[Trailer] Netflix To Add 7 Iconic Black Television Shows To Its Roster

Netflix has raided the former UPN network’s library, acquiring the rights to seven popular Black sitcoms, which will begin rolling out this weekend, August 1.

The streaming service has grabbed the rights to “Moesha,” “Sister, Sister,” “The Game,” “Girlfriends,” “The Parkers,” “Half & Half” and “One on One.”

In a Netflix release on July 29, the streaming giant explains how and why these acquisitions came about:

These classics have been at the top of our members’ wishlists – and ours’ – for a long time and we constantly see these shows named-checked in our conversations with them. From the first days of Strong Black Lead in February 2018, our comment sections have been filled with members asking about this kind of classic Black content. So we worked with our content team to make it happen – starting in 2019 with classic Black films like Love & Basketball, B*A*P*S, and Love Jones. The conversation on social media was larger than we could have ever anticipated. And once we had the wishlist of series from our members, we were excited to discover they were available.  

These shows made us laugh, and cry, and sing along with those catchy theme songs. And most importantly, we felt like we saw ourselves on screen – in some cases for the very first time. Every week we were able to tune in to see people, families, and friends that looked like us and characters whose everyday ups and downs reflected Black life in an authentic way. 

“Moesha,” which starred Brandy Norwood and ran for six seasons on UPN, will debut on Netflix Saturday, August 1. The first three seasons of “The Game,” which ran for nine years in total, will debut on Aug. 15. Netflix acquired the three seasons of the black comedy that aired on The CW before it moved over to BET.

Popular ’90s sitcom, “Sister, Sister” will debut on Netflix starting Sept. 1. The series began on ABC before moving over to The WB, airing six seasons total. “Girlfriends,” which stars “black-ish” lead Tracee Ellis-Ross, ran for 9 seasons and 172 episodes and is one of the longest-running live-action sitcoms. “Girlfriends” will debut on September 11 to mark the 20th anniversary of its premiere. “The Parkers” debuts on October 1, followed by “Half & Half” and “One on One” on October 15. “The Parkers” was a spinoff of “Moesha” that starred Mo’Nique. All three of those series aired on UPN as well.

Netflix announced the news via a video on its @strongblacklead Twitter account, where stars from the aforementioned shows celebrated the sitcoms’ impending arrival on the streaming service. The news should help scratch the itch for nostalgia, given that all of the aforementioned shows were major hits in the last decade or two.

Watch the video below: