TV Review - Cherish the Day

Ava DuVernay is the Oscar-nominated filmmaker of 13th (2016) and Selma (2014). She was recently Emmy-nominated for the series When They See Us (2019). This is the fourth TV series though that she has produced or overseen. Her other three shows were more socially conscious and were more issue-oriented. This show, however, is less so. It's more exclusively a romance. Given the lack of love stories between two African-Americans in cinema and even on television over the past 20 years, this show is welcome and refreshing to some degree. Yes, there's Black-ish, but the focus of that show isn't the romance. The same could be said of This Is Us and Power or even All American and Black Lightning. The only true, African-American romance that would be comparable to this one has been BET's Boomerang, but that show is set in Atlanta. This one is set in Los Angeles and practically makes a character out of the City of Angels.

Xosha Roquemore (The Mindy Project and I'm Dying Up Here) stars as Gently James, a woman who works as an assistant for an elderly black woman who lives in West Adams, which is a famously, historic neighborhood in Los Angeles. The elderly woman is Luma Langston, played by Cicely Tyson. Tyson is a legendary and iconic, black actress who began in the 1950's. Her character Luma Langston is selfsame and Gently has the utmost respect for her. When Gently talks about Luma with such reverence, it almost feels like reflections of DuVernay.

This series is on the cable channel, OWN, which is the cable channel of Oprah Winfrey, a legendary and iconic, black actress and producer who began in the 1980's. However, DuVernay has been working with Winfrey for a while, so Gently's relationship and reverence for Luma could be a mirror or an echo of DuVernay's relationship with Winfrey. What also could be a reflection of DuVernay's life is the aforementioned use of Los Angeles as practically a character. Aside from shouting out West Adams, the show makes a habit of shouting out other places in Los Angeles, distinguishing those places for their uniqueness, as well as highlighting certain establishments like Harriet's Cheesecakes in Inglewood or Jewel City Bowl in Glendale. It just seems like these shout-outs are coming from a person or people who know and appreciate L.A.

Alano Miller (Jane the Virgin and Underground) also stars as Evan Fisher, a man who works as a software engineer for an online security firm. As we learn about Evan, we learn that he has a more affluent background than Gently. His parents were rich and raised him in a wealthy area. He went to college at Stanford. He had a very bougie or bourgeoisie lifestyle. This is in contrast to Gently who had a more impoverished lifestyle. She grew up in what's considered "the hood." Evan isn't used to that, so it causes some awkward moments when they start spending time together.

In fact, two of the first, three episodes are about that socioeconomic divide between the two of them. That divide gives them two different outlooks on life and money. Overcoming that divide seems to be a significant part of the narrative. This divide isn't new. A wealthy or relatively wealthy man falling in love with an impoverished or less-than-wealthy girl and vice-versa aren't new concepts. The concept in fact goes all the way back to Cinderella. The recent film Crazy Rich Asians (2018) was about that same divide. That 2018 blockbuster focused on the less wealthy girl having to contend with the wealthy boy's mother. Episode 3 of this series features that same dynamic that it could have been titled "Crazy Rich Black People."

Other issues arise that aren't about that socioeconomic divide. Issues like their past relationships arise. Their past relationships with other, potential, love interests arise, but also past relationships with their families also come up. Michael Beach (Third Watch and ER) plays Ben, the father to Gently. Dorien Wilson (The Parkers and Dream On) plays Mr. Fisher, the father to Evan, but the stand-out is Anne-Marie Johnson (In Living Color and In the Heat of the Night) who plays Dana Fisher, the mother to Evan, the controlling snob of the family.

When the first episode began, it put the idea of black sexuality right at the forefront, which is again a rare thing in cinema and television, particularly in the past 20 years. As the episode progressed and even into the second episode, it felt like DuVernay was doing an all-black version of Richard Linklater's Before Sunrise (1995) and its sequels. Yet, as the show went further, it became evident that she was doing something slightly different. The structure of each episode is pretty unique. Each episode accounts for one day and only one day in the lives of Gently and Evan. For example, the first episode tracks the day that they meet. The second episode accounts for their day together a year later. The third episode accounts for the day that Gently meets Evan's parents and so on and so forth.

Ostensibly, this is to underscore the title of the series and the song from which it comes. This is not uncommon that there are certain days throughout a person and couple's life that are pivotal, defining or even life-changing. DuVernay wants to underscore and depict those days, those moments. It's also clever of her to title each episode in a single word that ends in the letters or suffix of "sis." The first episode is "Genesis." The second is "Synthesis." The third is "Oasis." The fourth is "Basis." The fifth is "Nemesis." Not knowing what the future titles are, some she could use are crisis, analysis and diagnosis. I'm not sure but I'm definitely curious about how this will conclude.

Rated TV-14.
Running Time: 1 hr.
Tuesdays at 10PM on OWN.