The show would likely center around Zoey (played by Yara Shahidi) and her first year in college, developed under the direction of Black-ish creator Kenya Barris. Via Deadline:
I hear the idea is for the potential new comedy series, created by Barris and former Black-ish showrunner Larry Wilmore, to be introduced as a backdoor pilot episode on Black-ish this spring. Sources stress that talks for the spinoff are still in very early stages, with no script and deals in place.
This would be a great way to extend the life of Black-ish, although “College Years” TV spinoffs tend to be a crapshoot (I’m thinking of how Saved by the Bell’s kinda failed). As Deadline notes, “Dealing with children transitioning to adulthood on family comedy series has always been tricky.”
There is a positive precedent—The Cosby Show’s spinoff into the iconic young black college sitcom, A Different World. Imagine Shahidi going to an HBCU and doing a modern version of that. It could be terrific.
