LOS ANGELES (AP) – On an unusually sweltering late-winter afternoon in a historic downtown nightclub, actress Tracee Ellis Ross and the cast of her sitcom “black-ish” have done some time traveling.
For the series’ season-one finale, airing Wednesday on ABC, the show’s Johnson family has been transported from today’s suburbs to late-1920s Harlem to tell the story of how Pops’ (Laurence Fishburne) great-great grandfather (portrayed by the modern-day dad Anthony Anderson) bet the family’s future against a ruthless gangster (guest star Sean “Diddy” Combs).
The entire “black-ish” cast and crew were under incredible pressure, shooting at breakneck pace at a site out of the comfort zone of the “black-ish” sets on the Disney lot in Burbank. To make things even harder, this was a lavish period piece featuring two busy guest actors with extremely limited time (Mary J. Blige also appears).
The Associated Press caught up with Ross to ask about dancing while Blige sang, her famous mom and her awesome hair.
AP: During one of the breaks in filming, Sean started to joke around, spoofing his own diva persona by ranting and raving about how long everything was taking.