Inspired by another comedy series titled, Black-ish, this single-camera comedy show called, Grown-ish launched first in 2018. Since the release of the first season of the show, the producers have put out a total of six seasons, all focusing on the Johnson family and their kids. It follows mostly the Johnson kids who go through different phases of life and how they enter adulthood only to realize that the real world is very different from their sheltered life.
The show is a creation of Kenya Barris and Larry Wilmore and stars actress Yara Shahidi as Zoey Johnson, Dean Cole as Dean Charlie Telphy, Trevor Jackson as Aaron Jackson, Francia Raisa as Analisa Patricia Torres, and many more as the main cast, and supporting cast of the show. While the original series, Black-ish, focused more on the entire family, this spinoff version revolves more around Zoey Johnson, the eldest daughter, as she moves out of her parent’s place for college only to discover a whole new world.
We see her deal with the new ‘adult world’ where she has to deal with stuff like relationships, drugs, and sex to find her own footing in the world. The show, over the seasons, has taken its time to get a grip on its plotline and has managed to finally put forth a unique and fresh perspective of the college phase of one’s life.
Actress Yara Shahidi has been appreciated for leading the show and keeping the show’s humor alive, all the while being able to portray her ‘college student’ character in a realistic manner. The show, Grown-ish, struggled to air its third season because of the pandemic but, since then, has managed to put in three more seasons, with the sixth one being the last one, which got recently released.
This series, Grown-ish, is different from its parent series, Black-ish, in the sense that the latter focuses more on how this black family, especially the kids, adjust to the American culture, the bias they have to face, and their struggles while growing up, where the former focuses primarily on Zoey’s young adult life and troubles and life-lessons, she goes through.
If you are curious to find out where this hilarious comedy series was filmed, then continue scrolling till the end.
Grown-ish’s Filming Locations
California
Fans who have watched the show would know that Zoey Johnson wished to move to New York University for her college, but she ended up choosing California University of Liberal Arts over it, just to be close to her family. The show refers to the university as ‘Cal U,’ but be aware that as realistic as it sounds, the university does not actually exist.
The show got the chance to do heavy portions of its shoot at the Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California, which is why the show may have felt so familiar to many. The entire university setting is also set up at the Disney Studio. However, the show’s filming seemed to have reached a halt due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which ended up delaying the fourth season of the show.
But once the pandemic settled down a bit, the shoot seemed to have begun again at the Walt Studios. In the series, the Johnson family is shown to have their place, where the family lives knit together, in Los Angeles City, also located in California. Because of this reason, parts of the show were filmed in Los Angeles, though once again, due to the pandemic, the third season seemed to have suffered.
Zoey’s younger siblings remained in school throughout the show, and the set for the school was also created within the studio as a set. Most of what has been used and shown in this comedy series are sets created specifically for the show at the Walt Disney Studios.
A lot of creative work and thought has gone into the process of building the Johnson family’s house, their separate rooms, Zoey’s dorm room, the university campus, the kid’s school, and so much more.
Also Read: Knight Rider Filming Locations: The Visuals and Sets
