Don’t let the “ish” fool you. While this wee suffix imbues a deliberate vagueness that muddies a word’s meaning, the producers of Grown-ish – the first spin-off of award-winning comedy Black-ish – know exactly what they are doing as they send the Johnson family’s eldest daughter, Zoey, off to college.

With its debut in 2014, Black-ish emerged as one of the top-rated freshman comedies in the United States and a bona fide hit for the Fox network, by tapping into what was then a trendy new formula for success – prime-time shows created by and starring minorities.

Now in its fourth season, it has garnered critical acclaim, millions of viewers, multiple Emmy nominations and a Golden Globe for lead actress Tracee Ellis Ross, who co-stars as Rainbow Johnson, the mixed-race, liberal-minded doctor wife of Andre “Dre” Johnson Sr, an African-American advertising executive, played by series executive producer Anthony Anderson. Together, they are raising four colour-blind, assimilated children in a colonial home in the ’burbs.

Dre’s doubts and constant worries – that his success has alienated his family from their ethnic identity and cultural connections – is the story engine that has driven Black-ish into the winner’s circle with a cool relevance to diversity issues.

Now Zoey, played by 17-year-old American actress and model Yara Shahidi, is flying the nest, spreading her wings and heading off for higher education as the star of Grown-ish, a 13-episode, single-camera comedy that debuts on OSN on January 5.