Wanda Sykes, Mike Epps, and Kim Fields on the working class roots of The Upshaws

There’s a great tradition of people just scraping by in sitcoms. Sanford & Son were barely making it. Roseanne was living paycheck to paycheck on-screen, and both iterations of One Day At A Time were about families forced to deal with new, harsh economic realities. That tradition continues with The Upshaws, which finds Mike Epps cast as Bennie, a blue-collar mechanic with a complicated family played in part by Wanda Sykes and Kim Fields. It’s a real murderer’s row of comedians, and the show—created by Epps and Sykes—uses their straightforward deliveries and tell-it-like-it-is nature to its advantage.