It was just early last month that we heard that the -ish franchise was planning to get even bigger. The Johnson family has already brought us black-ish, grown-ish and mixed-ish, and now stars Jenifer Lewis and Laurence Fishburne will be stepping out on their own to head up old-ish. Ruby and Earl will be moving out and trying to fully rekindle their long-time off-again / on-again romance, and Lewis is already game to hype the "amazing" new spinoff with Fishburne.
Jenifer Lewis recently spoke with Entertainment Tonight about the animated election special episode of black-ish (which aired Sunday, and can already be streamed online if you missed it), and also took some time out to talk about what fans can expect from Ruby and Earl on old-ish, saying:
The show is going to be amazing, we're coming from that Boomer generation that will give some of that tradition and hard love to everybody watching now. Right now it's just in development. Kenya [Barris] is writing the pilot as we speak, so when I get the pilot I will know more. But I do know that we're going to be addressing some of the same issues as we have on Black-ish…We're going to be talking about gentrification, the differences between the generations, how the internet has changed everything, how Boomers are so clumsy with technical issues, and just a lot of bad interacting, aging. It's going to be incredible.
I mean, if this isn't at least some of what you were expecting to see when you heard that Ruby Johnson and Earl “Pops” Johnson would be getting their own series, I don't know what show you've been watching for the past six seasons, but it's certainly not black-ish. This Boomer generation duo is all about making sure they impart some hard truths to their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren, and while some of those tidbits can be kinda wacky and very much rooted in the times they grew up in, much of what Ruby and Earl have to say is exactly what needs to be heard.
Of course, while Ruby and Earl do have some great wisdom to share for younger generations, I'm sure that old-ish isn't going to let us forget about that wackiness I mentioned, or the fact that these two have not had the best history when it comes to romance, especially with each other.
This is why it was such a surprise toward the end of Season 6 when Ruby told Earl that she wanted to try again, and he accepted. You guys? Ruby has shot Earl twice, once blew up his boat, blew up one of his cars back in the day and has also stabbed the man in the neck with a fork. Those aren't exactly typical signs of true love, but, whatever floats the pieces of your blown up boat, I guess. That's how the saying goes, right?
As Jenifer Lewis noted, old-ish will show us Ruby and Laurence Fishburne's Earl as they try life as a married couple (again), and move away from the Johnson family home to a quickly gentrifying community in Los Angeles and interact with their new neighbors, which include old and new faces in the neighborhood. You can be sure that each half of this newly reunited couple will have plenty of (mostly) unfiltered things to say about, well, everything and anything, so old-ish is sure to be a fun ride.
The new spinoff is still in the very early stage of development, so we don't when or if old-ish will hit ABC at some point soon-ish, so be sure to stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest. In the meantime, you can watch Jenifer Lewis and Laurence Fishburne with the rest of the Johnson clan on black-ish, with Season 7 beginning in earnest on October 21 at 9:30 p.m. EST. For more on what the small screen holds for viewers in the coming weeks, check out our fall premiere guide!
