‘The Upshaws’ Is Redefining Black Sitcom Storytelling and Making Room for Black Queer Stories

Sitcoms are a staple of cable television. For a long time, and still today, it’s not uncommon to watch your favorite primetime comedies in the evening and then dish about them at work the next day. With the advent of streaming services, TV as we know it changed. But, there are still sitcoms like The Upshaws that still hold onto their cable sitcom roots. 

Like 227, Family Matters, Living Single, Black-ish, and other predecessors, The Upshaws centers an all-Black cast navigating everyday life. The formulaic familiarity that sitcoms provide is alive and well in this series; however, what we don’t normally see on-screen is how Black families rally around their queer family members, but The Upshaws do just that.

“We talked about definitely having a queer character,” said The Upshaws co-creator Regina Y. Hicks. “We loved that it turned out to be the son because we wanted it to highlight the struggles of young Black men in the community and how hard it is for those men to come out, to be welcomed in their families, to be comfortable in their skin, and to live authentic lives.”

While the show follows the Indiana-based Upshaw family, including parents Bennie (Mike Epps) and Regina (Kim Fields), their children Kelvin (Diamond Lyons), Aaliyah (Khali Spraggins), Maya (Journey Christine), and Bernard Jr. (Jermelle Simon), and Regina’s sister Lucretia (Wanda Sykes), you can’t help, but hone in on Bernard Jr.’s storyline and road to accepting his queerness.

“I think one of the things that our narrative, in particular, is so wonderful [is that] the Upshaw family doesn’t love their Black gay son, they love their son and whomever he loves, whatever he does, personally and professionally,” said legendary sitcom actress and director Kim Fields. “Any of those things, we’re there for him, even when he wasn’t sure that we would be.”

Created by Hicks and comedian, actress, and writer Wanda Sykes, two Black queer creatives, the show ensures that audiences get an understanding of how working-class Black families support their queer children, something we rarely see on TV. 

“We knew we wanted it to be kind of a throwback to the ‘90s, but with 2020s-esque flavor to it. And we wanted it to be real,” said Hicks. “We wanted it to be a comedy that if you walked past a house in Indiana, with a Black family, and you walked in, the conversations you heard on our show would be the conversations you hear in any of these houses, but with a comic twist. We don’t pull back with a lot of things, and realism is what we were going for.

But that means selecting the right actors ready to tell these stories with the necessary care. Thankfully, The Upshaws cast was up for the challenge. Simon, a relative newcomer to the sitcom space, was tad bit apprehensive, but found his bearings amongst comedy and sitcom titans.

“I was very nervous going into the sitcom space where the goddess that is Kim Fields was going to be a part of the project,” said Simon. “I was very nervous to be a part of a comedy that includes Mike Epps and Wanda Sykes. Once I got past that, I was good. But I think you prepare for it just like any other role. I took in the fact that he was gay. I took in all these different things about him.”

While Hicks, Sykes, and their collection of screenwriters focused on developing the script, actors like Fields and Simon worked on creating their characters. Fields and Simon play mother and son respectively on The Upshaws and their characters are not only funny and lovable, they’re relatable. 

Regina is the matriarch of the Upshaws, juggling raising her children, advancing in her career, and acting as the voice of reason within the family. Bernard Jr., the eldest Upshaw child, is focusing on providing himself a good life, mending his relationship with his father Bennie, raising his daughter, and dating (his love interest is played by queer comedian, writer, and actor Dewayne Perkins. 

“I was already super excited to be able to play [Bernard Jr.]. Like, for me, personally, I don’t really remember a Black gay character in this space,” said Simon. “We’ve had LGBTQ+ characters in the [sitcom] space. But I feel like with it being an all-Black show and all-Black cast, it was just really new. I think I was reading that the first queer character wasn’t written until the 1970s, which is really not that long ago.”

And Simon’s right. With the first queer character in U.S. primetime television debuting in the 1971 sitcom All in the Family, we are decades away from where we began in terms of LGBTQ+ representation in sitcoms. Simon gets to carry that mantle further with his role as Bernard Jr, giving representation to working-class Black queer people.

Sitcoms are positioned to represent the everyday mundanities of life, but through a comedic lens. Fields, no stranger to sitcoms, understands this well. She brings decades of experience to The Upshaws, with memorable roles as Régine Hunter in Living Single, alongside Queen Latifah, and Dorothy “Tootie” Ramsey, which was her breakout role in the Facts of Life. The preparation for her role as Regina in The Upshaws is in her DNA.

“So, I feel like going into every project I try to see it as a new adventure, a new experience. It’s almost like going into a relationship. Bring the wisdom, not the baggage,” said Fields. “I’m also a director. So, I know how to find my camera, how to find my lighting. Our director of photography who created the look for The Upshaws was our lighting director on Facts of Life. So everything I learned, I’m putting into practice, and I’m seeing it unfold again. It’s almost like breathing. It just happens without you thinking about it.”

In addition to character development, cast chemistry is equally important. The Upshaws cast has nothing to worry about in this department. Watching one episode highlights how well the cast gels, but also highlights how well their comedic timing is. This has gradually increased over the course of two seasons. 

And while season three is out now, we can’t help but look back on season one’s coming out story for Bernard Jr. to see how far he’s come. Bernard Jr. has grown into a self-sufficient adult, but a pretty independent and closed off one. But that changes when he lets his family into his world, starting off with a touching (and funny) coming out scene between him and his mother, Regina. 

“For us to showcase a mother’s love like that was so great. Because with more of that, when we show more [queer] visibility, more kids are going to be coming out. [Bernard Jr.] came out to his mom and she was like, ‘I know.’ And they hugged and they made a joke about it,” said Simon. “Which is why I really believe that representation matters, because if you can see it, the more we normalize it. In five years from now, it won’t really have to be a coming out scene.”

With both Simon and Fields being parents, having a scene like this hits close to home. While the show isn’t one that would necessarily be deemed a “queer show”, queerness exists in everything. So to spend time creating a holistically developed queer character and highlight his own coming out story in a Black sitcom changes the game for sitcoms centered around Black casts. 

“Well, when I read the scene, I thought it was great. And then our writers and our executives, especially with Wanda, Regina [Hicks], and Mike, they worked tirelessly to just keep fine-tuning, but it was all there. There was no improv. There was nothing to fix or get clarity on or anything like that. So you just play the honesty of it,” said Fields. “And for us, again, our chemistry was already there. We are very grateful and we are honored that the culture, so to speak, and all of the cultures within the culture, deemed that as such a pivotal point in content for that type of moment. But really, if you kind of zoom out a bit, it’s really any parent listening without judgment and creating a safe space for their child to share anything.”

With more shows, like The Upshaws, telling nuanced Black queer stories with love and care, the world of sitcoms just got a little brighter. Season 3 of The Upshaws is out now on Netflix. ♦