Government Cheese takes an unusual angle on a very well-covered historical moment.

Apple TV+’s surrealist comedy series from creators Paul Hunter and Aeysha Carr is set in the summer of 1969, the tumultuous time of the moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, the Vietnam War, the Civil Rights Movement, etc. But none of that is in the show. Instead, the show is tightly focused on the personal story of the Chambers family, a Black family living in the San Fernando Valley. They’re not so concerned with the tumult of the outside world, because their lives — their jobs, relationships, and their search for God and meaning — are tumultuous enough.

The project’s different vision of the era is what drew star and executive producer David Oyelowo to it. Earlier in his career, Oyelowo appeared in a trio of hit films — The Help, Lee Daniels' The Butler, and Selma — that deal...