Empire: Discussion Thread

[DeeeDee]

Lee implied he wanted Oprah to play a character.

However a Lyon Family episode of Oprah's Next Chapter would be hilarious.

[Nate4]

I actually like Rhonda. Loved when she stood up to Lucious. And she's very attractive.

[All My Shadows]

Interesting. I've never heard of this before, and all I can seem to find on YouTube is the opening credits as part of a compilation of shows from that year as well as a very short promo.

[SFK]

Thank God for sitcoms like Good Times and Roc that consistently brought black primetime drama in the absence of any hour-long series devoted to that. From The Jeffersons to A Different World, black sitcoms always produced the best "very special episodes" because they not only dealt with issues of the moment, but they brought light to the complexities of black life in America.

[DramatistDreamer]

Speaking of Black dramas, has anyone seen a drama from 1980-81 called Palmerstown, U.S.A.? I was slightly too young to have seen it when it aired but last year, Unsung Hollywood did an episode on director/producer/actor Bill Duke and that was the first time I had heard of the series.

I'm reading that Hollywood Reporter article on Empire's Season 2 and it amazes me how stupid international buyers and marketers can be. No one wanted to touch Empire claiming that a show with a predominantly AA cast couldn't work in their markets (the same nonsense they spout with movies that have mostly AA casts) until Empire became a ratings juggernaut then suddenly international buyers are falling over themselves to make a deal to bring the show to their markets.

So apparently, now these shows suddenly have the ability to work in these markets?!

Hopefully, from now on, someone will call them on their B.S. when they try to use this excuse.

I'm kind of heartened to read that Empire producers are looking to work with other types of writers like playwrights-- clearly, they aim to tell fuller, deeper stories. I think that is good, though part of me wonders how much of the audience will be expecting the pacing to go at the same breakneck speed they have been going in Season 1. We were all saying they needed to slow down but believe it or not, some people claimed they loved the crazy pace. Hopefully people will appreciate a more stable pace.

But, if anyone can keep the intrigue with a stable pace, it will be a talented playwright. I remember reading Paddy Chayevsky's biography a few years ago and it seemed that during the Golden Age of Television in the 1950s/60s, almost all of the best T.V. writers came directly from theater.

I guess that article answers the mystery about Macy Gray that perplexed me.

[MoTheGreat]

I think people who have black and dark skin(Latin) people in their market should give the show a chance.

But these markets just follow after USA preaching. An all Black cast isn't going to work.

& that play write thing I hope they spend time on Andre illness as much time they have spend on Jamal being gay.

[DeeeDee]

Palmerstown USA wasn't a Black drama.

It was a interracial drama about two families (one black & one white) in the Depression-era South (it was very Grapes Of Wrath meets To Kill A Mockingbird).

[MoTheGreat]

It already happen

With The Emmy thing & Jamal & Hakeem performing.

[DeeeDee]

Those markets don't even admit dark skin people exist in real life.

[Juliajms]

Yeah, but it really only does take once, so there should have been a DNA test before Lola left. The whole resolution to that story really drives me nuts. I'm choosing to believe that Lucious let her go because he's dying and not because he doesn't really GAF.

[Skin]

I can't imagine anyone liking this pace. Stories are completely skipped or dropped for episodes at a time, important plot developments are often ignored, shown off screen and have to be inferred by the viewing audience. I can't imagine that is good or productive for any show, especially in a show that lives off of dramatic tension, story development and shock value like Empire does. I think what people have enjoyed with Empire is that the viewing experience is finite, has an end point it has been working toward all season long, and it's schedule has been uninterrupted. It works precisely because it's been treated like a kind of mini-series and not a bloated 22 episode season order with annoying side plots to fill time. Hopefully they know and understand that and will take that into consideration within the next season. I think season two will have drops, backlash and dismissals precisely because of it's unprecedented success, and I don't think the runners will know how to handle it and really branch out the series indefinitely. The story has a time clock on it with Luscious ALS, and I doubt that they will ever kill him off. I think a lot of Empire's success comes from the finite amount of episodes it was initially ordered for, and people are noticing how tight the story telling is for that reason. It really all depends on if the shows creators can find something to supplement that to work continuously.

As to to international markets, I always felt that the story/character was more important than the color of the person's skin regardless. A lot of these stories are archetypal in tone, meaning they go back to stories and fables already previously told in other incarnations. However I also know that a lot of these international deals are usually contingent on other things. I know the CW and CBS often bundle their television shows together to get a package deal to international markets. Perhaps the same needed to be done with Empire. I know Fox has had an extremely hard time finding hit shows this season so that could be a factor. There are also just cultures that won't accept the show for religious, spiritual or other diversionary reasons. I agree with what a poster said up-thread about marketing the show to Latin markets, it fits the best with the tone of soaps and other telenovelas, and would probably be accepted the best there due to similar formats.

[MoTheGreat]

Taraji wanted to play Precious not the social worker that helps Precious. LeeDaniels wanted her for the Role of the Social Worker.

[DeeeDee]

Raven said she's open to returning in season 2 so that story isn't over.

[MoTheGreat]

Specking of those markets, some shows that suppose to be coming up on all stations in the fall. Three of those are Latin, I wonder if any of the casts going to be dark skin.

[Vee]

Well, it already has you even before you started watching it, so it's got that part covered.