I had a lot of fun putting together my #2015BestNine Instagram pictures (Follow me!). It's a fun way to look back at the year and remind yourself of how much you accomplished and that just because a haircut looks cute on Taraji P. Henson doesn't mean it'll work for you.
While picking 2015’s Best Television Shows, I discovered that this was an exciting, diverse year for shows that obliterated the conventional ideas of drama—“UnReal’s” drama felt like TV-ception as it focused on the making of a reality dating show; BET’s “Being Mary Jane” found its niche just as the do-gooding but volatile Mary Jane tried to find her bliss; and “Jane The Virgin” offered the most unflinchingly realistic look at motherhood in TV history. Let's break it down!
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Does the of television really need another cop show? If it’s a shady drama starring the multi-hyphenate superstar Jennifer Lopez and Emmy winner Ray Liotta, then of course!
In "Shades Of Blue," the NBC drama debuting next year, Jennifer Lopez triumphantly returns to the small screen as Harlee Santos—a single mother and a dirty cop who turns informant for the FBI to take down her mentor, Matt (Liotta), and his clan of criminals hiding behind badges. The official trailer teases a suspenseful and complicated game of cat-and-mouse between Harlee and Matt as the FBI closes in. “Shades Of Blue” is a murkier hue for Lopez, who has portrayed everything from slain musician Selena Quintanilla her break-out movie, “Selena” to a modern Cinderella in “Maid In Manhattan” to a divorcee who has an affair with a student in this summer’s “The Boy Next Door” but has yet to play a truly corrupt character (or go without her luxurious extensions). Watch the intense trailer below. Will “Shades Of Blue” be arresting television? Find out when "Shades Of Blue" premieres on January 7, 2016 on NBC. Ration your tea, everyone, because this season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” is about to spill it all. The teaser, which featured scrumptious tidbits of jaw-dropping drama, choreographed African dance, tears, and someone unconscious on the floor, was enough to send me induce guilty-pleasure euphoria. And the episode itself was stuffed with plenty of pearl-clutching moments that I didn't even notice the absence of NeNe Leakes. Bloop!
Grab your favorite cocktail and let's break this episode down, shall we? Duchess Porsha. In an wincingly ironic twist, we find the ever-glam Porsha in a new relationship with Buffalo Bills’ safety, Duke Williams. She showers him with luxury hotel suite, and designer clothes. He arrives with a backpack and a dopey smile--he's a bit young, you see. It's a complete role-reversal from her marriage to former football player and all-American douchebag Kordell Stewart, who loved to pamper and dress her (while treating her like garbage). Porsha is merely taking charge of her love life with "no apologies," and from the three minutes of giggly, gropey screen time Duke gets, I don't get any creeper vibes yet. I will only worry when Porsha starts restricting his behavior and telling him to retire from football so he can maintain the home. #BlackGirlGlamour. Atlanta’s sidewalks must be made entirely of red carpets and runways because nearly all of the women worked seriously fabulous fashions. From Phaedra’s black outfit complete with a mini-cape and longer, sultry locks to Porsha’s elegant white dress with the sassy change purse pockets to Marlo’s complicated banded black jumpsuit, the Atlanta women serving us Black Girl Glamour. Moore Manor. It’s not remotely shocking that resident villain and shit-stirrer, Kenya Moore found a house in mere feet away from Chateau Sheree. Moore Manor is light years beyond a fixer-upper, but it does have good bones (said bones may be infested with snakes and termites, though). It’s not a Real Housewives season without some murky real estate woes, so Kenya’s treacherous moneypit definitely fills that requirement. Her insistence to throw shade at the unfinished Chateau Sheree is all in devious fun. Until it's not. Last week’s two-hour premiere of “Being Mary Jane” featured visceral drama the fallout of Mary Jane’s car accident, thanks of brilliant writing and genius casting of character actor, Emmy winner Loretta Devine.
