Insecure tackles the lack of black sitcom reboots

Entertainment Weekly

Season 3's "show within a show" spoof, Kev'yn, was inspired by Roseanne and the flurry of 1990s sitcom reboots, but also as a tribute to the black sitcoms of the same era like Martin, Living Single and A Different World. "Since nobody wants to reboot a black show, we’re going to reboot our show," said showrunner Prentice Penny. So he enlisted Living Single's Kim Fields to direct the fake comedy Kev'yn, starring A Different World's Darryl M. Bell, Living Single's Erika Alexander and former MTV VJ Bill Bellamy. “It was like, ‘Where is our representation?'” says Penny. “They’re rebooting Will & Grace, Full House, Roseanne obviously. We’re like, ‘They can’t reboot Living Single, Martin, A Different World?’ So many of these black shows made these networks what they are today, but when it comes to our value and people wanting to see us, why aren’t we doing Living Single?” Issa Rae called Kev'yn "a 90s dream come true."