#underground wgn

[wanderingwomanwondering]

Shout if you remember all the bangers that were on wgn america before it was bought out by nextstar. Underground, Outsiders, & Salem were FANTASTIC and i miss them every day.

[severelyshadybird]

Some Noah and Rosalee love | Underground WGN

[blackgirlcinephiles]

I don’t even remember how long ago I wrote this. It’s probably been over a year, but I’m posting it now and expanding on it bc I keep seeing shit that pisses me off.

At the time I wrote this, Critical Race Theory was under a microscope, but since then educators have been investigated and even punished for teaching certain topics, libraries and librarians have been under attack, there are targeted efforts to suppress the histories of marginalized people (Free Palestine!!!). Now more than ever we need to take care with the way we discuss and analyze Black media.

The tweet that sparked this current rant was about being tired of “gang stories” dominate Black media in the UK. 🙄

There is so much internalized anti-Blackness in the way we discuss Black media and it truly worries me sometimes. Is everyone okay??? It’s like ppl are so preoccupied with stereotypes about Black ppl and crime, that they outright dismiss the stories that have been created and all the nuance & intention they carry.

The first two series of TopBoy could literally be used to teach a class on the sociology of crime. The show is so incredibly well done, the characters are fully-fleshed out and human, their arcs are interesting and thought provoking. And yet all that richness and depth gets reduced to “gang stories”… I can’t roll my eyes hard enough.

I understand people want variety (I do too). But do yall seek out variety??? Do you keep up with Black projects that are coming out, on maybe smaller platforms? Or do you just complain and uncritically judge the shows that are immediately popular?

There are a grand total of 2 “gang stories” that have come out of the UK in recent years (Top Boy, Blue Story) and because they were the most popular, that means that all the representation we have is crime media. There are other genres out there!! Did you look?! Do you actually care beyond complaining and making unfair/inaccurate assessments about the state of Black media? Get a grip!!! We’re losing the plot!!!

I feel like we have a very distorted understanding of how much of Black entertainment media is centered around struggle.

It always annoys me to hear other Black folk say,

“I’m tired of all these slave films, I’m tired of all these movies about ‘The Struggle’.”

Because in reality, if you take some time and do a quick survey, there really aren’t very many movies about slavery and “the struggle”. There’s even fewer that are historically accurate and handle these topics well.

Like within the grand scope of Black entertainment media (media made by Black people about Black people), non-slave and non-struggle films far outnumber movies about slavery and racial discrimination.

I think with the onset of the Black Lives Matter movement, we saw a number of films emerge that told stories of police brutality, slavery, and other incidents of racial terror on the Black community. But I feel like people forget to put that era into context and don’t realize that that period was the first time we were seeing serious efforts to tell those stories on screen in a dramatized format. Those films brought attention and publicity to events and issues that white media would have us forget. And is desperately trying to have us forget, as evidenced by the current histeria around Critical Race Theory.

Films like Fruitvale Station, Detroit, The Hate U Give, shows like Underground, Roots were firsts in a lot of ways. They brought attention to individuals and parts of history seldom talked about. And despite being well intentioned, there are serious critiques to be made about a few of these projects (THUG I’m side-eyeing YOU!)

And I can understand as Black people we don’t want to be re-traumatized with dramatic retellings of a reality we are already intimately and painfully familiar with (these films are for non-Black people more than anyone else). But I want us to place our anger in the right direction. There are too many times where the “I’m tired of slave stories” ends up blowing back harder on Black creatives than anyone else.

In my opinion, there isn’t any over abundance of struggle narratives in Black entertainment media. It’s that struggle narratives end up being more highly profiled by broader white media (read: all dominant media outlets and institutions).

