In Future Color

BY ETENG ETTAH JUNETEENTH 2070

“The People’s Garden,” a new half-hour comedy series, has burst onto the scene and into our devices with stellar ratings and reception. Breathing new life and levity into the ways we consider how our communi ties are nourished, the fresh man series follows the antics and shenanigans of a group of Black teens in Bed-Stuy, in the self sustaining communi ty of Brooklyn, who inherit their housing cooperative’s decades-old community rooftop garden. As the au dience, we find ourselves rooting for Ade, Jaja, and Ibrahim, the show’s pro tagonists, as they navigate adolescence and emerg ing adulthood; their ev er-changing relationships to one another; and their newfound role as the com munity’s lead gardeners. They are determined to put their own twist on how the garden is run in order to cement their own lega cies in their neighborhood.

The cultivating crew’s hijinks always stem from concocting new ways to get their neighbors excit ed and involved in growing fruits, vegetables, herbs, and more to feed one an other and sustain the gar dening practices of those before them. In the show’s pilot episode, “Pot It,” the green gang officially names their garden “Herbland'' to attract both young kids, who might mistake it for a new amusement park, as well as elder marijana users, who might be interested in reserving their own personal plots to grow cannabis.

While initially both groups of prospective gardeners quickly and hilariously catch on to Ade, Jaja, and Ibrahim’s scheme to get more hands on deck, the episode culminates with a beautifully touching display of intergenerational learning. In “Ivy Intrigue,” Jaja gets a call from her grandmother, who lives on the top floor, that ivy vines from Herbland have begun covering her windows and blocking her skyline view. Following a comical trial and error montage of the trio trying to come up with solutions that don’t require cutting the vines, they get landscapers to install shelving in between the building’s windows and muralists to paint a tribute to the garden, demonstrating writers and producers. This show resonates so strongly because like Ade, Jaja, and Ibrahim’s garden, it’s by its people. Behind the camera, the show’s writers have firsthand experience creating and maintaining their own gardens in Bed-Stuy. Producers consider how those with many talents (i.e. craft service, costume design, hair and makeup, local sponsors, etc.) in Bed-Stuy can bring the show’s stories to light.

A rotating bench of local directors lean on their own experiences to collaboratively build the show’s expansive universe.

The show is housed within Wonder Productions, a panmedia production cooperative that utilizes a worker-first profit-sharing model to ensure equitable compensation at all levels and departments. Its guiding mantra is that TV is a dynamic medium, one of many where all involved (writers, producers, actors, script supervisors, and directors) must automatically have all their material needs met, and have their talents, perspectives, and viewpoints welcomed and embraced. From story conception to broadcast, everyone involved in developing this visual art does so in an environment that is collaborative and fair.