Cedric the Entertainer was "acutely aware" The Neighborhood would have a mostly black cast on a predominantly white network

The Undefeated

"It was a part of how I negotiated my deal," he tells The Undefeated. "I was like, ‘Look, y’all haven’t had any black people on here since the second Cosby show.’ (Laughs) I have to mention Jermaine Fowler, the kid who was on the show Superior Donuts … he was one of the lone black actors on CBS. The Neighborhood is me with a black wife, black kids … a heavily African American-related show. I knew our series was something out of CBS’s wheelhouse. The joke was: How do we even get my audience to look at CBS?"