Dominant white media institutions only uplift Black stories that either teach them something about racism or reinforce negative racial stereotypes. Slave films sweep awards seasons. Denzel got nominated for Malcolm X, but he won for playing a corrupt cop in Training Day. Monique gave us years of laughs as she portrayed a playful, and fun loving relationship with her daughter on The Parkers (a role she could’ve easily won an Emmy for), but her Oscar came for playing a toxic and abusive mother in Precious.

If there’s something to be upset about it, it’s that. Its that Black film and television isn’t valued by dominant media when it portrays our simple everyday humanity. They need to see us suffering the terrors of racial capitalism in order to feel and sympathize with our cause and even self flaggelate.

[911cast]

Aisha Hinds and the Underground cast at WGN America's cocktail reception for Salem, Outsiders, and Underground during New York Comic Con (October 8, 2016)

[sleepynegress]

HEADS UP!!!!

Two Misha Green produced jewels, that she was HONESTLY screwed out of a longer run for BOTH...

ARE NOW STREAMING FOR FREE!!! ON TUBITV...at least for Februrary. That's UNDERGROUND, which despite having the highest ratings in the history of the WGN network was cancelled to make way for a Sinclair Media buy-out, in which WGN was to become a 24 hour alt-right news network. There were legality issues and the deal fell through despite that, and few other beloved cult shows already being cancelled.... AND

LOVECRAFT COUNTRY... which despite having a shakey finish, still got 13 Emmy nods (!!) only to be cancelled by the newly Discovery-Time Warner allied HBO.

Both shows did something I think flew over the heads of even black audiences... And that is stretch the typical gaze of blackness, even when that gaze is other black people. She delved into uncomfortable unconfronted spaces in an entertaining way, instead of the typical mopey trod-upon thing that is the most often done thing when dealing with "black history". She made the runaway ex-enslaved, a heroic misfit crime caper group, stealing themselves away. Instead of superficial platitudes, UNDERGROUND showed what it really took to be a white ally in that time and place. Instead of the same ol' wade in the water fare, she scored this with a pulsating modern soundtrack, keeping that gaze and it's continuing affects, modern in the eyes of the viewer, which honestly is brilliantly ahead of it's time. In the case of LOVECRAFT COUNTRY, she dealt with generational traumas and secrets within black families head-on, -in particular queerphobia/self-hatred/abuses without flinching, toxic black masculinity, and colorism w/in a queer interracial context, where the skinny yt girl was masculine coded(!) and the gorgeous fat dark-skinned black woman is coded as femme (which honestly, the queer aspects are what I speculate is why a lot of black viewers didn't get onboard). And yeah, that should have been Micheal K. Williams posthumus Emmy-win, point-blank.

When you think of all the mediocre yt produced shows that got five seasons+.... Yeah, I'll remain mad about it. As I said... she got screwed twice and I'm pissed because I love both shows. That said, at least we got Amirah Vann, who was exclusively a stage actor before her turn on UNDERGROUND as Ernestine aka "'Stine" (another one that should've gotten an Emmy nod) and is now a common face on Primetime TV. Those two shows will stay getting that #ThisIsARec from me, and that goes especially for it being Black History Month. The two best episodes of UNDERGROUND are Cradle and Ache, respectively...And the best episodes of LOVECRAFT COUNTRY are the pilot, the jiggaboo curse ep, Hippolyta's interdimensional ep., and IMO, Ruby's potion Ep. (because that one was so bold). Anyway... plug the titles into the search bar on TubiTV.com to watch for free and legally, likely for a limited time.

[heavenboy09]

Happy Belated Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You

The Talented & Stunning Black American Actress👩🏿🖤🤎 Of Netflix's Spike Lee's Remake,  She's Gotta Have It

Born On May 30th, 1984

Wise was born in Jessup, Maryland and raised in Woodlawn, Laurel, and Baltimore. In high school, she thought she wanted to be a therapist until she took AP Psychology and decided it was not for her. She began acting during her sophomore year at Atholton High School when her high school theatre director, Nathan Rosen, offered her a part in a production in lieu of detention.

