Keepingitreal

New True Blood Trailer Preaching For Tolerance ... Vampire Tolerance!

Where Has All The Great Black Satire Gone?

Monday Aug 30, 2010 – By The Grio Last night saw the airing of the 62nd annual prime time Emmy awards. The critically-acclaimed comedy 30 Rock was nominated for “Best Comedy Series” for the fourth time in as many years (it was unseated from its throne by the new series Modern Family). The increasingly popular show features the talents of Emmy winners Tina Fey, Alec Baldwin, and nominee Tracy Morgan, who portrays a character known as Tracy Jordan, a rich black comedian known as much for his childish antics as his broad comedic abilities.In this setting, Jordan is used as a satirical look at black actors/comedians and their behavior in the white-dominated entertainment industry. He often complains of racism, indulges in debaucherous behavior with strippers, and is accused of fathering children out of wedlock, among other things. The character has been simultaneously criticized and praised–at times being written off as another stereotypical representation of black men and a brilliant use of satire to observe and send up the way Hollywood views and treats black celebrities. With 30 Rock entering its fifth season, I think about the Tracy Jordan character and its longevity in comparison to other popular satirical representations of black life, namely Chappelle’s Show, which went off the air after two seasons, and the recently wrapped animated series The Boondocks, which managed to last three. I have to wonder if the Jordan character can maintain its freshness, humor, and bite or will it meet an early demise like that of its satirical brethren. And that leads me to the larger question: is black satire built to last?

Consider Chappelle’s Show. After two hugely successful seasons which propelled Dave Chappelle to “funniest man in America” status and set records with the DVD sales. But with a new $50 million contract in hand for the production of a third season, Chappelle bolted without warning, taking a highly publicized and rumor laden trip to South Africa. In his first interview after returning stateside, Chappelle spoke to Oprah about his decision to quit the show. Part of his reasoning was that during the filming of a sketch in which faeries encouraged various people of different ethnic groups to participate in stereotypical behavior, Chappelle noticed a white crew member laughing in a way that made the comedian uncomfortable. He said it was at that moment he felt he was doing something “socially irresponsible” with his art.

But Chappelle wasn’t doing anything different than what his prior work would suggest. The difference, as William Jelani Cobb, a professor of history at Spelman College and author of the recent book The Substance of Hope: Barack Obama and the Paradox of Progress, noted in his 2006 essay “The Devil and Dave Chappelle” was the audience. Where the first two seasons spoke to an audience that was “in on the joke”, the audience that tuned in after the infamous Rick James parody was a bit less savvy and aware of Chappelle’s intent in using satire. Were the original audience could appreciate the nuance and sociopolitical underpinnings of the “Black Bush” sketch in which Chappelle imagines the backlash that would be received had former President George W. Bush been black, the new audience seemed to only respond to his less intellectual work. And rather than play into that and become the very thing that he was attempting to skewer, Chappelle left.

(Continue Reading @ The Grio…)

Fantasia Talks Suicide Attempt

TELEVISION REVIEW 'Treme' on HBO

The welter of expectations and "highly anticipateds" surrounding the premiere of David Simon's "Treme" all but demands a measure of critical blowback. Certainly there will be obligatory mewling about the new 10-episode HBO series being good but not as good as "The Wire," which launched Simon into the elite cadre of television artistes. There may be some random chest-beating over white folks' unfortunate tendency to get mushy in the head about black musicians and the South in general, and probably more than a few blog-ready over-analyses of the politics/wisdom/hubris/sentimentality of taking on post-Katrina New Orleans.

But it's all sound and fury. With "Treme" (which refers to a New Orleans neighborhood and is pronounced treh-MAY), Simon, co-creator Eric Overmyer and their team of writers (including the late, great David Mills) have proved that television as an art form can not only rival Dickens, but it also can hold its own against Wagner.

Full of the same complicated characters, crisscrossing story lines and well-informed immediacy that made "The Wire" one of the most astonishing shows on television, "Treme" flips the theme of urban decay and infuses it with music.

The pilot, directed by Agnieszka Holland and which premieres Sunday, opens with Treme's first second-line parade since the storm and ends with a traditional funeral. In the hour and a half in between, music is woven into the narrative like gold thread through a medieval tapestry -- sets played in clubs by real local stars including Kermit Ruffins (who apparently makes some mean barbecue), snatches aired in protest by the slacker-gadfly DJ Davis McAlary ( Steve Zahn), gigs picked up by profligate trombonist Antoine Batiste ("The Wire's" Wendell Pierce) and drum rituals of Albert Lambreaux (Clarke Peters, also of "The Wire"), a Mardi Gras Indian chief determined to raise his tribe and his community once again.

