This Week in Sitcom History - June 4th-10th

June 7th, 1994: South Central Cancellation Causes Backlash

Tina Lifford, Tasha Scott, Keith Mbulo, & Larenz Tate in South Central (1994)

The final episode of South Central, “Date,” aired on June 7th, 1994. FOX made the unfortunate decision to cancel four shows featuring mostly black casts at the same time: South Central, Roc, The Sinbad Show, and In Living Color. Viewers responded with a letter-writing campaign demanding that South Central be brought back. Rev. Jesse Jackson publicly called for a boycott of the network until FOX stopped their “institutional racism.” FOX refused to relent, and South Central was never seen again.