She is an American actress. She starred in Spike Lee's Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It (2017–19), a contemporary adaptation of his 1986 film.

Wise first appeared in episodes of television series including Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, The Good Wife and Boardwalk Empire. She made her film debut in the 2007 drama Spinning into Butter starring Sarah Jessica Parker, then had secondary roles in Steam (2007) and Precious (2009). In 2016, she starred in the independent romantic comedy film How to Tell You're a Douchebag that premiered at Sundance Film Festival. The next year, she had a recurring role in the WGN period drama series Underground, and starred opposite Sanaa Lathan in the Fox miniseries Shots Fired.

In 2017, she had a leading role in the Netflix comedy-drama series She's Gotta Have It, which was canceled after two seasons in 2019.

She later appeared opposite Kevin Hart and Alfre Woodard in the comedy-drama Fatherhood (2021), and co-starred in Jurassic World Dominion.

Please Wish This Wonderful & Stunning Black American Actress Of Exquisite Beauty, A Happy Belated Birthday 🎂 ♥

Ms. DeWanda Wise👩🏿🖤🤎 Aka Kayla Watts Of Jurassic World🦖🦕 🌎 Dominion

Happy Belated 40th Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 🎁 🎊 To You Ms. Wise👩🏿🖤🤎 & Heres To Many More Years To Come. 

#DeWandaWise #ShesGottaHaveIt #Fatherhood #JurassicWorldDominion

[thewingedwolf]

I hate that underground just got it’s timing so wrong. It was the perfect storm of that specific year and it that specific channel. But if it had come a few years later? I mean who knows maybe in season 3 it would have tanked bc some outside writer would get forced on them and fucked the story but man it was such a good show. I’m stuck right now on the theme song tho. I always find it impressive when a songwriter can not just write a song that appeals to people now, but sounds like a song that would have been a hit in another time. And Heaven’s Door is such a good example of that - it has to be a spiritual, but also contain a coded message that contains references to real places in this story, sound like a song that would have fit into that time period, be catchy enough to fit into ours, A N D it has to fit the themes of their show.

[ljones41]

Favorite Episodes of "UNDERGROUND" (2016-2017)

Below is a list of my favorite episodes from the WGN series, "UNDERGROUND". Created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, the series stars Jurnee Smollett and Aldis Hodge:

1. (1.05) "Run & Gun" - The attempt by the escapees from the Macon plantation to catch a northbound train out of the state is complicated at every turn; while Tom and Susanna Macon have the remaining slaves - especially Pearly Mae, who was captured while trying to run - questioned about their plans.

2. (1.04) "Firefly" - A notorious slave hunter named August Pullman and his son Ben track Noah and Rosalee, following their escape from the Macon plantation at the end of the previous episode. The other slaves involved in Noah's plot contemplate running, as well. Meanwhile, Ohio abolitionists John and Elizabeth Hawkes face a lethal predicament, when one of the runaways they are sheltering turns hostile.

3. (2.03) "Ache" - Now an Underground Railroad conductor, Rosalee struggles to evade Patty Canon's slave catching band. Her mother Ernestine is haunted by her past, while adjusting to her new role as a field hand on a South Carolina Sea Island plantation.

4. (1.09) "Black & Blue" - Rosalee, is captured in a small Kentucky town and held at a pig slaughterhouse, while fellow escapees Noah and Cato plot to rescue her.  John Hawkes (who is also Tom Mason's brother) learns of his wife Elizabeth's reckless action to save the orphaned escapee Boo from her ex-fiancé and U.S. Federal Marshal Kyle Risdin.

5. (1.01) "The Macon 7" - In the series premiere, Noah begins to plot an escape from the Macon plantation to the Ohio River and free states. He contemplates on choosing which slaves to be included in his plan, while dealing with a hostile Cato, who also happens to be one of the plantation’s field drivers.

