Release Date:5/6/21; BET+ Genre: Drama Rating:NR Director:Robin Givens Studio(s): Swirl Films Cast: Rotimi, Serayah, KeKe Wyatt, Jonathan McReynolds, Lisa Arrindell, E. Roger Mitchell.
Story: Directed by Robin Givens, Favorite Son – adapted from the Tiffany L. Warren novel of the same name – tells the story of two Gospel-singing brothers who are trying to find their own paths while struggling with living under the watchful eyes of their strict father who is also the pastor of a megachurch. What will happen when faith, family, and scandal collide? Sources: bossip.com; blackfilm.com.
ReleaseDate:9/22/21 – Series Premiere; ABC Genre:Comedy Director: Fred Savage Studio(s):20th Television, Lee Daniels Entertainment, American Broadcasting Company (ABC) Cast: Don Cheadle, Dulé Hill, Saycon Sengbloh, Milan Ray, Laura Kariuki, Elisha Williams, Amari O’Neil, Julian Lerner.
Details: The Wonder Years is getting the reboot treatment at ABC. The upcoming series, which received a pilot order from the network, will star Elisha “EJ” Williams as Dean Williams, taking over for Fred Savage, who played the central character, Kevin Arnold, in the original run. Rounding out the rest of the Williams family is Dulé Hill as Bill, the patriarch who is a music professor by day and a funk musician by night, Saycon Sengbloh as his perceptive and good-humored wife, Lillian, with Laura Kariuki as Kim, Dean’s confident and popular teenage sister. Like the original, Dean will have a special love interest, with Milan Ray playing Keisa Clemmons. Additionally, Don Cheadle will serve as the narrator, aka “Adult Dean,” who reflects back on his younger years as he embarks on the next stage of his life as a new grandfather, while Julian Lerner and Amari O’Neil have been added as Dean’s childhood friends.
The original series, starring Fred Savage, Danica McKellar, Josh Saviano, Jason Hervey, Dan Lauria, Alley Mills and Olivia d’Abo, aired on ABC from 1988 to 1993. Savage is set to direct the pilot and executive produce the new project, along with Lee Daniels with original series co-creator Neal Marlens as a consultant.
Story: The new version will focus on this middle-class family living in Montgomery, Alabama, during the 1960s as Dean is trying to figure out his place at home and the world at large. Described by ABC as a little insecure, a tad awkward and a bit self-conscious, he is determined to make his mark on the world around him. Source/Photo Source: ET Online.
Status: Announced Genre: Biography Director:John Ridley Studio(s): Participant, Royal Ties Productions Cast: Regina King (Shirley Chisholm)
Details: Regina King is set to star in and produce Shirley, the feature film biopic about Shirley Chisholm, America’s first Black congresswoman. The film, produced by Participant, will be written and directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker John Ridley, with production expected to begin later this year. The film is being produced based on the life story rights through an exclusive agreement with the Chisholm Estate.
Story: The story tracks Chisholm’s 1972 presidential campaign, a groundbreaking historical moment, giving what’s described as “an intimate, behind-the-scenes portrait of one of the most ground-breaking political leaders of our time.” Source: Deadline. Photo Source: MSN.com.
Status: Announced Genre:Drama Director:Matthew A. Cherry (first two episodes) Studio(s):Warner Bros. Television, Harpo Films Cast: Ebonee Noel, Karen LeBlanc, Yaani King Mondschein, Rance Nix.
Story: The Kings of Napa is an upcoming drama from Janine Sherman Barrois for the Oprah Winfrey Network. The series is centered on the power struggle between the wealthy vineyard-owning King siblings in idyllic and picturesque Napa Valley. The aspirational African American family’s line of business has granted them the type of status that lands them in design magazines and on society pages. The wine business has brought the Kings success and acclaim, but following their patriarch’s sudden departure from the company, the three siblings must grapple for the reigns to the grape kingdom and acquire their own power.
Ebonee Noel will play the role of August King, the middle King sibling and the family’s brilliant marketing whiz who is passionate about vino and is always looking for new ways to expand the business. Karen LeBlanc will portray Vanessa King, the matriarch of the King family who gave up her career as a news reporter to help run King Estate Wines and has a seemingly picture-perfect marriage with her husband, Reginald. Yanni King Mondschein will play the role of Bridgette Peele, August’s cousin and right-hand who works as the winery’s manager. Rance Nix will portray Dana King, August’s older brother and the savvy CFO of the vineyard.
