Coming From America is the latest unscripted series to hit MAX. The series follows a handful of African American families who are willing to risk it all and establish roots outside of the U.S.
The allure of Africa has been strong in the United States, especially around the Year of Return and land incentives. Between Ghana and Zambia, these families set out to the motherland in search of love, career growth, and an overall better life. If they can persevere through the culture shock and the challenges that come with relocation, their perspectives could be changed forever.
The Kelly family are moving to Accra, the capital of Ghana. Gerald has been a comedian for 30 years and turned it into a family business with his sons; they were the first father-sons comedy tour in America. After hearing from a friend that the comedy scene is on the rise in Ghana, Gerald was ready to jump on the opportunity. The Kelly family has the largest set of challenges ahead of them, as their heavily blended family, cultural adjustment, and marital issues (to name a few) stand as hurdles before their happiness.
In Los Angeles, we meet Julia Jovone-Davis and her four kids who are also moving to Accra. She’s an Emmy Award-winning makeup artist and self-proclaimed “spiritual healer”. She homeschools her four kids and plans on continuing so abroad. She dreams of opening a wellness center and finding the perfect home for her and her children. She has intentions of dating but soon realizes that everything she hears about Ghanaian men isn’t totally accurate.
Elaine and Gabe Smiley are a mixed-race family moving to Lusaka, Zambia. After Gabe landed a job at Lusaka International Community School for two years, the kids had a place to go to school. Out of the three families moving to Africa, the Smileys were the only ones who secured employment before moving. Their parents aren’t thrilled about him leaving and Gabe’s mother is especially skeptical. Elaine and his mom have a tenuous relationship, which eventually brings added stress before and after the move. The pair desire an international lifestyle for themselves and their children and feel it can be achieved with the move.
The Smileys and Kellys are from New York State while the Jovone-Davis clan are from Los Angeles. It’s a diverse collective of families searching for more while carrying the weight of their internal baggage with them. Each family has their own set of drama to work through, not including the cultural adjustments. It takes a while to adjust to local customs and the Kellys learned quickly after their shock welcome gift of a pair of goats and a box of chickens.
While Elaine and Gabe are probably the most prepared financially, their biggest problems exist with their parents. Elaine’s relationship with her mother-in-law is wearing her down and it’s visible. Adding to that stress is her own mother’s unwillingness to visit them because she refuses to fly. Gabe’s overly casual, go-with-the-flow attitude brings calm when Elaine is stressed but exacerbates already taxing situations like planning a safari without reading the details. The gaff leads them to a beautiful site that’s unstaffed and without food. Julia is far too focused on personal aspirations to be raising four children and the Kellys, while probably the most entertaining family, have the largest set of issues with seemingly the easiest rectifier; communication.
Coming From America is executive produced by Eric Evangelista and Shannon Evangelista, Forrest Galante, and Naimah Holmes for Hot Snakes Media. Discovery’s Keith Hoffman and Carter Figueroa also executive produce.
Coming From America gets a 7 out of 10. The series has its share of laughs, but aside from that, none of them feel embraceable. Each episode feels too long and most of the drama appears easy to fix or extremely preventable. The best part about the series is traveling through Africa. Showing the various sights in Ghana and Zambia was amazing and it was nice to see expats like Tony Jones (Expat Life Ghana) available to offer assistance with Americans transitioning. The series is worth it for the front-row tour through West Africa.
The series debuts today, Thursday, September 5, followed by one new episode weekly on Max.
-Jon Jones
Photos: Courtesy of Warner Bros.