Honorable Mention: (2.08) "Auld Acquaintance" - When Rosalee's plan to rescue her younger brother James from the Macon plantation fails in the previous episode, (2.07) "28", fellow Macon 7 fugitive Noah struggles to form a new plan to save both sister and brother. Ernestine's attempt to escape from the South Carolina plantation is thwarted by August, whose release had been arranged by Patty Canon.

[blackinperiodfilms]

OWN:  Oprah Winfrey Network announced today that it has acquired the critically acclaimed historical drama “Underground” to air beginning Tuesday, January 5 at 9 p.m. ET/PT.  The dramatic series from Sony Pictures Television will have a revitalized presentation on OWN, with newly filmed episodic introductions by cast members, never-before-seen behind the scenes footage and more.

Ummmm ... I never thought this day would come. I am actually really shocked. Maybe this will lead to it being reprised one day. 

The Series Summary: In 1857, a restless slave named Noah organizes a small team of fellow slaves on the Macon plantation outside Atlanta, and puts together a plan to run for their lives — 600 dangerous miles North — to freedom. The odds of success are slim; the path to freedom’s terrain is unforgiving, and Tom, their politically ambitious owner will surely kill anyone attempting to run. For those who make it off the plantation, the risks and uncertainties multiply. They leave family behind to pay for their sins, as they face danger and death at every turn. They’re aided along the way by an abolitionist couple in Ohio, new to running a station on the Underground, unprepared for the havoc it will wreak with their personal lives, while they evade a ruthless slave catcher hell-bent on bringing them back, dead or alive.

[runwithmerosalee-blog]

I miss Underground

[blackfemmecharacterdependency]

Jasika Nicole on 'Underground,' Biracial Roles, Rewriting History - Variety

I want more Georgia in my page. Idc how old the show is.

[amirahvannappreciation]

Happy birthday Amirah 😍🥵

[saint-cecilias]

rosalee and noah from underground are letitia lewis’s great great great great grandparents 

i don’t make the rules 

[ai-yo]

do people really not like the anachronistic music in Lovecraft Country I mean I don’t mind it I expected it because that what Misha Green did on Underground which I liked because we go that scene in season 2 with Rosalee running to Beyonce’s Freedom.

[fuckyeahaldishodge]

Gallery: Emmy Weekend Events

    Gallery Links:

Photoshoots > Session 69 Public Appearances > 2019 > Sep 19: Audi Celebrates the 71st Emmys Public Appearances > 2019 >  Sep 20: The Hollywood Reporter and SAG-AFTRA Celebrate Emmy Award Contenders Public Appearances > 2019 >  Sep 21: BAFTA/LA BBC America TV Tea Party Public Appearances > 2019 >  Sep 21: Showtime Emmy Eve Nominees Celebrations

  Gallery: Emmy Weekend Events was originally published on Aldis Hodge Online | Est 2010

[zalrb]

OK! So.

The first thing I did for this post was look for gifs of romantic relationships between black people on relatively popular TV shows outside of 90s sitcoms

I’ll add all three of Issa’s love interests because Insecure, for the most part, navigates romance through black relationships 

(and I do note the serious lack of dark skinned couples) 

Compared to:

Now to the point, I high key wish there was as much investment in onscreen relationships between black people as there is regarding interracial, specifically wm/bw, romances and more critical thought as to why it’s so rare to see black love in television shows.

While it’s very much still progressive to see [...] leading women who unapologetically wear their Blackness onscreen, pairing them each with a Black man of similar or complementary virtues is apparently a no-no [...] It appears that the only place Black couples can be seen regularly on prime time is via reality TV. Shows like Bravo’s Real Housewives of Atlanta and VH1’s Love and Hip-Hop almost exclusively showcase Black men in relationships with Black women. The only problem is, nearly all of these relationships are based in gross disrespect, betrayal, dismissiveness, and even violence. And since these are real-life couples, it further promotes Black love and Black rage as different sides of the same coin.