Production will begin later in 2021 for an early 2022 premiere on OWN. Source(s): yahoo.com.
Release Date:9/9/21; BET+ (all episodes) Genre: Drama Director: Kim Fields Morgan Studio(s): Tyler Perry Studios, Pitch Black Development, LLC, BET+
Story: All the Queen’s Men is a drama series being developed by Tyler Perry Studios for the BET+ streaming service. The series is based on the book Ladies Night and centers around the life of Marilyn ‘Madam’ DeVille. Madam is a fierce businesswoman who is at the top of her game in the nightclub industry and surrounded by a band of trusted employees who are down to make sure that she is successful. But Madam, a self-proclaimed boss, soon discovers that more money and more power mean more problems. Will Madam retain reign as she navigates this dangerous and sexy society? Will the sensuous world of exotic dancing cost Madam her queendom and potentially her life?
Cast/Characters
Eva Marcille as Marilyn ‘Madam’ Deville, a savvy, powerful, uncompromising businesswoman who owns a high-class male strip club that she runs fairly but with a firm hand; she’s unafraid to do whatever it is she has to do to keep her business going.
Skyh Alvester Black as AMP ‘Addiction’ Anthony, a dancer with a hidden past who has found difficulty getting hired after being released from prison, so he goes to work as a bouncer/ doorman in Madam’s club, Eden.
Candace Maxwell as DJ Dime, the resident DJ at Club Eden. She is ambitious and looks to Madam as a mentor.
Racquel Palmer as Blue, Madam’s chief of security. Blue is frequently seen at Madam’s side when things get a little dicey.
Michael ‘Bolo’ Bolwaire as Doc, one of the male strippers at Club Eden. Doc gets along well with his fellow dancers and a little too well with one of Eden’s patrons.
Keith ‘Fatal Attraction’ Swift as Babyface, is the oldest dancer of the group, though he doesn’t look it. He’s questioning the number of days he has left at the club and his many client entanglements cause him plenty of drama.
Dion Rome as El Fuego, one of the dancers at Madam’s Club Eden who is a bit flirtatious with Madam. He loves who he loves and is quite the techy.
Jeremy ‘Masterpiece’ Williams as Midnight, a confident and tough male stripper who sparks a different vibe in Madam than the other strippers. She enjoys him though it’s hard to say how personal their relationship is.
Christian Keyes as The Concierge is a calmly intense hitman, and member of the Damascus family, hired to blackmail Madam.
Status:Pre-Production Genre: Drama Directors:Charles Officer, R.T. Thorne Studio(s): Inferno Pictures, Sphere Media’s Sienna Films Cast: Aml Ameen, Ronnie Rowe, Jr., Mouna Traoré
Details: CBC, Canada’s public broadcaster, and BET+ are collaborating on The Porter (working title), an original drama series about a group of railway workers who unite to form the world’s first Black union.
Story:Set in the 1920s and inspired by real events, The Porter follows the journeys of four ambitious souls who hustle, dream, cross borders and confront barriers in the fight for liberation – on and off the railways that crossed North America. It is a gripping story of empowerment and idealism that highlights the moment when railway workers from both Canada and the United States joined together to give birth to the world’s first Black union.
Ameen will portray ‘Junior Massey,’ an intelligent, smooth, ambitious and fearless risk taker and war veteran employed as a porter with the Transcontinental Railroad; alongside Rowe Jr. as fellow porter ‘Zeke Garrett,’ Junior’s friend and war buddy, who is calm, thoughtful and persistent to a fault in his fight for integration. Traoré will play ‘Marlene Massey,’ Junior’s wife who works with the Black Cross Nurses, an offshoot of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, risking resources and reputation to help her community and reach her full potential.
Set primarily in Montreal, Chicago and Detroit as the world rebuilds after the First World War, The Porter depicts the Black community in St. Antoine, Montreal – known, at the time, as the “Harlem of the North.” They’re young, gifted and Black, from Canada, the Caribbean, and the U.S. via the Underground Railroad and through the Great Migration, and they find themselves thrown together north and south of the color line, in an era that boasts anything is possible – but if change isn’t coming for them, they will come for it. By any means necessary.
The Porter is set to become Canada’s biggest Black-led television production and has been greenlit for 2021/2022. Source(s): Deadline; newshowtv.com; nowtoronto.com.
Release Date: 5/6/21; BET+
Release 
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