TMP Television Edition: Entertainment Business

Well, hey stranger! Haven't seen you in a month of Thursday Movie Picks (hosted by Wanderer at Wandering Through the Shelves, of course). Been a bit hectic, lately. The Man constantly has his foot on a brotha's neck, holdin' me down. He kicked me out of Starbucks, shot me out of Waffle House, and won't even let me barbecue in peace. If any part of my reality follows me out to the football field, there's hell to pay, and God forbid I have the audacity to walk around in a white neighborhood, or ask why I'm being arrested.

Well, not me, per se.

Us.

Me, personally? I've been grinding through the last few months of the school year, grading papers and lesson planning on an endless loop. Endless until now, that is. Summer is here. And I can get back into this blogging thing. I especially like Thursdays, when I get to hang out with you guys.

So here I am, aaaaannnnndddddd, not even discussing movies. Nope, we're talking TV shows about the entertainment business. And I'm all about this topic. Ready? Five, six, seven, eight...

Josie and the Pussycats

(1970-73)

Imagine Scooby-Doo with a girl group and without Scooby. If you can do that, you pretty much nailed Josie and the Pussycats. In case that isn't clear enough, it was three girls traveling around the country...later the galaxy as it became Josie and the Pussycats in Outer Space...performing gigs and solving mysteries. Or dealing with their arch-nemesis, the brother-sister duo Alexander and Alexandra. I used to watch this early every weekday morning while shoveling some sugary cereal down my throat before heading out to school. Talk about getting the day started right. And those costumes!

Empire

(2015-???)

The Lyon family is hip hop royalty and runs their record label, the eponymous Empire much like a crime family. It's a full-blown soap opera that just so happens to feature original R&B and hip hop better than most of what's on the radio. To that we can end an impressive list of guest stars, many of whom wind up with recurring roles. Forest Whitaker, Nia Long, Demi Moore, Eva Longoria, Rumer Willis, Mariah Carey, are but a few along with a slew of actual music artists. However, it's real drawing card is the turbulent relationship of its two main characters. The ever-slimy patriarch of the bunch, Lucious Lyon is played wonderfully by Terrence Howard. He is only outdone by the true love of his life, the incomparable Cookie played with an unquantifiable zest by Taraji P. Henson. This is trash-TV, done right.

Star

(2016-???)

Star is actually the name of the main character, a young white girl who will do anything to achieve R&B superstardom. Much like Henson in Empire, Jude Demorest goes all in on the role and it pays off big. Of course, Star has had a troubled youth beginning with the death of her mother, also a singer, when she was very young. Along with her even more troubled younger sister Simone (Brittany O'Grady), and Alexandra (Ryan Destiny), the daughter of a legendary rock star she's managed to hook up with, Star forms the hopeful girl group Take 3. We follow them through the ups and downs of trying to become stars, deal with each other, and deal with all the mayhem surrounding them, all with the help of mother-figure/manager Carlotta, played in series-grounding fashion by Queen Latifah. What I didn't mention in my Empire entry was that it was created by movie director Lee Daniels. He may have found his niche, as he also created this show. Like the other, Star also features original music every week that's as good or better than what the rest of the sub-30 crowd is churning out these days. This is more very good/bad trash-TV, but with its own calling card. Every episode somehow works in a full-length music video as part of the narrative.

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