''Harlem'' is an American comedy television series created and executive produced by

Tracy Oliver Tracy Y. Oliver is an American film and television writer, producer, director, and actress. Oliver originally starred in the web series '' The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl,'' before serving as a staff writer on ABC's '' The Neighbors'' an ...

. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video on December 3, 2021. In February 2022, the series was renewed for a second season, which premiered on February 3, 2023.

Synopsis

The 10-episode series follows four girlfriends who met while attending

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, th ...

and are now in their thirties, living in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Ha ...

, as they try to balance love, life, and their careers as working professionals.

Cast

Main cast

Meagan Good Meagan Monique Good is an American actress. She first gained critical attention for her role in the film ''Eve's Bayou'' (1997), prior to landing the role of Nina in the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter'' (1998–2001). Good received further ...

as Camille Parks *

Grace Byers Grace Byers (née Gealey; born July 26, 1984) Note: While some sources give her birthplace as the Cayman Island, Gealey says she was born in Butler, Pennsylvania. See interview in LumiereMagazine.com, below. is a Caymanian actress, known for her r ...

as Quinn Joseph * Shoniqua Shandai as Angie Wilson * Jerrie Johnson as Tye Reynolds *

Tyler Lepley Tyler Lepley (born March 24, 1987) is an American actor, best known for his portrayal of Benjamin "Benny" Young on the Tyler Perry produced prime time soap opera '' The Haves and the Have Nots''; which is the first scripted television series to ai ...

as Ian Walker

Recurring cast

Whoopi Goldberg Caryn Elaine Johnson (born November 13, 1955), known professionally as Whoopi Goldberg (), is an American actor, comedian, author, and television personality.Kuchwara, Michael (AP Drama Writer)"Whoopi Goldberg: A One-Woman Character Parade". ' ...

as Dr. Elise Pruitt *

Jasmine Guy Jasmine Guy (born March 10, 1962) is an American actress, director, singer and dancer. She is known for her role as Dina in the 1988 film ''School Daze'' and as Whitley Gilbert-Wayne on the NBC ''The Cosby Show'' spin-off ''A Different World'', ...

as Patricia Joseph * Bevy Smith as Aunt Tammy * Juani Feliz as Isabela Benitez-Santiago * Jonathan Burke as Eric * Kadeem Ali Harris as Brandon * Sullivan Jones as Jameson Royce *

Andrea Martin Andrea Louise Martin (born January 15, 1947) is an American-Canadian actress, singer, and comedian, best known for her work in the television series '' SCTV'' and ''Great News''. She has appeared in films such as '' Black Christmas'' (1974), ''W ...

as Robin Goodman ''(season 1)'' *

Robert Ri'chard Robert Andrew Ri'chard (born January 7, 1983) is an American television and film actor, known for his roles as Arnaz Ballard on the UPN sitcom '' One on One'' and Bobby Walker on the Nickelodeon sitcom ''Cousin Skeeter''. Early life Ri'chard wa ...

as Shawn ''(season 1)'' * Kate Rockwell as Anna Sharp ''(season 2)'' * Luke Forbes as Michael ''(season 2)'' * Joie Lee as Deborah Parks ''(season 2)'' *

Rachel True Rachel India True (born November 15, 1966) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles in such films as '' The Craft'' (1996), '' Nowhere'' (1997), and ''Half Baked'' (1998). True is also known for her role as Mona Thorne on the UP ...

as Aimee ''(season 2)'' *

Trai Byers Trai Byers (born July 19, 1983) is an American actor. He is best known for playing Andre Lyon in the Fox television series ''Empire'' (2015–2020). Early life Trai Byers was born in Kansas City, Kansas. After a year of high school in Kansas ...

as Keith ''(season 2)''

Guest appearances

Rick Fox Rick may refer to: People *Rick (given name), a list of people with the given name *Alan Rick (born 1976), Brazilian politician, journalist, pastor and television personality *Johannes Rick (1869–1946), Austrian-born Brazilian priest and mycol ...

as Phil Joseph ''(season 2)'' *

Sherri Shepherd Sherri Shepherd (born April 22, 1967) is an American actress, comedian, author, broadcaster, and television personality. She currently hosts the daily syndicated daytime talk show, '' Sherri''. From 2007 to 2014, Shepherd was a co-host of the da ...

as Sonya Wilson ''(season 2)'' *

Lil Rel Howery Milton "Lil Rel" Howery Jr. (born December 17, 1979) is an American actor and comedian. Howery is known for playing Robert Carmichael in NBC's television comedy series ''The Carmichael Show'' (2015–2017) and Transportation Security Administratio ...

as Freddie Wilson ''(season 2)'' *

Countess Vaughn Countess Danielle Vaughn (born August 8, 1978) is an American actress, singer and television personality. She is best known for her role as Kim Parker on the UPN sitcoms ''Moesha'' and its spin-off ''The Parkers'', and as Alexandria DeWitt on '' ...

as Herself ''(season 2)'' *

D. Woods Wanita Denise Woodgett (born July 6, 1985), better known as by her nickname D. Woods, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Woods is the founder and CEO of Woodgrane Entertainment, but best known for her efforts on MTV's "Making The Band 3 ...

as Karla ''(season 2)''

Production

The project was first announced on July 8, 2019, as an untitled half-hour comedy series. Filming was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. Creator

said she had the idea for the show because she felt there weren't a lot of "Black female friendship stories on the air," and she wanted to portray people in their thirties who were still searching for their path in life. She based the show in part on her own experiences. The series is executive produced by Oliver,

Amy Poehler Amy Poehler (; born September 16, 1971) is an American comedian, actress, writer, producer, and director. After studying improv at Chicago's Second City and ImprovOlympic in the early 1990s, Poehler co-founded the improvisational-comedy tro ...

, Kim Lessing,

Dave Becky Dave Becky is an American comedy talent manager and producer. He works with 3 Arts Entertainment and has more than 100 production credits. He has received nine Emmy nominations for his work as an executive producer on the Netflix series ''Maste ...

, Pharrell Williams, and Mimi Valdés. On January 14, 2020, it was announced that

, Jerrie Johnson, and Shoniqua Shandai had been cast in the series, and that Malcolm D. Lee would direct the first two episodes. On February 17, 2021, it was announced that

and

would be joining the show in recurring roles. On March 4, 2021, it was announced that

, Juani Feliz, Kate Rockwell, and Sullivan Jones would also have recurring roles. On February 17, 2022, Amazon renewed the series for a second season.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2021)

Season 2 (2023)

Release

The trailer was released on November 3, 2021. All 10 episodes of the series premiered on

Prime Video Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...

on December 3, 2021.

Reception

According to the

review aggregation A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the series' first season has a 96% approval rating based on 26 critics' reviews, with an average rating of 6.9/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Harlem'' is a delight that is often wise about friendly foibles, aided by a terrific cast whose snappy repartee immediately shines."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

assigned the first season a weighted average score of 77 out of 100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Accolades

References

External links

* {{Amazon Video original series 2020s American black sitcoms 2020s American LGBT-related comedy television series Amazon Prime Video original programming 2021 American television series debuts English-language television shows Television series by Amazon Studios Television series by 3 Arts Entertainment Television series by Paper Kite Productions Television series by Universal Television Television shows set in Harlem Television productions postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Bisexuality-related television series