Indiewire: ‘Harlem’ Review: Tracy Oliver’s Vibrant Amazon Prime Series Pulses with Heart and Vigor

In Harlem, under the weight of a deep history, courses a destiny of magnetic laughter and the pulses of proud people, both built by Black women. The historic neighborhood and its inhabitants have always been under threat, whether it’s the extralegal justice system, dirty policing, or racism. Now its gravest hazard, afflicting other predominantly African-American neighborhoods, stretching from the South Side of Chicago to South Los Angeles, is gentrification. No one has borne the brunt of these systematic hurdles more than the recipients of misogynoir: Black women.

“Harlem,” the vibrant, colorful Amazon series created by Tracy Oliver (“Girls Trip”), follows four tight-knit Black women as they soul search through dating, work-life balancing, and an omnipresent prejudice felt in the historic, but drastically changing New York City neighborhood. With a nimble flair, Oliver’s series combines elements of “Girlfriends,” “Sex and the City,” and “Living Single” — and features sharp, fun interplay between its four formidable leads.