ellis Ross from ABC’s blackish
Behind the Scenes on the Set of The Muppets
The Story of the Good Dinosaur short Sanjay’s Super Team
Disclaimer: Disney sent me to Los Angeles on an all-expenses paid press trip, in exchange for my coverage of our time on the set of black-ish. All opinions are my own.
