Prime Video's "Harlem" Brings Black Girl Magic to Black Mecca

Since Girlfriends, I think that television has been searching for that quintessential female P.O.C.-driven sitcom, and while we've come close from time-to-time, HBO's Insecure was probably the most successful iteration of something like that. At least that was the case, until I saw Prime Video's Harlem. I've seen a lot of Black-centric television programs of late, and they do not all hit the mark every time, but this is not one of those. Harlem is self-aware (in a good way), it has messages but isn't preachy, and it's appropriately messy but not infuriatingly so, like so many others have made the mistake of becoming. It is current, funny and more than a bit daring, all without losing the narrative. In the wake of Insecure's final episode, Harlem does a lot more than just seem like the next best thing. It is.