Far from the show-stopping set pieces of "Glee" or the distracting emo-soundtracks of so many adult dramas, the music of "Treme" enters seamlessly at regular intervals, as essential to the story as the players or the plot.

Add a cast that includes not only the above-mentioned stars but also Oscar nominee Melissa Leo, "Deadwood's" Kim Dickens, Khandi Alexander ( "CSI: Miami") and John Goodman, and you have not so much a television show as a modern American opera, full of flop sweat, spectacle and something that looks suspiciously like hope.

If "The Wire" was about the inevitable, irreversible decay of the American urban center, "Treme" is about something else. The exact nature of that something is not immediately clear. Certainly, it is not as simplistic as resiliency or renewal -- the mold that is consuming so many homes is not the only source of rot run wild. But in the wake of destruction, the natural order demands growth of one thing or another.

Compared with "The Wire," which though gorgeously complex had the solid scaffolding of crime and punishment, "Treme" is based on something much more amorphous.

"Her Name Was Steven"

New Docu-Drama Chronicles Step Teams Contest

Get out the crimson and cream and the pink and green. Get ready to “skee-wee” or “ooo-ooop.” The best fraternity and sorority step teams around the nation are competing at the "Sprite Step Off," the largest step competition ever held, with $1.5 million in scholarships up for grabs. And MTV2 will be there, right up until the contest is decided on Feb. 20th in Atlanta, GA.Premiering on MTV2 on Sunday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m. EST, “Sprite Step Off” is a six-episode documentary will follow six step teams around the country as they lead up to the main event. Rapper/actor Chris “Ludacris” Bridges will host.“I love that MTV2 and Sprite are giving a step competition national exposure and introducing this creative dance form to an audience outside of the urban college landscape," says Ludacris. "The teams competing on the show are not only dedicated but diverse and will take step competitions to a new level."If you attended a black college, are part of one of the nation’s historically black fraternities and sororities or if you saw the feature films “School Daze,” “Stomp The Yard,” or “Drumline,” you already have some idea what stepping is all about.The major black fraternities and sororities, founded for the most part because blacks on white campuses were excluded from white organizations, have long had a tradition of stepping. Stepping is simply a choreographed set of dance steps incorporating many historical African-American dances and cadences and from which each sorority or fraternity has created their signature moves.While college and universities nationwide hold regional step competitions every year, and there has been a national step competition in the past, the "Sprite Step Off" is one of the largest of its kind ever produced. The scholarship money riding on it is certainly a huge upgrade from the traditional step shows.“This step competition promises to be the hottest dance challenge to hit college campuses and cities this year,” said Chris McCarthy, senior vice president of strategic development and digital TV networks for MTV. “We are thrilled to be partnering with Sprite to bring these student performances to television as part of our new original series lineup for MTV2 and to provide a platform for the rich and historic tradition of college stepping.” CONTINUE READING...

Oprah Winfrey to Announce 2011 End to Her TV Show

Oprah Winfrey plans to end her syndicated television show in September 2011, as she turns her efforts toward a new cable-television channel she plans to launch with Discovery Communications Inc.
Ms. Winfrey told her staff of her decision on Thursday, according to a person familiar with the matter. Ms. Winfrey plans to make an official announcement on her talk show Friday morning, according to a spokeswoman.The move is a big blow to the syndicated television market, in which Ms. Winfrey has grown to become a juggernaut. "The Oprah Winfrey Show," which launched in syndication in 1986, attracted 6.6. million viewers for the week ended November 8, according to Nielsen Co. 
Local television stations, which use Ms. Winfrey to anchor their daytime hours, could also smart from Ms. Winfrey's decision. Her show has been one of the few whose ad rates have held steady in the recession, according to one ad buyer.

"In our market she does extremely well and always has," said Barry Smith, director of programming and creative services for KFMB-TV, a CBS affiliate in San Diego, Calif., owned by Midwest Television Inc. "It's going to be a task" to replace her, Mr. Smith added.The news was first reported on the Web site of a local ABC station that airs the show, New York's WABC-TV. Ms. Winfrey's decision also represents a hit to CBS Corp., which distributes Ms. Winfrey's show in syndication. "We look forward to working with her for the next several years, and hopefully afterwards as well," the company said in a statement supplied by a spokesman. Ms. Winfrey is likely to turn her attention to her new television network, OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network, which she announced with cable programmer Discovery Communications in January of 2008. The new channel is structured as a 50-50 joint venture between Ms. Winfrey and Discovery, and includes Oprah.com.

