The cast handles the whip-smart dialogue perfectly. It’s hardly a surprise Barris and Rashida Jones are terrific, but it ain’t easy finding a half-dozen young to very young actors who are so authentic, so skilled at comedic timing, so good at creating original characters who are believable even in his heightened comedic atmosphere. And oh, the subjects “#blackAF” tackles with hilarious, unblinking truth and humor.

It seems like anything can happen on #blackAF. It’s that kind of unpredictability and refreshing tone that make the idea of future #blackAF seasons exciting—as long as Barris continues to follow the advice his character gets from Tyler Perry: “Tell your own experience. Can’t nobody tell you how to be you.”

It’s the Curb Your Enthusiasm to Black-ish’s Seinfeld, with monologues interspersed throughout that tackle fraught issues within the black community, like materialism and fatherhood. These interludes can be illuminating, but they—along with the framing device and too many tired family-sitcom plots (e.g., Mom and Dad do drugs)—slow the already languid pace. More engaging are scenes that depict Barris’ professional life. ... Barris’ Larry-David-like self-awareness lends authenticity to his performance. Even if it takes another season to perfect, #blackAF feels substantial enough to justify the investment.

“#blackAF” is funny and audacious in many of the same ways [as “black-ish”] — “Curb Your Enthusiasm” to its predecessor’s “Seinfeld.” But there are an awful lot of echoes and repetitions: themes that might have been explored on “black-ish,” story lines and character dynamics that already were explored on “blackish.” “#blackAF” finds its voice immediately. It takes longer to suggest its purpose — that is, what Barris can say here that he couldn’t and hasn’t already.

“#blackAF” is a messy show about the mess of making television. ... The other seven episodes blur into one another, lacking story or situation. I couldn’t get enough of Jones as a loving, self-absorbed, rich-bitch mom, and I will never complain about a Nia Long cameo, especially one in which she’s playing a hustler publicist. But “#blackAF” desperately needs fewer riffs and an expanded character universe to leaven its atmosphere of crushing self-indulgence.

It feels like a kind of confessional — although it rarely rises above surface-level self-aggrandizing — and it meanders due to the absence of a clearly expressed series arc. ... Except for the occasional one-liner that lands, it’s just not funny, and is often tedious to watch.

“#blackAF” is the most outright mean-spirited series about family life in memory, and one that seems driven by an impulse toward revealing the worst possible side of Barris’ comic avatar, one that makes the show feel at times cruel to watch.

I love Black-ish and Girls Trip and enjoy Grown-ish. This is first thing Kenya Barris has done that I’m not a big fan of. It’s got its moments, but there’s a lot of awkward preachy or poorly edited sequences.

Who gives a **** about rich people at this time in our history? It's basically trying to be a "blac" (whatever that means) version of modern family. Not funny unless you are in the 1%.

Yeah this show isn’t it man and even the title isn’t fitting. The story is just weird and is basically bright people trying to prove their blackness in various ways, but doesn’t have a audience. Plus for a show to be called Black*F, their is no brown nor dark skins smh. Just another Blackish, smh

Some video clips of a man being a bad, rude and dumb parent but absolutely not in a funny way, and some other people moving their limbs around and talking cringe. All the modern elements like vertical videos, Instagram posts and stuff about technology are so unnatural. There is no link between the stuff we see in the chaotic first 90% of an episode and the very allegedly-wholesome last 10%. Even the names of episodes are trying to hide under the racial inequality which felt like the only spot left to hide for such a terrible work, believeing (rightously) hopefully that the racial inequality is a fact that shouldn't be questioned (again, rightously, don't get me wrong). Low.