Like I get the fact that fandoms are anti-black and that when white male characters are paired with black female characters, they go crazy because how dare a black woman sully a white fave and they’ll find every excuse to render the ship non-romantic or toxic or abusive or whatever else, I get that, but legit, it’s as if people fail to see the systemic anti-blackness in the fact that a well-written, earned love story between two black people is so rare to find in television in general (but teen television specifically) and most of the time if a black relationship is portrayed, it’s along the lines of:

Bonnie and Jamie share one kiss in 3x20 and then Jamie is just never heard from again and he was clearly a rebound after Jeremy and after Jamie, Bonnie and Jeremy reconcile and then it’s on to Enzo.

Or Edison and Olivia 

where his purpose was basically to reveal to her how much she wants to be with Fitz.

Michaela and Aiden were engaged when the show started but it turns out he didn’t really love her and she didn’t really love him

she’s attracted to Caleb but oh wait, he’s a psychopathic murderer

A one night stand with Marcus that doesn’t lead anywhere.The framework here is basically Michaela has a idea of her “perfect black man” but the only relationship that actually fulfilled her that we had seen on the show is the one she had with Asher.

The erasure of black love is even in background details like how in The Good Place when you see the “soulmates”, it’s white couples or interracial

same in The Handmaid’s Tale, it’s either white couples or interracial couples 

(and I didn’t even put gifs of all of the ww/bm relationships there are) 

Another example of this is when it comes to the representation of LGBTQ relationships. 

So often, gay lives in America are coded as white, and the forces that shape the lives of queer people of color – say, how immigration affects being Chicano and gay in Calfornia, or how police surveillance affects being black and gay in the New York – are ignored, as gay identity is usually swept up into whiteness.

For instance, in The Get Down we have a predominately black cast, a narrative that explores the rise of hip-hop and disco through the perspectives of black teens but when it comes to Dizzee exploring his sexuality, the show goes to a white space as if New York in the late ‘70s didn’t have a black gay scene. Even in Black Lightning, we see Anissa with another black woman for all of two seconds and then that relationship is shunted to the side in favour of an interracial one,

which is why Damon and Ricky in Pose were such a refreshing dynamic to see (as well as Chiron and Kevin Moonlight and Kena and Ziki in Rafiki but those are movies and I’m focusing specifically on television).

There is a dismissiveness or a refusal to look at the fact that the only way to see black characters in loving relationships or relationships that are meant to have substance is when they’re married to whiteness or non-blackness:

Added to that, I feel like there has been this unspoken yet spoken idea that for [cishet] black women to be desired and loved onscreen, the goal is to pair her with a white man.

To find a black woman as a love interest for a white man in which a stable and loving relationship follows is rare when relationships with white women are staple. A black woman paired with a lead white male in a giant franchise is almost non-existent in media. Uhura is breaking stereotypes and showing that black women are desirable, in which one is so desirable that the most popular and loved Star Trek character, Spock, falls in love with her.

Clearly the above section is from a tumblr post defending Uhura and Spock specifically but I think the ideas here permeate the way bw/wm relationships are viewed as being the Golden Standard for black female characters because she inhabits a role white women usually inhabit, because popular, typical white leading men are intrigued by her, there’s a form of validation there that I think we should unpack because I find this idea myopic because whiteness is still centered. I’m ready to move on to more Nakia and T’Challa, Ziki and Kena, Damon and Ricky relationships as being staple relationships, to seeing functional, romantic, lustful, healthy, playful nuanced black relationships onscreen. 

And this isn’t a call to stop shipping interracial ships, I have quite a few myself, I love Ashburn and I love Micasher and Silvermadi and Sasil and Jesus and Lafayette and Alisha and Simon and Chris and Jal and Kevin and Raymond etc. I have breakdowns and “love letters” to a lot of these ships, but this has been bothering me for a while so I decided to just post about it.