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TONIGHT (Friday) 7PM ET

Your Favorite Family Argument is BACK!

Back in the Shut Down Days (Summer 2020), Jamal Jimoh and Naima Cochrane created a beautiful community from a shared passion: arguing over things they love (...and things they decidedly don't love).

A ranking of Black sitcoms was floating around, and it was trash. Jamal had the idea to hop on IG Live along with any friends who wanted to join, to put things in order. Three hours of debates, defenses, and Family Matters hate later, #TheseTiers was born.

#TheseTiers was a weekly discussion (argument) and ranking (with the very lively and impassioned Tiers Fam) of classic entertainment: Shows, Theme Songs, Characters, cereals,... if it was worth arguing about, it was on the table.

And now, the original Black sitcom ranking started floating around again, and Jamal and Naima have been summoned to run the rankings back. Let's do it again.

Join us on IG live THIS FRIDAY (March 28th) at 7pm ET to run back the original Black sitcom rankings! Make sure your faves are in the mix - submit your show nominations here!

Naima Instagram

Jamal Instagram

Keep up with the rankings in real time!
Download the blank #TheseTiers ranking chart and work along with us as we go through the rounds.

DOWNLOAD RANKING GRID

This one was tough: alot of regional faves, and alot of necessary distinguishing between flavors and brands. In the end, we made a couple of calls:

Regional faves were acknowledged, but left out of final ranking.
We'll do seperate rankings at a future date for snack cakes and Halloween candy.

Mad your joints are missing? You can look at the full list of submissions here.

We learned alot about ourselves with the cereal rankings - and for the first time could only come to a consensus about one placement. Even Naima and Jamal were at odds! Clips & final rankings below, watch the FULL EPISODE

CLIP: JAMAL'S ENTANGLEMENT WITH CINNAMON TOAST CRUNCH

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Jamal brings himself to the breakfast table to confess betraying his nephew over CTC

CLIP: THE PERFECT CEREAL

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We were able to come to a consensus over exactly ONE cereal

CLIP: THE BATTLE OF CRACKLIN' OAT BRAN

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Jamal had quite a few hills he was ready to die on, but this one might have been the most surprising.

CLIP: CAP'N CRUNCH WAS NOT AN ABOLITIONIST

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We had to address the consistently low rankings of the chocolate cereals.

CLIP: THE WHAT, NOW?

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A few folks had suggestions for the cereal ranking that led us to google.

FINAL RANKINGS

VIEW THE FULL SUBMISSIONS LIST

FINAL RANKINGS

It was another marathon session (and who knew y'all cared so much about Fran damn Fine?) but we got to a final ranking based on the below. Also, for the first time ever we're publishing the SAINT TIER (Because Claire Olivia Hanks Huxtable, Esq deserves) and the WINSLOW TIER just so everybody knows what it is.

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Once again, we're prompted to discuss (rant about) the Winslows.
Full episode coming soon.

SITCOM MOM PARAMETERS:

1. Any sitcom, not just Black sitcoms
2. Let's stick to shows that were either still running and/or in syndication from 1980 on.
3. Cartoon allowances: Simpsons, The Proud Family, Family Guy, Cleveland Show, King of the Hill (if I missed an obvious one that we'd actually care about, then add it)
4. Aunts and mother figures count. And if you're adding Aunt Viv, designate which Aunt Viv.
5. No dramas
6. Please consider whether people really know this mom/character and don't just name a character that's a mom. (If that didn't make sense, read it again).

Wanna know who didn't make the cut at all or who got dropped? Take a look at the Full Original Sitcom Mom List

FINAL RANKINGS

After almost FOUR HOURS!!! Also, we need to arrange group family counseling for some of y'all)

UPDATE: The Dads ranking has gone wildly viral, so let's break down the ranking parameters for those coming to find answers:
1. We judged by the actual parenting we saw, not how iconic the dad was
2. "He had a job" is a not an argument for a great dad
3. Neither is "He was home"
4. We don't fck with Carl Winslow. That's a universal rule (he let his neighbor harass his teenage daughter and break sh*t all in his house for 9 seasons. And he also lost a whole child to the streets).
5. Yes, that should say Cam & Mitch (that was my bad, don't ask me how - Naima)
6. We know Mr. Gaines wasn't a dad. Father figures count.
7. Whoever you don't see here that you think should have been here was dropped altogether.
8. Read number 7 again.

Naima Instagram

Jamal Instagram

This was a MARATHON! Y'all were really not trying to let go of some of your childhood faves.
Full episode coming soon.

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CLIP: What is it with the "Gummi Bears" Theme?!?!

RECAP
Watch Jamal, Naima and the fam debate over which theme songs didn't age well, which ones people are holding on to because of nostalgia, and tried to balance a slight bias against late '90s and '00s shows.
Also Family Matters is still trash.

WATCH THE FULL CLIP ON THE EPISODES PAGE

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#TheseTiers Episode 2: Sitcom Theme Songs

RANKING PARAMETERS:

Theme Songs

We decided to give cartoons their own convo.
We know there are 3 sketch comedy shows here, we don't care.
We instituted a cap on white sitcom additions (the intention was to center Black shows).
We'll also give late '70s - mid-'80s sitcoms In general their own convo.
Themes like Cheers and Mary Tyler Moore are too Iconic to even touch.
Scottie Beam's choices were given extra weight due to her underrepresented demo + the #IStandWithScottie campaign.
The Family Matters theme sounds like something Uncle Jesse wrote and It's terrible.
We played EVERYTHING. Some things multiple times.

THE ORIGINAL EP: BLACK SITCOM RANKINGS
VIEW THE FULL EPISODE

BEFORE

AFTER

Have suggestions? Wanna get the debates started early? Hit us up!

Naima Instagram

Jamal Instagram