A Tribute to All of Us: A sitcom that represented true black parenthood.
All of Us was a UPN sitcom based on the dynamic between Will and Jada Pinkett-Smith and Will’s ex wife Sheree Zampino.
Duane Martin starred as Robert Humphrey James, a Los Angeles Entertainment reporter on the local talk show Mr. LA, he is engaged to the beautiful Tia Jewelplayed by actress Elise Neal and has a young son he adores named Robert Humphrey James Jr. aka “Bobby”. Figuring into the action is Robert’s first wife Neesee James played by Lisaraye McCoy, a sassy, no nonsense woman who doesn’t get along with Tia and fights for her son’s love against Robert and Tia. Eventually they all become a weird type of blended family that works.
After season 2, Elise Neal exits the show and the format completely changes in season 3 with Robert now single and Neesee, after her condo burning down in a fire moves in with Robert and Bobby making them a blended family once again along with Robert’s best friend Dirk Black played by Tony Rock.
In my humble opinion as much as I enjoyed the first few seasons with Elise Neal, Terri J. Vaughn as Janelle and James Vincent as Turtle, it was the format change focusing on Robert, Neesee, Bobby and Dirk that All of Us truly began to shine and display what I feel is a beautiful representation of black parenthood at its finest. Robert and Neesee weren’t perfect people but they were as close to perfect parents as television has ever shown and not “perfect” as in they had all the answers and never mistakes, no, in fact those qualities are what make them more relatable and believable as parents.
What makes them “perfect” to me is that despite their mistakes or insecurities when it came to parenting Bobby, they always made Bobby their top priority and happily sacrificed any and everything for their son. What divorced couple do you know that would live together for the sake of the child? Or when Neesee finally gets a new apartment and moves out, once again forcing Bobby to go back and forth between homes and making him unhappy because Robert’s home is his home, Robert and Neesee come up with the idea that this time instead of making him go back and forth he stays there and Robert and Neesee share the condo making them go back and forth to be with him. Might sound crazy to most people but there’s something so amazing about two parents doing something like that for the well being of their child over their own comfort.
Robert and Neesee may not have worked as a couple but as parents they’re a perfect team, Robert being the fun dad with Neesee as the level headed disciplinarian and sometimes vice versa is a wonderful combo, and when they punish Bobby with creative fun after he does something idiotic you can’t help but love how Martin and McCoy’s comedic chemistry really shines. As parents of color it’s especially wonderful to see how much love and tenderness Robert and Neesee showed Bobby, when often times with television we rarely see black parents show soft affection towards their children as opposed to always having to be strict or tough due to stress of the world or just being black in America. All of Us was a wonderful alternative to that and showed a black family as loving, devoted, affectionate and compassionate as any other family of any othe race.
All of Us is a very underrated and overlooked series but it’s a personal favorite of mine from childhood to adulthood and if you haven’t seen It I highly recommend you check it out on Tv One or the full episodes on YouTube.
‘Til next time, folks!