Freeform Picks Up ‘Black-ish’ Spinoff

Freeform will serve as the home for the spinoff of ABC network series Black-ish, the network confirmed Friday.

College-ish, which will feature Black-ish stars Yara Shahidi and Deon Cole, will debut on Freeform in early 2018 with 13 half-hour episodes, said the network.

The series will revolve around Shahidi's Black-ish character Zoey as she heads off to college, with Cole -- who plays Charlie Telphy on the comedy series -- playing an adjunct marketing professor at the fictional school. Kenya Barris, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and Brian Dobbins will serve as executive producers of the series, produced by ABC Studios. 

“Our goal at Freeform is to celebrate the power, possibility and inclusivity of youth culture through our shows,” said Karey Burke, executive vice president, Programming & Development for Freeform in a statement. “Kenya Barris blazes new trails in the funniest way possible with ‘college-ish’ and we can’t wait to get schooled by the incredibly talented Yara Shahidi, who is the perfect addition to our Freeform family.”

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.