The Johnsons and black-ish return to ABC with a special one-hour television event on Sunday, Oct. 4 (10-11 p.m. EDT). The landmark episodes will mark the show’s first foray into animation for the multi-Emmy-nominated comedy.
The two back-to-back episodes, which will air ahead of the official season seven premiere on Wednesday, Oct. 21 (9:30 p.m. EDT), will follow the Johnsons as they navigate the upcoming election, with Junior (Marcus Scribner) embarking on his journey as a first-time voter and Dre (Anthony Anderson) launching an exploration into local politics. On his campaign trail, Dre seeks advice from an animated Stacey Abrams, the former Minority Leader of the Georgia House of Representatives. Later, he joins Desus Nice and The Kid Mero on their late night talk show Desus & Mero for a sit-down interview with some hard-hitting questions for the aspiring candidate.
In “Election Special Pt. 1” (10 p.m. EDT) Junior is excited for his first time voting but discovers he has been purged from the voter polls so he does a deep dive into why – trying to understand the systems in place for voter registration. Directed by Matthew A. Cherry (Hair Love) and written by Eric Horsted.
Then, in a special animated episode, “Election Special Pt. 2” (10:30 p.m. EDT), Dre’s colleague Stevens makes an ill-advised decision to run for Congress, so Dre enlists his family’s help and campaigns against him but gets caught up with fundraising and private interest groups. Directed by Cherry and written by Graham Towers & Ben Deeb. Stacey Abrams, Desus Nice and The Kid Mero guest star as themselves.
Animation for “Election Special Pt. 2” is being produced by Jonas Diamond, Executive Producer and Co-Owner of Smiley Guy Studios and Rod Amador, Executive Producer and Co-Owner of Big Jump Entertainment.
