Freeform Renews ‘Grown-ish’

Freeform has given its freshman comedy series Grown-ish a second season, the network said Thursday.

The series, a spinoff of ABC’s comedy series Black-ishwhich won five NAACP Image Awards this past Monday – drew more than 1.5 million viewers in its Jan. 3 premiere, the network’s best comedy series debut in nearly six years.

Grown-ish, which stars Yara Shahidi, is produced by ABC Signature Studios and is executive produced by Kenya Barris, Helen Sugland, E. Brian Dobbins, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne and Julie Bean.

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.