Yara Shahidi’s portrayal of Zoey, pictured, resonated with viewers. (FreeForm)
The highly anticipated “Black-ish” spin-off, “Grown-ish,” debuted on FreeForm Wednesday, Jan. 3 and viewers were delighted. Starring Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson navigating her way through college at Cal U. Much like its parent series, the two episodes focused on real issues โ including drug use.
While the first episode primarily focused on Zoey meeting new friends and taking an oddly timed drone night class, the second one explored her struggle to balance her social life and classes. When it comes down to the need to concentrate on writing a 25-page paper, Zoey buckles down and pops anย Adderall. And while it doesn’t work out so well with the paper, she managed to drop $3,000 on shoes before nodding off. Still, the blue pill helps her get the job done with the paper the next night.
As such, depiction on both episodes won praise from college-aged viewers who felt it accurately depicted university life.
I appreciate that #Grownish is real about what college life is about.
It has the class and people. It also has the partying, drinking, and drug use.
And Yara curses.
— Jawn Flick (@kidnoble) January 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/steelei824/status/948729479903498245
Struggling to write a paper at 2am….. yep I've been there. #grownish pic.twitter.com/Ynqe0IyCmn
— Camyl ๐๐ (@CammyBxoxo) January 4, 2018
I'm liking #GrownIsh but could we have gotten at least halfway through the season before we got to the drug addiction storyline? pic.twitter.com/pk3d73xBal
— ๐ท๐๐๐๐ข๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ (@HuskyBro_Inc) January 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/Cgaski3/status/948733249345544192
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But ahead of the season premiere, folks expressed their displeasure with the overwhelming representation of light-skinned Black stars.
https://twitter.com/tylasade/status/948381813319356416
https://twitter.com/wanestal/status/947998015465443328
https://twitter.com/SWEETSONES/status/948902578942816256
In December, one person even said they won’t tune into the show because of Shahidi’s apparent racial ambiguity.
https://twitter.com/darfucius/status/940925517703925760
Shahidi didn’t let the criticism fall on deaf ears. She addressed the tweet head-on on her own account.
https://twitter.com/YaraShahidi/status/941218444115976192