Though she's been acting for over 30 years, viewers may know Ms. Devine best as the late Adele Webber on “Grey’s Anatomy,” Aunt Honey on the short-running Raven-Symone led sitcom, “State Of Georgia” and her breakout role in 1995’s “Waiting To Exhale." Her most popular roles are intensely maternal archetypes. So when viewers saw the first scenes of downtrodden and gracious Cece—another driver in Mary Jane’s car accident—they may have written her off as a nice churchy grandmother that desperately needed Mary Jane’s help. Suddenly, the entire façade crumbled in scene-stealing fashion as Cece revealed herself to be an opportunistic, morally corrupt hustler who was underestimated by both Mary Jane (Gabrielle Union) and a room full of SNC's lawyers, who she promptly shut down: “I understand what you see: a shifty black woman who has the future of your company in her hands. You don’t like me anymore than you like Mary Jane, but you tolerate her because she’s good for business. Well you are going to tolerate me because so you can stay in business.” The reveal led to a deliciously awkward and provocative moment in the premiere in which Mary Jane and her extortionist feasted on popcorn and traded insults and insight over Mary Jane’s career. It was harsh reality, clever banter and social commentary in one electric and stunningly acted package. Unfortunately, a character like Cece probably won’t be around for more than a few more episodes, but I’m salivating to see her and Mary Jane spar for at least one more round. “Being Mary Jane” airs tonight on BET at 10/9c, and it is rumored that someone may die or leave the BMJ-verse forever! Who do you think it will be?
I love television dramas. I relish in the intrigue and the betrayal and glorious lives of fictional characters that live in sprawling luxurious homes or just covet them, and have twisted, dirty personal lives. As an entertainment blogger, there are never enough dramas. As a black woman, there are is a depressing scarcity of dramas starring women of color. We might be the overconfident, oversexed, sassy best friend whose only purpose to boost the self-esteem of the classically beautiful heroine or the medical examiner forever stuck in the lab doling out boring, impersonal medical facts, but rarely the muse.
Enter "Being Mary Jane"—BET’s addictive, sexy and provocative drama about a successful, complicated black woman who wants it all, starring the flawless and underrated Gabrielle Union. It's "Scandal" crossed with "The Good Wife." The new season starts on today! Here are four reasons you should watch. 1. Gabrielle Union. While we were rightfully and passionately celebrating the historic Emmy nominations ofViola Davis, Uzo Aduba, Regina King and Queen Latifah and other people of color, I was saddened by Gabrielle Union's snub. As Mary Jane Paul—a troubled but brilliant broadcaster—Union has given so much; she has turned in nuanced, candid, vulnerable performances that can be compared to Viola Davis' incendiary wig and make-up removal scene on “How To Get Away With Murder.” Her epic monologues rival any "Gladiator In A Suit" speech made on "Scandal" because they are not about lofty political ideas or the failings of society, but the everyday battle of being a (single) woman, being black and how hard it is to be one or both. 2. Her love life is worse than yours. Misery loves company, so anyone—single, married, recently dumped—can tune into “Being Mary Jane” and commiserate. Mary Jane has unknowingly slept with a married man and knowingly stalked the wife. She’s saved sperm her lover’s sperm in a desperate and misguided impregnate herself. She pushed away her niece who all but idolized her. Her relationships, platonic, familial and otherwise, are trainwrecks, and you can’t help but revel and weep at the carnage. After seeing the gorgeous men in her orbit, can we blame her? The series premiere of ABC’s heavily promoted FBI drama "Quantico" accomplishes the near-impossible—it hits harder than the hype prophesized, and it may very well be the best new show of the season.
Taking a narrative and style points from ABC’s sudsy predecessors, “How To Get Away With Murder” and “Revenge,” “Quantico” pulls double-duty by sweeping from a current storyline in which heroine Alex Parrish (Indian-born Bollywood actress Priyanka Chopra) is framed for a September 11-esque terrorist attack to past arcs FBI training that casts her fellow Quantico recruits in a suspicious light. The pilot does countless things right, particularly the characterization of Alex. She is a tough, capable woman but doesn’t sacrifice emotion to be so. When she’s scared, she shakes and pleads. When she’s upset, she cries. When she wants to have sex with a man she just met, she does so and isn’t ashamed to admit it. When terrifying things happen, she acts, even if that includes killing her father as a teenager or escaping FBI custody to figure out who framed her. And the list could be endless as her fellow Quantico recruits all have secrets running the gambit from tragic—Shelby’s parents died in during September 11 terrorist attacks—to horrific—Eric raped and impregnated a 14-year-old Malawian girl who died after getting an illegal abortion—to mundane—Caleb’s parents are both FBI agents and pulled major strings to get him into Quantico—to so jaw-droppingly awesome I wouldn’t dream of spoiling it. “Quantico” doesn’t just walk the line between primetime soap and genuine drama, it moonwalks across it, thanks to nimble writing and acting from creator Josh Safran (“Smash”) and a varied and diverse cast that includes Johanna Braddy (“UnReal”), Aunjanue Ellis (“The Book Of Negroes”) and Jake McLaughlin (“Believe”). It also effortlessly transitions between past and present while incorporating enough breadcrumbs to lead to future bombshells without being too obvious or too subtle. Admittedly, if “Quantico” burns through recruits as quickly as it does in the pilot, viewers will have difficulty rooting or caring about anyone. Caleb, the resident “gold-plated boy" with the self-deprecating one-liners, disappeared just as he became likable. If “Quantico” can maintain their sexy-suspense “Homeland”-meets-“Grey’s Anatomy” vibe, Parrish and Co. will be thwarting terrorist attacks for years to come. Grade: A What did you think of "Quantico"? Share your thoughts below. Photo Credit: EW.com I watch pilots with a cool detachment, because new shows are like looking at puppies on an adoption website. They’re all fluffy, adorable things wanting to bring you love and entertain you, and yet they can be ripped away at any second. I’m still grieving over the cancellation of “Battle Creek” and missing out on that adorable Char-Pei-Lab mix. However, I cannot contain my almost aggressive glee over Fox’s “Minority Report” starring Meagan Good, Wilmer Valderrama and Stark Sands.
