Mo to the, E to the…
It’s been nearly 25 years since we first met headstrong teenager Moesha Mitchell and her Leimert Park crew with the 1996 debut of Moesha. The family sitcom, originally ordered to pilot by CBS before making its way to the now-defunct UPN, proved to be one of the fledgling network’s greatest successes and helped turn rising star Brandy into a household name.
Telling the story of an upper-middle class Black family through the eyes of a typical teenage girl wondering if she’s, as the iconic theme song asks, realizing her responsibility, the show ran for six seasons through May 2001. At the height of its popularity, it even birthed a spinoff series, The Parkers, that lasted for five seasons of its own.
After going off the air, the show bounced around in syndication, popping up on networks like WGN America, BET and Fuse while never staying in one place for very long. But thanks to Netflix adding Moesha to its library of content in August 2020, a whole new generation has begun to discover the Mitchell family.