Freeform Picks Up ‘Black-ish’ Spinoff ‘College-ish’

Freeform has picked up the Black-ish spinoff College-ish (working title), starring Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson as she goes off to college. Freeform has picked up 13 episodes. It is set to premiere in early 2018.

Both ABC and Freeform are part of Disney. The show is produced by ABC Studios.

College-ish comes from Black-ish executive producer Kenya Barris.

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“Our goal at Freeform is to celebrate the power, possibility and inclusivity of youth culture through our shows,” said Karey Burke, executive VP, programming and development, Freeform. “Kenya Barris blazes new trails in the funniest way possible with College-ish and we can’t wait to get schooled by the incredibly talented Yara Shahidi, who is the perfect addition to our Freeform family.”

Barris, Anthony Anderson, Laurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and Brian Dobbins are executive producers. The show was written by Barris and Larry Wilmore.

"I never thought they’d let me put Black-ish on the air, let alone give me a spin-off,” said Barris. “I couldn’t be more excited for the opportunity to continue working with Yara and the rest of this talented young cast. To any aspiring writers struggling to make it out there, I highly advise adding an '–ish' to any working title you might have. It seems to be the move.”

Michael Malone

Michael Malone, senior content producer at B+C/Multichannel News, covers network programming, including entertainment, news and sports on broadcast, cable and streaming; and local broadcast television. He hosts the podcasts Busted Pilot, about what’s new in television, and Series Business, a chat with the creator of a new program, and writes the column “The Watchman.” He joined B+C in 2005. His journalism has also appeared in The New York Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Playboy and New York magazine.