By:  Malik Pollard

I was just thinking the other day; “How did my family become so disconnected?” Not just my family, how did society become so disconnected. We can blame it on our smart phones (that have made “us” so dumb), or we can blame it on our busy, “microwave” lifestyle (you know, have to have it now, quick, fast, and in a hurry lifestyle). Ultimately though, we as a society, and more specifically in this case, my family have become so disconnected because we have forgotten those core values of family. Maybe not forgotten, but most definitely displaced.

I do miss FAMILY TIME. I miss eating together as a family, game nights, and TV nights each and every Thursday. Who remembers every Thursday getting in front of the TV at 8PM to watch “The Cosby Show”? Those were the days. Millennials have no concept of sitting down, having a good meal together, and turning on the TV. It’s all about eating quick, not getting enough sleep, binge watching, and getting buried into millions of bytes squeezed into a small 5.8 inch screen.

Well, Things just might change and Netflix may just have a way to bring back some FAMILY TIME with their new show on the streaming service called “Family Reunion”.   The show stars Tia Mowry as Cocoa McKellan, a fun, free spirit from the West Coast that relocates to Columbus, Georgia where M’Dear (Loretta Devine) gives Cocoa, her husband Moses (Anthony Alabi), and their kids Jade (Talia Jackson), Ami (Jordyn Raya James), Shaka (Isaiah Russell-Bailey), and Mazzi (Cameron J. Wright) a lesson in down home Southern Hospitality; and when the clash of “good ol’” southern values meets new age parenting with millennials, you know there is bound to be laughter. Netflix’s “Family Reunion” helps bridge that multi-generational gap, and surely will help families to have conversations after watching the show. As one hilarious scene in the trailer shows M’Dear sitting down on the porch with Jade teaching her how to snap Peas while they engage in conversation. In a funny zinger, she explains that this is what she calls “SnapChat” a sarcastic jab to young adults and teenagers that are always on the famous picture messaging app.

Family Reunion Executive Produced by Meg DeLoatch, and Directed by Eric Dean Seaton is penned entirely by African American writers. The show is being touted as “Back Family Magic” and it is funny, warm, heartfelt, and MAGICAL. “Black Family Magic is being together,” says Tia Mowry, and this show will bring families together for laughter, conversations, and a reconnecting of Family that is so very needed. The only question now is, “WHO WILL BE DOING THE COOKING?”

The Magic Begins on July 10^th only on Netflix!  

Check out MadFlavor TV’s interview with Loretta Devine. [click here]