I had never seen the original 1992 movie, starring Eddie Murphy, Robin Givens and Halle Barry, so I went ahead and watched it before watching this spin-off show. The original movie was pretty good. It was not only pretty funny, but it had a lot of style.  I'm sorry to say that this new series lacks both style and humor. It's basically just another soap opera with African-American characters (although it's much better than most I've seen on BET or OWN).   This updated version is so careful to be politically correct that it defuses all of the brashness and freshness from the original movie.

Tequan Richmond (who used to play J.T. on "General Hospital") stars as Bryson, the son of  Jacqueline, played by Givens in the movie. She was a sexy woman who was more about her job than anything else, and she held what seemed like very masculine attributes for that time. Her son, on the other hand, is what we used to call a milquetoast. Richmond is a good actor, but he doesn't have the chemistry to play the lead in a show (at least, based on this one).  He's just not strong enough and doesn't seem at all related to Givens' character.

Tetona Jackson stars as Simone, who's the daughter of Murphy and Barry's characters.  She has a lot more charisma and plays Simone as a little bit spoiled and impatient to make her own mark on the world.  The other, more minor characters on the show seemed fine. I just don't think the writing is that great. For instance, at one point Bryson uses the terms "dope" and "fly." Are these slang words still used by young people? I don't know if they're trying to only appeal to people who are older, or what, but it doesn't work. It just sounds dated. I can't imagine the younger people will think that this show is "lit". It certainly is not ground-breaking or exciting, like other good African-American shows I've seen ("Atlanta" or BET's own "American Soul").   The first two episodes introduced a ton of characters, so it was a bit confusing. However, they did make sure that each one looked very different from the others, which I appreciate.  Sometimes with new shows, it can be difficult to remember who's who.

Anyway, maybe the show will get better, so check it out if young African-American executives in the advertising world sounds interesting to you.  The first episode was written by Emmy-winner Lena Waithe, one of the Executive Producers. Halle Berry is another Executive Producer.