It’s been 10 years since Tom Cruise shutdown the Precrime Division in the 2002 film of the same name, which was powered by a group of psychic siblings who could stop murders before they happened. They have since dropped out of society to live in anonymity. Good plays Lara Vega, a homicide detective who’s weary of the carnage, and wishes they could go back to preventing murders. Enter Dash, a now fully-grown, socially-impaired, emotionally-raw Precog. He’s still consumed with death and the need to help people, but he can only identify faces and smaller details. His brother, Arthur (Nick Zano), can hone in on identities. He is stoic and stony, the shark to his twin brother's desperate heroism. Lara and Dash secretly unite to prevent the murders of a do-gooding politician and dozens of supporters. “Minority Report” has clearly learned from its many predecessors, and by the end of the hour there was already a sprouting bond between cop and Precog. Vega is a dedicated detective, but hasn’t sacrificed her soul to rise in the ranks. Even though Dash is a means-to-an-end, she cares for him as a person, not a thing. And it’s nearly impossible not to. His visions hit like a freight train, and reverberate through him like a grand mal. Even my guarded heart begins to manufacture serious feels when it clicks that is how Dash spent his formative years—writhing from visions of constant murders and the physical pain of seizures. Since regaining his freedom, he doesn’t know how to live yet he’s dedicated to saving others from death. He’s a martyr, a futuristic Sam Winchester minus the mane. Their partnership is reminiscent of the best of “Sleepy Hollow’s” Abbie Mills and Ichabod Crane collaboration before Katrina swooped in to ruin everything. The rest is pure, imaginative fun. The pilot completely immerses you in the futuristic world that Spielberg built, and updates it. It’s still sleek and silver, lively and completely realized. There are colorful little touches—teleprompter glasses, healthy fries and flying selfie drones. There's suspense, humor and more than enough badassery, thanks to Good leaping off buildings and ziplining into warehouses without a flicker of hesitation. Even more, Dash's sister, Agatha, has been having a recurring vision that Precog program will be reinstated, and they will once again be imprisoned. Unlike Starks, Good—an industry veteran despite her babyface—doesn’t have the chance to stretch her acting muscles as much as her physical ones. Knowing the shelf-life of sci-fi shows on Fox (R.I.P. “Almost Human”), it is crucial that she gets the opportunities to show her range—her humor, rage and sadness—in the next few episodes. To carry the show, Good has to be more than the straight-laced cop or the hot girl with a gun, she has to be a fully-drawn person, and she's not yet. If Report trims the slightly indulgent scenes with the fancy CSI tools, they’ll have more time to invest into the cases, the action and the drama. Ultimately, “Minority Report" is not reinventing the wheel, but it definitely makes it more fun to play with. Its ability to play with linear time, burgeoning mythology arc and refreshingly diverse cast is a pretty slick way to solve the worst case of the Mondays. Grade: A- “Minority Report” airs every Monday on Fox at 8/7c. What did you think of "Minority Report"? Share your thoughts below. Photo Credits: Fox.com |
Small Screen GirlI am an unabashed pop culture and TV-aholic with no plans to ever seek treatment. Explore this blog and see just how deep my obsession goes. Categories
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