When Epps, a veteran actor and comic, began his professional career in the 1990s, such shows were prime-time staples, with series like “Martin,” “Family Matters” and “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” serving as cultural touchstones for at least one generation.
Hicks and Wanda Sykes, “The Upshaws,” which premieres Wednesday, focuses on a Black working-class family in the Midwest trying to get by through tough times and increasingly complicated interpersonal dynamics.
Having grown up watching sitcoms from the 1970s and ’80s, Epps, who is perhaps best known for his work in the “Friday” and “Hangover” films, noticed a dearth of relatable sitcoms based on Black families and friend groups.
“The Upshaws” has plenty of classic sitcom DNA.
If the humor skews somewhat adult at times, that’s by design, Hicks said.
And while “The Upshaws” is reminiscent of traditional family comedies, the creators also wanted the show to reflect life in the 21st century, navigating difficult conversations about love, marriage and sexuality.
In Fields, the creators found someone who could lend gravity as the no-nonsense matriarch and also go toe-to-toe with comic powerhouses like Sykes and Epps, Hicks said.
Black family dynamics have been largely absent from TV comedies for much of the last two decades.
Hicks noted that many Black sitcoms ended as part of a broader decline in multicamera comedies on network television.
Netflix has been making a push into this category of late.
When the Covid-19 pandemic shut down production on “The Upshaws” in Los Angeles last March, the show had filmed four of the first five episodes in front of a live studio audience.
“It was also weird acting,” she added.
Sykes elaborated: “I think the reason why there’s so many shows focused on the past is because we’re trying to figure out how we’re in the situation we’re in now,” she said.