David Alan Grier on The Carmichael Show, the prescience of Blankman, and repeatedly t

[TMC]

...urning down In Living Color

https://www.avclub.com/david-alan-gr...nce-1828686418

The Carmichael Show (2015-2017)—“Joe Carmichael”

AVC: With shows like Roseanne and Last Man Standing coming back, does that make the short-lived run sting more?

DAG: Well, it was short on a whole bunch of areas, like [NBC] should have ordered more shows, they should have put us on during their regular scheduling, not just as a summer dump. It was frustrating. Those are the most frustrating parts. I mean, I think before our third and final season, we were off the air for over a year. The network picked us up but purposefully put us on a schedule in which we couldn’t even qualify for the Emmys. I mean, I never understood the marketing for that show. We had built such a momentum with critics and audiences, only to be taken off and flounder for nine, 10, 11 months, and then get a minuscule order. We had to fight to get a 10-episode order.

So all those things are frustrating, but the work was always good. I loved working with Jerrod and everyone on that show. Loretta [Devine] and I had known each other since Dreamgirls in 1983, so our relationship, working and personal, spanned over 30 years. So it was really a joy, all those other aspects, but yeah—at least we got on the air. You know, but I wish it would have been longer. I wish we would have had more to do, but that’s out of my control.

AVC: How do you feel about the recent clamoring for shows about working-class families, where people have differing political opinions, given that that was a part of The Carmichael Show?

DAG: Yeah, it was, and also it reminded me so much of my family. I think a lot of what you just said ties into the audience and their connection with the show. That’s really what it’s like to go home and have dinner with your family. Like you said, nobody’s... I don’t know any family where everybody is on the same page about everything, no. And the thing I loved about the relationship of the Carmichaels was everybody was determined to have their say. Whether or not they even knew what the **** you were talking about, it didn’t matter. “I’m going to tell you what I think about this.” It was really fun, and it did remind me of a lot of dinners at my house.

[king of comedy]

Great actor and so underrated.