Comments on: Colored But Canceled: On Our Own

By: Dawn M.

Dawn M. — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 21:02:53 +0000

I watched EVERY episode of this show, as I was about 10 or 11 and TGIF was my big “thing.” Anyway, even at that age I remember thinking “He couldn’t REALLY be their brother.” Just so happens a lot of people must have thought that way, as the producers of the series did an episode touching on the topic. The kids found some old love letters written by another man to their mother. Turned out that the eldest brother, of course played by Harris, had a different father … go figure. Therefore, the “color spectrum” issue was addressed. Just FYI.

By: LaReina

LaReina — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:40:24 +0000

I have to say, for those of you who think it is impossible to have light and dark people in your family with the same parents, you might want to do a survey of the American Black population with a scientist. It is not only possible but common. We as black people are, for lack of a better word, mutts. We have thousands of other races, sub-races, and colors just swimming in our gene pools. My friend has 6 other brothers and sisters, 3 of them have one dad while the others have another. Those 3 have the same mother (mixed white/black) and father (dark skinned black). Two of them look like stereotypical quadroons with curly hair and very fair skin and the third is dark as night with slightly less curly hair. Even in my family my mom and uncles range the color spectrum with the same parents. Maybe it’s because were in Seattle, one of the most racially mixed cities in the United States, but rainbow children in one family is not uncommon. I think it may be that way in other cities as well.

By: Corporate AfroPuff

Corporate AfroPuff — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 22:09:20 +0000

What is Hollywood’s obsession with seeing a Black Man in drag? That’s why Aunt Jelcinda kept coming back. Hollywood loves to see a Black Man in drag acting queenie, it’s actually really weird and unsettling to me how much Hollywood enjoys this.

By: Old School Friday: The Jackson Family! | What Would Thembi Do?

Old School Friday: The Jackson Family! | What Would Thembi Do? — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 17:30:05 +0000

[...] came from, the group consisted of Tito’s three sons Taj, Tarryl, and TJ (if you are feeling a Smollet vibe right now you are not alone). Can you imagine being a mixed Jackson? Their very existence is [...]

By: Reginald Dorsey

Reginald Dorsey — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 22:09:00 +0000

Th eldest daughter on Just the Ten of Us was the star of the early Nightmare on Elm Street movies, and the early episodes of JTTOU played off of that, a few times.

By: Thembi

Thembi — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:38:00 +0000

@Kim for one thing, I loooved Just the Ten of Us! jazzfan is right about getting by, too. The Doug E Doug/Flex show was called Where I Live, I did a colored but canceled post on it a while back. TVOne actually owns the rights so maybe they’ll get around to airing the handful of existing episodes…?

By: jazzfan360

jazzfan360 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 21:32:00 +0000

@Kim, Just the Ten of Us shoulda lasted longer and wasn't handled as quality as it shoulda been. Getting By was the show with Telma and Cindy...its Wiki page has a lot of interesting info. They apparently cast Merlin and Deon 'cause they loved their chemistry so much on Cosby. The Doug E. Doug/Flex show was...oh hell, I forget the name, but Thembi did an entry on it a while back. That was a fine show. Wish it was on TVOne or something.

By: bklyn6

bklyn6 — Sun, 07 Dec 2008 03:11:00 +0000

I remember this watching this (at least once) and they showed a photo of the kids’ parents. Their mom was black and their dad was white. Maybe big brother was from another mother?

This reminds me…. Many, many years ago I remember an interracial family (didn’t realize they were, because I was a kid) in my neighbor. The mom was black, dad white. There were four kids. Three of the kids were tan (in hindsight, obviously biracial), but one was darkskinned (in hindsight, obviously unmixed).

By: Kim

Kim — Sat, 06 Dec 2008 05:40:00 +0000

I've definitely written about this show before.
ABC in this era was known for taking shows with promise and funking it up. They did it with that show that spun out of Growing Pains , Just the Ten of Us or something like that, and with that other show that had Kenny and Stanley along with Cindy Williams and Aunt Rachel; there was also a show with Flex and Doug E. Doug (girl you're fixing to have me go write my own post on how ABC destroyed/saved me). Sister Sister started on ABC, ended up on the new WB and succeeded. *(years later The Hughley Show would follow the same trajectory to UPN and crash and burn). I was like 7 or 8 or 9, TGIF was my Friday night.

Basically after this came out, Party of Five also came out and was wildly successful and Neve Campbell or one of them become a huge star. I don't know, I didn't watch...I was like 7 or 8 or 9, sue me.

But Jurnee Smollet did get her shine on before this. She and Tahj Mowry played Michelle Tanner's obligatory curly haired black friend on Full House.

And yea, the oldest brother was extra out of place.

By: Dara

Dara — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 13:42:00 +0000

jurnee was in roll bounce too…which was surprisingly charming.