Soul Food follows the triumphs, struggles, and rivalries of the Josephs, a tight-knit African-American family living in Chicago, Illinois. The series picks up six months after the events in the 1997 film, starting with the birth of Bird and Lem's son Jeremiah, as the family tries to hold together after the death of the Joseph sisters' mother Josephine (Irma P. Hall, reprising her role in flashback sequences), usually referred to as Mama, Mother Joe, or Big Mama.
Soul Food was one of the first long-running and successful dramatic series on television to feature a predominantly African-American cast. Short-lived series such as Under One Roof and City of Angels featured predominantly black casts but never gained recognition due to lack of ratings and viewership. The show dealt in topics of politics, homosexuality, racial discrimination, and certain forms of abuse (drug, domestic, and sexual). Because it aired on Showtime, there was use of mild profanity and partial nudity. Several episodes even served as launching pads for upcoming new music artists. Many known performers such as Gerald Levert, Montell Jordan, India Arie, Sunshine Anderson and Common have made guest appearances as well.
Popularity
The show received five NAACP Image Awards nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and won three consecutive times in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Also, a three-book series was launched in 2002.
The Soul Food cast was interviewed by comedian Mo'Nique about fan reaction to the series. The cast considered that fans of the show would approach them at different places, including the airport, and would talk to them about storylines that they enjoyed or disliked. Nicole Ari Parker commented on studio executives telling the cast and crew that they were not marketable overseas; yet, after the show ended, the series garnered a fanbase in France.
Syndication
In 2003, BET acquired the rights to air reruns of the series (in the United States). The episodes have been edited to allow for commercials, and to meet FCC content standards for basic cable networks. BET aired syndicated reruns of Soul Food for a long time, until it shifted the series to its sister network, BET J (now known as BET Her). On March 15, 2010, the principal cast members (except for Rockmond Dunbar), appeared together on the BET late-night talk show The Mo'Nique Show. TV One began airing reruns of the series in January 2012. Syndication rights are currently held by Aspire, which began airing reruns of the series in January 2016.
Home releases
On June 24, 2003, Paramount Home Entertainment (under the Showtime Entertainment label) released the first season of Soul Food: The Series on DVD, just two weeks after the series wrapped its fourth season.
While season one (billed as "the complete first season") runs in its uncut, complete form, the remaining other seasons did not, primarily due to music licensing issues, and some episodes being edited from their original versions, primarily due to expensive costing issues while trying to go back to their original, unedited versions.
International rights to the series are held by Fox, which has yet to release DVD sets in other territories.