"I will be involved in every single element of programming," Ms. Winfrey said in an interview with the Journal at the time. Since then, the network has seen its launch pushed back. In January, OWN hired former MTV president Christina Norman to be chief executive. She took over from former Viacom Chief Executive and MTV veteran Tom Freston, who has quietly served as a consultant for the network, according to people familiar with the situation. SOURCE OF THIS POST

TODAY’s Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford talk to actress Gabourey Sidibe about her rise to fame and her role in the film "Precious."

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Real Housewives of ATL - Snippet of Kim's Tardy for the Party performance!

Real Housewives ATL - Lisa Confronts Dwight

MINORITIES STILL SCARCE ON PRIME TIME TV: SAG stats show few gains for African American, Latino, Asian and Native American actors.

Minorities, seniors and female actors have achieved few gains in recent years in the number of film and TV roles they receive, according to casting stats released by the Screen Actors Guild, reports Variety.“The diverse and multicultural world we live in today is still not accurately reflected in the portrayals we see on the screen,” SAG president Ken Howard said in a statement. “We will continue to work with producers, hiring executives and industry professionals in accurately portraying the American scene by ensuring equal access to employment opportunities for all of our members.” The latest statistics, released Friday, showed minority performers reached a high mark in 2007, with 29.3% of total roles, and then declined last year to 27.5%.  The breakdown of film and TV roles for 2008 was 72.5% Caucasian, 13.3% African-American, 6.4% Latino-Hispanic, 3.8 Asian-Pacific Islander, 0.3% Native American and 3.8% other-unknown. SAG noted in its report that U.S. Census data from 2000 showed that the nation's population was 73.4% Caucasian, 11.5% African-American, 10.6% Latino-Hispanic, 3.7% Asian-Pacific Islander and 0.8% Native American. SAG also said that Asian-Pacific actors were the only minority group to gain from 2007 to 2008, increasing from 3.4% to 3.8%, thanks to gains in TV. Producers who are signatory to SAG contracts are required to submit hiring data to the in order to examine the trends of “traditionally underemployed and disenfranchised members.”  SAG also noted that people with disabilities remain “virtually invisible” in casting even though 20% of the U.S. population has a disability. Wheelchair bound actor Darryl "Chill" Mitchell of the new Fox sitcom "Brothers," is one of the few disabled actors starring in prime time.

Real Housewives of ATL - Reunion

Real Housewives of ATL - Shereé's Big Day Drama

Real Housewives of ATL - Welcome to Capitol Records

Mo'Nique, Sykes, Lopez look to change TV's late-night landscape

MO'NIQUE, the charismatic, bold comedian and actress, can pinpoint exactly when she started to fall out of love with late-night television. It happened in the spring of 1994, when Arsenio Hall, the man who broke the genre's color barrier, walked away from his popular syndicated show.

"When Arsenio left late-night, so did I," she recalls. "I just hated to see him go. When you watch television, you want to see people who look like you."

Starting on Monday, Mo'Nique will do her part to make that happen by hosting her own hourlong blend of talk and variety. "The Mo'Nique Show" is set to air Monday through Friday on BET, and she's promising it will be a blast.

"We want you to feel good. It's a party, baby," she purrs. "When you're done watching, you're going to go to bed with a smile on your face. We're setting you up to have the sweetest dreams possible."

That's a rousing mission statement, indeed. But Mo'Nique won't be the only one looking to bring a fresh look to a late-night scene long ruled by white guys. Also adding some color are Wanda Sykes and George Lopez, who launch their own programs in early November.

"The Wanda Sykes Show" (Fox) will air on Saturday nights and feature the irreverent comedian's take on the events of the week, along with discussion panels and comedy segments. Meanwhile, "Lopez Tonight" (TBS), airing on weeknights, will offer an "outdoor street-party atmosphere" with celebrity guests and musical and comedy performances. CONTINUE READING..

Real Housewives of ATL - Kandi's Dance Moves

Real Housewives ATL: Selling the Song

ATL Housewives: Alter Ego Reveal

Whitney Spills on Drug Use

Real Housewives ATL - Drama at the Fashion Show