The pilot episode of the upcoming HBO comedy, Insecure, by Issa Rae is available to watch on HBO now – we highly suggest you check it out.
The show based on her YouTube comedy series The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl, tells the story of a woman named Issa (like her real name, pronounced EE-sa) Dee, who lives in South Los Angeles. The show chronicles her and her friends as they struggle with delayed adulthood, difficult relationships and being black in America. Ms. Rae’s character works for a nonprofit group that helps underprivileged children. In the first episode, the children make fun of her clothes and her voice, implying that she looks and acts too much like a white person. She imagines her co-worker telling a group of colleagues about her low chances of getting married.
Rae’s YouTube series, which launched in 2011, generated millions of views. The following year, she pitched an earlier version of the show to Shondra Rhimes, who brought it to ABC. The show never made it past by the pilot stage but Rae would not be deterred.
The Stanford grad has been working with writing partner, Larry Wilmore (The Bernie Mac Show) for the past two years.
Rae hopes her show helps those examine the label of blackness in America. “These definitions of blackness people think are true for everyone…just aren’t,” she says. “People group us together in terms of how we vote and how to market to us,” she continues, but she has always felt more like an individual than part of a group.
Insecure premieres on HBO on Sunday, October 9, 2016, but you can watch the first episode on demand or at HBOgo.com
Check out the trailer and a message from the creator, embedded below:
