ABC Owned Television Stations premieres Our America: Hidden Stories with Ava DuVernay starting Sunday, July 14. The one-hour special “sheds light on the interconnected issues of caste through the lenses of racism, sexism and other various human hierarchies in America while drawing from the themes in [DuVernay’s] landmark film Origin,” ABC Stations said. “The special aims to engage, inform and inspire viewers to connect on a human level.”

Interviews happen in Los Angeles, Houston and New York, and touch on the making of Origin, book bans and caste in America. There’s also a student roundtable that sees DuVernay sit with college students to discuss their passions and concerns, and “what motivates them to drive societal change.”  

The special happens in association with DuVernay’s Array Filmworks. 

KABC Los Angeles debuts it Sunday, July 14 at 3 p.m. ABC Localish has it Monday, July 15 at 8 p.m. ET. KFSN Fresno and WABC New York premiere it July 20 and WLS Chicago features the special July 21. KTRK Houston launches Hidden Stories July 27 and WTVD Raleigh-Durham has it July 28. 

WPVI Philadelphia debuts it August 4. 

Our America: Hidden Stories with Ava DuVernay streams on Hulu July 19. 

DuVernay’s films include Selma, A Wrinkle in Time and Origin. The latter came out in 2023 and is based on the book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents. While investigating the issue of caste and its influence on society, the film sees a journalist face unfathomable personal loss and uncover what ABC calls “the beauty of human resilience.”

Her TV work includes Queen Sugar and When They See Us. 

Our America: Hidden Stories With Ava DuVernay is executive produced by DuVernay, Tammy Garnes, Paul Garnes, Tilane Jones and Nzinga Blake, executive producer, Race & Culture, ABC Owned Television Stations. 

Previous Our America specials from the ABC stations include In the Black and Indigenous and Urban. 

OWN tonight (September 6) will debut the seventh and final season of its Ava DuVernay-created original drama series Queen Sugar.

The series, which initially debuted on OWN in 2016, follows the lives of three Bordelon family siblings initially brought together by the death of their father and the future of the family's Louisiana-based farm.

DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey served as executive producers for the series, which was based on the 2014 novel of the same name by Natalie Baszile. Throughout its seven-seasons, Queen Sugar featured an all female directing staff, with more than three dozen women directors working on the series during its entire 88-episode run, according to the network.

During the Television Critics Association press tour last month, DuVernay -- who directed the show's final episode -- said that she accomplished her goals in bringing Queen Sugar to television.

Also: Execs, Talent Talk Diversity at CTAM TCA 

“As I walked off the set that final day directing the final episode of the final season, I felt deeply satisfied,” DuVernay said. “I did not feel sad … I didn’t feel like something was being lost. I felt the whole story was gained and it was a beautiful end.”

Queen Sugar stars Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Bianca Lawson and Kofi Siriboe, with Glynn Turman and Sharon Lawrence appearing as guest stars in season seven. Along with DuVernay and Winfrey, the series is executive produced by Paul Garnes and Anthony Sparks. ■ 

Production on the final episode of Queen Sugar has begun in and around New Orleans. Ava DuVernay created Queen Sugar. She directed the pilot, and is directing the series finale too. 

The seventh and final season is on OWN this fall.

Over the course of its seven seasons, Queen Sugar has employed 42 women to direct episodes of the show, a DuVernay objective, with 39 of those being first-time scripted television directors in the United States. The final season welcomes seven directors from previous seasons, including DuVernay, Kat Candler, Stacey Muhammad, showrunner Shaz Bennett, Patricia Cardoso, Aurora Guerrero and DeMane Davis. 

The series is based on the book by Natalie Baszile and is about three siblings in rural Louisiana dealing with their father’s sudden death and the fate of his sugarcane farm. 

Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe are in the cast. Guest stars for season seven include Glynn Turman, Tracie Thoms, Greg Vaughan and Sharon Lawrence. 

Queen Sugar is produced by DuVernay’s ARRAY Filmworks and Harpo Films in association with Warner Bros. Television. Executive producers are DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Paul Garnes and Shaz Bennett. 

All previous seasons of Queen Sugar are on Hulu. ■

Starz announced new scripted series projects from Ava DuVernay and Tanya Saracho as part of its #TakeTheLead Summit Thursday evening.

Starz has given a three-season commitment to the untitled DuVernay project, which follows two polar opposites who become intertwined in a love affair that turns their worlds -- and those of everyone around them -- upside down, said network officials. The project will star Lauren Ridloff and Joshua Jackson, with DuVernay, Ridloff, Jackson, Kat Candler and Paul Garnes serving as executive producers for the series.

“There is nothing like this series on TV and we are thrilled to be in development with Ava, a trailblazer and unparalleled champion of diversity,” said Kathryn Busby, Starz president of original programming. “Lauren is a true inspiration and together with Joshua, a brilliant veteran actor, they will bring their incredible talents to this project -- both in front of and behind the camera. This series exemplifies our #TakeTheLead mission, and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Vida creator Saracho will develop Lovesong, a half-hour drama that will follow two Mexican-American childhood friends living in London as they both become entangled in a torturous love-triangle with the same singer-songwriter, said the network. Musician Johnny Flynn and Christine Dávila will serve as co-executive producers.

“We are beyond thrilled to partner with Tanya to bring her bold and tantalizing love story to life,” Busby said. “Throughout her career and from Vida to Lovesong on Starz, her dedication to Latin representation embodies the spirit of #TakeTheLead.” ■

Also: Roku Teams with Apollo Global to Bid for Piece of Starz

Netflix emerged as a powerful corporate voice for social justice nearly two years ago in the wake of George Floyd's murder by Minneapolis police, moving $100 million of cash into Black-owned banks, hiring high-profile Black executives, including former CMO Bozoma Saint John, and green-lighting a number of projects aimed at progressive education for kids. 

"To be silent is to be complicit," Netflix wrote in a May 30, 2020 tweet, delivered just five days after Floyd's murder. "Black lives matter. We have a platform, and we have a duty to our Black members, employees, creators and talent to speak up."

But as Netflix adopts a recessionary mindset in the wake of its growth deceleration and Nasdaq collapse, sending expensive talent like Saint John out the door, and with loud voices on the far right, including loquacious future Twitter owner Elon Musk, attributing Netflix's sudden struggles to its alleged "woke" agenda, the streaming company's once refreshing post-George Floyd era of cultural progressiveness appears done. 

Certainly, Netflix also has to be watching closely as its media-business peer Disney suffers retribution from grudging far right lawmakers in Florida after inadvertently wading into the culture wars itself.

This week, Variety reported that Netflix is scuttling a planned animated project from producer and social activist Ava DuVernay, Wings of Fire, as well as an animated adaptation of race scholar Ibram X. Kendi's best seller, Antiracist Baby, a recent target of the far right in its quest to leverage political power over what it has effectively branded as an election-year boogeyman, "critical race theory." 

Confusing smoke signals have emerged from Netflix's Los Gatos, California headquarters as for the reasons for the cancellations, which were reported the same day that Netflix laid off 150 employees, a move the company tied directly to its Q1 revenue shortfall.

Quoting unnamed inside sources, Variety said the shows were scrapped for creative reasons and not business rationale. 

However, as Gizmodo reported Wednesday, many of those who received pink slips from Netflix Tuesday were technically contract workers, spread  across diversity-focused social media channels set up by Netflix. These included the Black community-focused Strong Black Lead, Latinx-themd Con Todo, Asian American-based Golden, and the LGBTQ-focused Most. 

The layoffs were put into a bucket that Netflix directly attributed to the economic slowdown in company statements. 

Next TV sent an email query to Netflix press reps Wednesday, which was not immediately responded to. 

Was Netflix feigning economic hardship to meekly duck out out of the culture wars? 

Whatever Netflix's reasons, the scrapping of the two shows, the layoffs and several other moves give the appearance that, at least circumstantially, the company is pulling back from a bold agenda, and perhaps even capitulating to critics like the feckless Musk, who on Wednesday declared his own election-year allegiance to the GOP. 

Notably, on Monday, Musk -- who had earlier blamed Netflix's recent struggles on "woke mind virus" -- praised Netflix for changes made to its internal "Culture Memo" position paper. In its revision, Netflix says it won't censor its artists, such as the controversial Dave Chappelle, telling employees who have a problem with that policy that they might consider working someplace else. 

That message, of course, seems a far cry from a declaration that "we have a platform and a duty to speak up..." ■

Apple TV Plus has greenlit a second season of its unscripted biography series Dear …, which will debut March 4.

The new season of the series, which features leaders, entertainers and athletes gaining insight on their contributions to society by reading letters written by their fans, will feature the late fashion icon André Leon Talley, Viola Davis, Jane Fonda, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ava DuVernay, Billy Porter, Sandra Oh, Malala Yousafzai and Laird Hamilton.

By reading these letters, each influential figure learns how they have unknowingly impacted others and gain new insight into how their work has made a unique contribution to the global community, said the streaming service.

The docuseries is executive produced by R.J. Cutler (Apple TV Plus's Billie Eilish: The World’s A Little Blurry) along with Jane Cha Cutler, Todd Lubin, Jay Peterson, and Donny Jackson.

The streaming service also announced an April 1 premiere date for its new espionage series Slow Horses, starring Gary Oldman.

The six-episode drama series, based on Mick Herron’s novels, follows a team of British intelligence agents who serve in a dumping ground department of MI5 – Slough House. Apple TV Plus will premiere the first two episodes, followed by one new episode weekly, every Friday. ■

OWN’s Ava DuVernay-produced drama series Queen Sugar will end in 2022 with its seventh season, the network said on the eve of the show’s sixth season finale.

The series, created by DuVernay and launched in 2016, follow the exploits of the Bordelons, an African-American family with ties to the Deep South. The finale of the 10-episode sixth season of Queen Sugar airs tonight (Nov. 16).

“To everything, there is a season. And my producing partner Paul Garnes and I have had seven gorgeous seasons making Queen Sugar with a remarkable cast and crew, alongside our partners at OWN and Warner Bros. Television,” DuVernay said in a statement. “To write and produce seven seasons of a modern drama centered on a Black family is a radical act in our industry and a triumph that has far exceeded every hope I held. Now I feel strongly that the story, which began as a sunrise of a suggestion from Oprah [Winfrey] is ready for its sunset as a dream fully realized. Queen Sugar has been one of the true joys of my career and my gratitude is buoyant and boundless.” 

Also: Review -- Ava DuVernay's 'Colin In Black and White'

OWN CEO Tina Perry added: Queen Sugar is a truly extraordinary series brought to life by Ava’s leadership, her brilliant creative team, and the incredible cast and crew. Our audience has seen themselves reflected with nuance and care through the story of the Bordelon family, including their triumphs and challenges, and most importantly, the love they have for each other through it all. Queen Sugar has been an unparalleled success for OWN, garnering critical acclaim, awards recognition, and a loyal and dedicated audience. We are so grateful for Ava’s partnership and are looking forward to a fantastic final season.”

Queen Sugar stars Kofi Siriboe, Bianca Lawson, Rutina Wesley, McKinley Freeman, and Dawn-Lyen Gardner. The series is executive produced by DuVernay, Garnes, Winfrey and Anthony Sparks. ■

The Ava DuVernay limited series Colin in Black & White, which chronicles the coming-of-age story of Colin Kaepernick, premieres on Netflix Oct. 29. Jaden Michael plays the young Kaepernick. 

There are six 30-minute episodes.

Kaepernick was a quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers and kneeled during the national anthem to protest racial injustice in 2016, and saw his playing career end a short while later. 

The series tackles “the obstacles of race, class and culture as the Black adopted child of a white family,” according to Netflix. 

Nick Offerman and Mary-Louise Parker play Kaepernick’s parents, Rick and Teresa. 

Kaepernick appears as the present-day narrator of his own story. 

DuVernay and Kaepernick created the series. They executive produce alongside Michael Starrbury. 

OWN will debut the sixth season of its original drama series Queen Sugar on Sept. 7, the network said Tuesday. 

The series, executive produced by Ava DuVernay, continues to follow the exploits of the Bordelons, an African-American family in the Deep South who in the upcoming season will look to reclaim their lives coming out of the pandemic, according to the network. 

Read Also: Warner Bros. Discovery Sets Sights on 200 Million Sub Mark 

Queen Sugar stars Kofi Siriboe, Bianca Lawson, Rutina Wesley, McKinley Freeman, and Dawn-Lyen Gardner. Along with DuVernay, the series is executive produced by Oprah Winfrey, Paul Garnes and Anthony Sparks.

The CW has ordered a pilot for Naomi, an Ava DuVernay project based on the characters from DC. Naomi follows a teen’s journey from her small town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes up her hometown, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes, promises The CW. 

Executive producers are DuVernay, Jill Blankenship, Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes. 

ARRAY Filmworks is producing Naomi in association with Warner Bros. Television.  

The comic book series, co-written by Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker, debuted in 2019. Jamal Campbell illustrated it. 

The CW also ordered a pilot for The Powerpuff Girls and an untitled dramedy about nuns, and went straight to series with The 4400. The Powerpuff Girls is about disillusioned twentysomethings who resent having lost their childhood to crime fighting. It is based on the original Cartoon Network animated series and characters created by Craig McCracken.

Heather Regnier, Diablo Cody, Greg Berlanti, Sarah Schechter and David Madden are the executive producers. 

The nun dramedy features a pair of millennial nuns – a true believer and a new arrival who has yet to take her final vows – who start as strangers and become sisters “on a funny, spiritual journey to understand their own faith and place in the Catholic church,” said The CW. 

Executive producers are Claire Rothrock & Ryann Weir, Jennie Snyder Urman and Joanna Klein. 

The 4400 is about 4,400 people who vanished without a trace over the last hundred years, and return in an instant, having not aged a day and with no memory of what happened to them. 

Ariana Jackson, Anna Fricke and Laura Terry are the executive producers. 

The 4400 previously went for four seasons on USA Network, premiering in 2004. 

 OWN has given a sixth season renewal to its drama series Queen Sugar ahead of the show’s fifth season premiere, the network said Thursday.

The Ava DuVernay-produced series, which will premiere its fifth season on Feb. 16, will launch its sixth campaign later in 2021, according to the network. The series, which portrays an African-American family in the Deep South, stars Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Rutina Wesley, Nicholas Ashe, Greg Vaughn, Kofi Siriboe, Ethan Hutchinson and Bianca Lawson. 

OWN executives said season five of Queen Sugar will tackle head-on the COVID-19 pandemic, the Black Lives Matter protest movement that swept the country, and corruption in politics to showcase the specific impact and ramifications these issues have on communities and people of color. 

“When Ava came to us with the idea to revamp the storyline for the new season after production was halted due to the pandemic, we knew it was the right decision to give our viewers her unique perspective on the very real issues impacting their daily lives and the affect the demand for racial equality has had on the Black community and our society as a whole,” said Tina Perry, president, OWN in a statement. “We are proud to announce today the pickup of the show’s sixth season which will air later this year enabling us to further explore the compelling story of the Bordelon family. We are grateful to Ava, her creative team, the incredible cast and tireless crew for all the hard work they have put into the show.”

Read Also: 'SuperSoul' With Oprah on Discovery Plus 

The CW is developing a script for Naomi, a project based on the DC character from Ava DuVernay and Jill Blankenship. Naomi follows a teen girl’s journey from her small northwestern town to the heights of the multiverse. When a supernatural event shakes her hometown to the core, Naomi sets out to uncover its origins, and what she discovers will challenge everything we believe about our heroes.

DuVernay’s Array Filmworks and Warner Bros. TV are producing, with Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes doing so for Array. 

The comic book series debuted in 2019. Brian Michael Bendis and David F. Walker wrote it and Jamal Campbell illustrated it.

OWN has renewed its Ava DuVernay-produced anthology drama series Cherish The Day for a second season, the network said Monday.

The series, which follows the relationship of one couple with each episode spanning a single day, ranked on average during its seven-week first season as the most watched series in its time period across all of cable with African American women, households and total viewers, said OWN. The second season -- which will debut in 2021 -- will feature an all-new cast and follow a brand new couple’s love story, said the network. 

“Ava and her immensely talented team of creators are telling dynamic and moving love stories depicting the many facets of marriage and relationships that resonate deeply with our audience,” said Tina Perry, president, OWN. “We are so excited for season two and a new beautiful Black love story.” 

NBC has ordered 10 episodes of Ava DuVernay’s unscripted Home Sweet Home, which the network calls a “family social experiment.”

Each episode looks at two very different families. The show “chronicles the fierce curiosity and sense of adventure it takes to walk a mile in another person’s shoes by challenging racial, religious, economic, geographic, gender and identity assumptions as participants exchange homes for a week and experience the life of someone unlike them in intimate and dynamic ways,” said NBC. 

“We are honored to partner with Ava for the first time to bring Home Sweet Home to life at NBC,” said Meredith Ahr, president, alternative and reality group, NBC Entertainment. “Led by Ava’s powerful and hopeful creative vision, these stories will reveal genuine moments of change that we hope will spark thought-provoking conversations and encourage compassion, empathy and understanding.”

Warner Horizon Unscripted Television will produce the hour-long series with DuVernay’s production company, ARRAY Filmworks. 

“Ava is an extraordinarily gifted and thoughtful storyteller,” said Mike Darnell, president, Warner Bros. unscripted & alternative television. “This life-changing journey promises to be a rich experience affording families an opportunity to see life through a new lens.” 

DuVernay’s directorial work includes Selma, 13th and A Wrinkle in Time. In 2019, she created, wrote, produced and directed When They See Us on Netflix. She is currently producing the fifth season of Queen Sugar on OWN. 

“The idea for Home Sweet Home came to me during the strange and important times we’re all experiencing,” she said. “The premise is that we are farther apart than ever, yet bound by what we have in common – concerns with health, safety, justice and community. These notions manifest in each of us in different ways, but nowhere more striking than in the privacy of our own homes. I’m thrilled that NBC and Warner Horizon embraced the challenge of this moment to celebrate the specificity of our differences as we discover the many beautiful things that we have in common. 

DuVernay is the creator and will executive produce with Sarah Bremner and Paul Garnes of ARRAY. 

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network will debut its anthology series Cherish the Day over two nights beginning Feb. 11.

The Ava DuVernay-produced series will premiere Feb. 11 with limited commercials, with a second episode debuting Feb. 12, according to OWN. The eight-episode series will continue to air on Wednesdays, according to OWN. 

The first season of Cherish the Day chronicles the stirring relationship of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day.

OWN Wednesday released a video trailer for its new anthology series Cherish the Day, which will debut this February, according to the network.

The Ava DuVernay-produced series chronicles the relationship of one couple, with each episode spanning a single day. The narrative will unfold to reveal significant moments in a relationship that compel us to hold true to the ones we love, from the extraordinary to the everyday, according to the network.

 Xosha Roquemore (The Mindy Project) stars as Gently James and Alano Miller (Underground) stars as Evan Fisher. The couple meet and fall in love in Los Angeles, with the full season spanning five years in eight episodes. 

Related: TV Rewrites the Rules of Love

OWN will bring back its Ava DuVernay-produced drama series Queen Sugar for a fifth season, the network said Thursday.

The Warner Horizon Scripted Television-produced drama --which will return in 2020 -- is currently averaging 1.6 million total viewers for season four, and is the most watched original series across all of broadcast and cable among total viewers and African-American women, according to OWN. Current season four showrunner Anthony Sparks will return for the fifth season.

RELATED: Tina Perry Makes OWN's Ambitions Clear

“Every character feels like family, said OWN CEO Oprah Winfrey. “I am excited to see what Ava has unfolding next for the Bordelons.”

Added DuVernay: ““I’m thrilled to further explore the beauty, pain and triumph of this African-American family, with hopes that their story will continue to resonate with audiences who see themselves in the Bordelons. It’s a real honor to create this work with Warner Horizon and OWN as their support is rock-solid and wonderful.”

Netflix Friday released the first video from the upcoming Ava DuVernay-produced limited series When They See Us, which debuts May 31.

The four-part limited series will chronicle the notorious case of five teenagers of color, labeled the Central Park Five, who were convicted of a rape they did not commit, according to Netflix.

When They See Us was created by Ava DuVernay, who also co-wrote and directed the four parts. Executive producers for the series include DuVernay; Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media; Oprah Winfrey from Harpo Films; and Jane Rosenthal, Berry Welsh and Robert De Niro from Tribeca Productions.

OWN-Oprah Winfrey Network on Aug. 28 will premiere the Ava DuVernay-produced short film August 28: A Day in the Life of a People, the network said Wednesday.

According to OWN, the 22-minute scripted film gives historical perspective within the creative framework of one date that has had a profound effect on America including: the passing of The Slavery Abolition Act on August 28, 1833, the lynching of Emmett Till on August 28, 1956, the first radio airplay from Motown Records on August 28, 1961 with The Marvelettes “Please Mr Postman,” Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have A Dream” speech during the massive March on Washington on August 28, 1965, Hurricane Katrina making its tragic landfall on August 28, 2005 and then-Senator Barack Obama’s acceptance of the Democratic nomination for the presidency on August 28, 2008.

August 28: A Day in the Life of a People stars Lupita Nyong’o, Angela Bassett, Don Cheadle, Regina King, David Oyelowo, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, André Holland, Michael Ealy, Saniyya Sidney and Glynn Turman.

DuVernay also serves as executive producer for OWN's original series Queen Sugar, which was recently renewed for a fourth season. 

OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network has renewed its Ava DuVernay-produced drama series Queen Sugar, the network announced Wednesday.

The network greenlit a fourth season of the series -- executive produced by DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Kat Candler and Paul Garnes – prior to the Aug. 22 third season finale, according to network officials. The network also said that Anthony Sparks will serve as showrunner/executive producer for season four.

The third season of Queen Sugar premiered May 29 delivering over two million viewers and on average ranks as the top show in its time period across all cable in the network’s key women 25-54 demo (L+3), said Nielsen. 

“Under Ava’s creative vision and leadership, Queen Sugar continues to earn a well-deserved reputation for depicting nuanced characters, rich storylines and establishing an inclusive team that inspires and ignites much needed conversations about our society today,” said Erik Logan, president, OWN in a statement. “We are very proud of this show, the incredible cast, producers and crew, and can’t wait for more of the Bordelon family in season four.”

Last month, Emmy Award-winning director Ava DuVernay — in accepting the NAACP Image Award for Entertainer of the Year — saluted by name several of her fellow African-American directors and producers currently helming cable, broadcast and streaming TV series, before stating a sentiment felt by most everyone in the packed Los Angeles auditorium: “This is our time.”

Arguably, at no point in the history of television has the influence of African-American women been felt so much, both in front of and behind the camera. Scripted series, movies and documentaries created by African-American women are making a lot of noise as the ranks of actresses, directors, writers and producers continue to increase across all platforms.

From DuVernay’s OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network-produced series Queen Sugar to HBO’s sophomore comedy show Insecure from star/producer Issa Rae to Courtney Kemp’s successful Starz series Power and Lena Waithe’s new Showtime drama The Chi — which received a second-season commitment last week — black women are getting a chance to tell their stories from the screen, the director’s chair and the writing room.

Related:Keeping TV One in Front on the Movement|Black History Month: What to Watch

‘Black Women Are Amazing’
“The world is catching up to what we knew all along; black women are amazing, and they create powerful characters on-screen,” Connie Orlando, executive vice president and head of programming for BET Networks, said. “It’s much more than a movement — I think the world is finally seeing the talent black women have, as well as the breadth of stories that we haven’t told yet and need to be told.”

Some of those African-American female-helmed shows have gone on to win hardware for their creators during the recent wave of industry awards shows.

• Along with her Image Awards accolade, DuVernay earned an Emmy Award last September for her Netflix documentary 13th.
• Waithe was the first African-American woman to win an Emmy for outstanding writing for a comedy series for her work on Netflix’s comedy series Master of None.
• Kemp’s Power took home three NAACP Image Awards, while Janine Sherman Barrois (TNT’s Claws) and Gina Prince-Bythewood (Fox’s Shots Fired) won Image Awards for outstanding writing.

Shows directed and produced by or featuring African-American women in lead roles continue to proliferate on the television landscape — and not just on African-American targeted networks BET and TV One.

General entertainment networks like WE tv, OWN, VH1 and Bravo have developed both scripted and reality content featuring black female stories and images — from Braxton Family Values to Greenleaf to Love & Hip Hop to Real Housewives of Atlanta, respectively — that have resonated with viewers across all demos.

“If this were 20 years ago, people would say, ‘Well, there’s Issa Rae, and that’s all we need,’ ” Phoebe Robinson, co-executive producer and co-host of HBO’s comedy special 2 Dope Queens, said. “But now Insecure can exist along with [theatrical film] Girls Night Out and 2 Dope Queens. This is a great time for creative content and I just think it will keep changing for the better.”

MCN Original Video: Content Spotlight on '2 Dope Queens'

And, as the #MeToo and Time’s Up movements continue to affect change within the entertainment industry, African-American women are increasing their own numbers on the small screen.

Black female actresses in speaking roles comprised 19% of all female lead roles during the 2016-17 TV season, up from 16% in 2015-16, according to the Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film.

Black women were well-represented within the 13% of African-Americans directing television episodes during the 2016-17 season, part of a record 22% of all television episodes directed by people from ethnic minority groups during the period, according to the Directors Guild of America.

Actress China Anne McClain (Disney Channel’s Descendants 2) said she sees a change in the environment as more acting opportunities are becoming available to African-American actresses.

“I really hope it’s not just a trend,” said McClain, who currently stars in The CW’s superhero series Black Lightning. “I hope it’s a movement that’s actually changing because it’s very important to represent real life on television.”

MCN Original Video: One-on-One in 2 With China Anne McClain

The recent success of African-American women behind the scenes in particular has yielded unprecedented long-term development deals. In August 2017, Netflix shocked the television world by luring prolific showrunner Shonda Rhimes away from ABC — where she developed the network’s successful Thursday-night lineup of Grey’s Anatomy, Scandal and How to Get Away With Murder — and signing her to a multiyear production deal.

Starz last May signed Power creator Kemp to an exclusive, multiyear development deal. Starz programming president Carmi Zlotnik compared Kemp to veteran broadcast TV producer David E. Kelley — a “full-package” showrunner with multiple talents.

Heading into its fifth season this summer, Power — led by Kemp and co-creator Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson — is not just the most watched show among African-American viewers on premium cable. It also is the third highest-rated premium show behind HBO’s Game of Thrones and Ballers, according to Starz.

Kemp “has transcended the role of writer to become a showrunner in the sense that she’s got the creative ability, she’s now got the management ability and she’s a great spokesperson for her show,” Zlotnik said. “Those three things make up the trifecta to me, and you don’t always get those altogether.”

Zlotnik said there will be more high-profile development deals with African-American female producers and directors similar to those for Kemp and Rhimes, as the industry looks to capitalize on the appeal of diverse stories and images.

“I think we’re going through a sea change where inclusion and empowerment are expectations, not special gifts,” the Starz executive said. “I think that it’s not just because the industry sees the social benefit, but I think they see the business benefit.”

That certainly rings true in looking at overall viewership trends for television content. Adult African-American women watch 51 hours, 36 minutes of television a week, well above the 36 hours, 38 minutes viewed by all adult women, per Nielsen’s recent African-American Diverse Intelligence Report.

Further, African-American women gravitate toward TV shows with celebrities or multidimensional characters of color, with all top-rated cable and broadcast shows among black women featuring either predominately black casts or a black lead.

Show like Fox’s Empire and OWN’s The Haves and The Have Nots, for example, rank among the top five highest-rated shows among the group, according to the report.

“This audience hadn’t been spoken to in the way that they’re being spoken to today,” said OWN president Erik Logan. “Reaching [African-American women] was one of the driving factors for why Oprah wanted to have a network, and I think if you look at the success that we’re having by talking to that audience and others are having by trying to speak to that audience as well, I don’t see that there’s going to be a day or time where that just goes away.”

OWN has three shows among the top 10 most-watched shows among black women during the 2016-17 season: The Haves and the Have Nots; the DuVernay/Winfrey-produced drama Queen Sugar; and If Loving You Is Wrong, according to Nielsen.

With other targeted shows like the drama Greenleaf, which features Winfrey in a recurring role, as well as OWN’s new relationship dramedy series Love Is ___, Logan said the network is well positioned to effectively reach an audience that distributors will continue to covet going forward.

“We now are creating content for a segment of women — specifically African-American women — who watch a lot of television and have not seen themselves on the screen in the way that they are seeing themselves now,” Logan said. “By continuing the relationship that we have with them and continuing to put programming on so that they can see themselves, it’s going to be one of the driving factors of OWN’s success in the coming years.”

BET last September rebranded its Centric TV network as BET Her, the first cable network primarily targeting African-American women. It’s the perfect platform to develop original content for that audience, including the return of the Queen Latifah-produced docuseries From the Bottom Up, Orlando said.

“It serves as the focal point for current events, given the moment that we’re in right now in entertainment with #MeToo, and we have big plans for the network’s original content,” Orlando said.

Lots of Project Activity Now
A number of projects created and produced by African-American women have recently launched or are slated to debut later this year on cable, including TV One’s documentary series Two Sides from Emmy award-winning actress Viola Davis, as well as upcoming projects from Power’s Kemp (ABC’s Get Christie Love), Mara Brock Akil (OWN’s Love Is ___) and Misha Green (HBO’s Lovercraft Country).

Also, the pool of talented African-American women actresses, producers, writers, directors and showrunners will also expand as opportunities open up on all platforms.

2 Dope Queens’s Robinson said that streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube are also providing opportunities for African-American women to showcase their talents. The 2 Dope Queens format, hosted by Robinson and Jessica Williams, started as a podcast before HBO picked it as a four-part special; part one debute on Feb. 2.

“What’s great is now instead of waiting for the gatekeepers to choose what goes in front of viewers, we have choices,” Robinson said.

Added BET’s Orlando: “Now that these women have a chance to tell their stories there’s no turning back because you can’t deny the quality and the commitment of these talented women in front of and behind the camera.”

Starz’s Power and ABC’s Black-ish dominated the television category for the 49th annual NAACP Image Awards, held Monday night.

Including televised and non-televised awards, ABC won six NAACP Awards, which celebrate the accomplishments of people of color. Starz, TV One, HBO, Fox, Netflix and Spike TV took home multiple awards. 

Blach-ish won five total awards, including Best Comedy, while Power won three statuettes, including best drama, according to the NAACP.

Producer/Director Ava DuVernay (Netflix’s 13th, OWN’s Queen Sugar) won the Entertainer of the Year Award during the ceremony, televised live by TV One. In her acceptance speech, DuVernay recognized other producers of color such as Shondra Rhimes and Lena Waithe for developing, successful, quality projects featuring diverse images and stories. “This is our time,” DuVernay said.

NAACP Image Award Winners In the television Category:

Outstanding Comedy Series

"`black-ish" (ABC)

Outstanding Actor in a Comedy Series

Anthony Anderson - "`black-ish" (ABC) 

Outstanding Actress in a Comedy Series

Tracee Ellis Ross - "`black-ish " (ABC)

Outstanding Drama Series

"Power" (Starz)

Outstanding Actor in a Drama Series

Omari Hardwick - "Power" (Starz) 

Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series

Taraji P. Henson - "Empire" (FOX) 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series

Jay Ellis - "Insecure" (HBO) 

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series

Marsai Martin - "`black-ish" (ABC) 

Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series

Joe Morton - "Scandal" (ABC) 

Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series

Naturi Naughton - "Power" (Starz) 

Outstanding Television Movie, Limited - Series or Dramatic Special

"The New Edition Story " (BET) 

Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Limited-Series or Dramatic Special

Idris Elba - "Guerrilla" (Showtime)

Outstanding Actress in a Television Movie, Limited -Series or Dramatic Special

Queen Latifah - "Flint" (Lifetime)

Outstanding News/ Information - (Series or Special)

"Unsung" (TV One) 

Outstanding Talk Series

"The Real" (Syndicated) 

Outstanding Reality Program/Reality Competition Series

"The Manns" (TV One)

Outstanding Variety or Game Show - (Series or Special)

"Lip Sync Battle" (Spike)

Outstanding Children's Program

"Doc McStuffins" (Disney Junior)

Outstanding Performance by a Youth (Series, Special, Television Movie or Limited Series)

Caleb McLaughlin - "Stranger Things" (Netflix)

Outstanding Host in a Talk or News/Information (Series or Special) - Individual or Ensemble

Roland Martin - "News One Now" (TV One) 

Outstanding Host in a Reality/Reality Competition, Game Show or Variety (Series or Special) - Individual or Ensemble

LL Cool J - "Lip Sync Battle" (Spike)

Outstanding Writing in a Comedy Series

Janine Barrois – “Claws” – Batsh*t (TNT)

Outstanding Writing in a Dramatic Series

Gina Prince-Bythewood - "Shots Fired" – Hour One: Pilot (Fox)

Outstanding Writing in a Television Movie or Special  

Abdul Williams - "The New Edition Story " – Part 2 (BET) 

Outstanding Directing in a Comedy Series

Anton Cropper - "`black-ish" - Juneteenth (ABC)

Outstanding Directing in a Dramatic Series

Carl Franklin - "13 Reasons Why" - Tape 5, Side B (Netflix) 

Outstanding Directing in a Television Movie or Special

Allen Hughes - "The Defiant Ones" (HBO)

When actor/producer Tyler Perry announced he would no longer produce scripted shows for OWN after signing an exclusive production deal with Viacom’s networks beginning in 2019, many predicted OWN would pull back from the scripted arena. Instead OWN, under the leadership of network owner Oprah Winfrey, is doubling down on scripted programming.

Along with renewing its Winfrey starrer series Greenleaf and its Winfrey/Ava DuVernay co-produced series Queen Sugar for new seasons, OWN has teamed with creative heavyweights such as Mara Brock Akil and Salim Akil, DuVernay and Will Packer to develop new series targeted to African-American women.

OWN president Erik Logan recently spoke to Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the loss of original scripted series from Perry, as well as the network’s plan to create new content. Here’s an edited excerpt of their conversation.

MCN:How big is the loss of the Tyler Perry scripted shows to OWN in terms of the network’s development of original scripted series?
Erik Logan: First of all, it’s still business as usual with Tyler — we have him on the air for many more years. He’s been a big part of what we’re doing and we’re going to continue to be in business with him under his exclusivity through May 2019, and we have the right to work with him beyond that on a nonexclusive basis. So we’re not viewing anything as a loss; we’re looking at it as an opportunity to grow our programming with other shows as we pivot into this new era of scripted programming for OWN.

MCN:How important is the scripted genre for the OWN brand?
EL: Obviously, we launched originals through the unscripted space before adding Tyler’s scripted content in 2013. Then Oprah had some thoughts about how she wanted to develop some new vehicles to tell a different story, and that’s when Greenleaf and Queen Sugar came about. Because of the success of those shows, we now have four of the top six scripted shows [among African-American female audiences] in all of cable today. And what that does is, it gives you a tremendous amount of confidence to keep leaning into that type of storytelling, and that led us to having more discussions with other content producers.

Oprah had always wanted to work with Mara and Salim Akil and that deal came together, which was tremendous. Then we had more conversations which led to this amazing opportunity with Will Packer, and Will talks to a different type of audience because Will has his way of telling stories. Then the success with Ava [DuVernay] that we have had with Queen Sugar — which led to the season three [renewal], and also to Harpo Films having an overall deal with Ava — gives us access to more creative. So the way we look at it is we’re going to invest in scripted shows.

MCN:In this crowded environment of 450-plus scripted shows, how important is it for OWN and other networks to have high-profile producers behind scripted products to help cut through the clutter?
EL: I think you know having big hit shows requires a lot of things. It requires an exceptional showrunner; it requires a tremendous writer’s room; it requires a flawless execution — all of the things that we know. When we start the creative process with Oprah, she says to people like Ava, like Mara and Will Packer that this is a place for creatives to really have the freedom to tell the stories that they want to tell. Because Oprah’s part of the alchemy that makes the stories work, we’re able to clearly shine a light on who our audience is, and focusing very specifically on our audience is how we cut through the clutter. We cut through by knowing who we’re talking to and how we’re talking to them.

That’s the reason why we are bullish about this new era that we’re moving into. Because of Oprah, Ava and the work that Tyler has done laying that foundation for us for all those years, scripted will continue to be a part of what we do; Mara has the opportunity to build from there and so does Will. So you know, it really is a very interesting mix of creative people that we have brought together and it all sort of feeds on one another.

MCN:Will Oprah become more involved in the development of these shows, either in front of or behind the camera?
EL: Oprah will weigh in on where she wants to be and how she wants to be. That’s what has been so exciting with this process — you know she can move in and out of any show that she wishes. She works directly with Ava on Queen Sugar and directly with Craig Wright on Greenleaf. So you know Oprah really gets involved with these creative people to establish the expectations of what our viewers want to see. A key part of this is making sure we have stories, imagery, narratives so that our target 25-54 African-American female can see themselves on our air in a way they haven’t before. So getting that right is why we continue to move into this new era of premium scripted cable.

Netflix will team with filmmaker Ava DuVernay to develop a limited series depicting the controversial Central Park Five case, the OTT service announced Thursday.

Each part of the five-episode series, which will launch on Netflix in 2019, will focus on one of the five teenagers from Harlem – Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana and Korey Wise – who wrongly convicted of raping Trisha Meili in New York's Central Park in 1989. The series will span from when each were first questioned about the incident to 2014 when they were exonerated and a settlement was reached with the city of New York.

“This is one of the most talked-about cases of our time and Ava’s passionate vision and masterful direction will bring the human stories behind the headlines to life in this series,” said Cindy Holland, Vice President, Original Content for Netflix in a statement “After powerfully reframing the public conversation about criminality and injustice in 13TH, Ava now turns a new lens to a case that exposes deep flaws in our criminal justice system.” 

The series will be executive produced by Jeff Skoll and Jonathan King from Participant Media, Oprah Winfrey/Harpo Films, Jane Rosenthal and Berry Welsh from Tribeca Productions, and DuVernay, said Netflix.

Controversies surrounding race and the U.S. criminal justice system have spurred a national debate in homes and communities around the country over the past few years. Two new series debuting in the next few weeks will tackle some of those controversies head on.

Following critical acclaim for Netflix’s Ava DuVernay-produced documentary 13th, which focuses on race and mass incarceration in the country, Spike TV will take an unscripted look at the tragic life of Kalief Browder in a six-part documentary series premiering Wednesday, March 1.

Executive-produced by hip-hop entrepreneur Jay-Z, Time: The Kalief Browder Story follows the experiences of Browder (pictured), who in 2010, at 16, was arrested for stealing a backpack. He was never convicted of the alleged crime but nonetheless spent three years in Rikers Island prison in New York — a good portion of that time in solitary confinement. His case has stirred up calls for a reform of the city’s criminal justice system.

Whatever your opinion on whether the scales of justice are balanced for all, Spike TV president Kevin Kay said in an interview that the tragic circumstances surrounding Browder should be of interest.

“This is a hot topic in our society today, and I think people are thinking about this more than they were a couple of years ago,” he said. “I think the timing is right. It’s a story that needs to be told and Spike is in a unique position to tell it.”

Three weeks later (March 22) Fox will premiere a 10-episode scripted drama series, Shots Fired, examining the criminal-justice system in the aftermath of two racially charged shootings in a rural North Carolina town.

The series, starring Sanaa Lathan, Richard Dreyfuss, Helen Hunt and Stephan James, is “probably the most current show you’ll ever see,” according to Dreyfuss, who spoke at the Television Critics Association Winter Tour in January. Shots Fired touches upon the schisms between racial groups and local law enforcement that have made headlines and spurred protests around the country over the past few years — a fact the show’s creators weren’t afraid to explore.

“Going into it, we knew the story we wanted to tell; we knew what we wanted to deal with,” Shots Fired co-creator Gina Prince-Bythewood said at TCA. “It’s very easy for people to watch the news and see a piece about a shooting, and if you don’t identify with who’s on the screen, you turn it off. So we felt the best way to address this issue for us — and to get people who don’t normally go through this issue to understand — was to give them a way in and give them a way to understand.”

On Jan. 8, actor and director Donald Glover was onstage at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Los Angeles accepting the best comedy series Golden Globe Award for FX’s freshman series Atlanta, for which he was a first-time executive producer.

Glover, who would also win the Globe for best actor in a comedy series, thanked the “the black folks” in Atlanta for being “amazing people.”

What’s been amazing for the television industry is the infusion of young, African- American executive producers and creators like Glover who have created popular scripted programming with diverse images and storylines that, until just a few years ago, had been rarely seen on the small screen.

Whether its Selma producer Ava DuVernay examining the complex lives of estranged Louisiana siblings in OWN’s Queen Sugar, rapper 50 Cent and Courtney Kemp Agboh exploring the double life of a club owner who’s also a drug kingpin in Starz’s drama series Power, or Internet sensation Issa Rae keeping it real about the lives of single black women in HBO’s freshman comedy series Insecure, African-American creators and producers are stepping up to the plate and delivering quality, unfiltered programming with broad appeal to a cross section of viewers.

PART OF ‘GOLDEN’ WAVE

More newbie African-American TV creators and producers are set to make their debut in 2017, as an unprecedented 500 scripted series are expected to reach TV scereens this year, according to a recent FX study. Showtime has tapped actress Lena Waithe (Netflix’s Masters of None) to helm its upcoming drama series Chi, while several high-profile movie producers will move to the small screen with scripted projects, including Spike Lee (Netflix’s She’s Gotta Have It) and John Singleton (FX’s Snowfall).

Singleton, an Oscar-nominated director for 1991’s Boyz n the Hood, said television is now providing more opportunities to develop projects targeted to diverse viewers. Singleton, who earned an Emmy Award nomination for his direction of an episdode of FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, will also produce Rebel, a police drama series for BET set to debut in March.

“With TV, it’s like you’re making a movie every week,” Singleton said.

Black History Month Viewing Guides:What to Watch | Interstitals

As the definition of what constitutes TV widens, African-American-helmed scripted series are making their mark in the current environment of high-quality programming.

“There’s been talk about the golden age of television for a while now, and because there are so many ways to get your content out there it opens the door for a lot more voices to be heard instead of when there were just three or six gatekeepers controlling everything people see,” said music superstar John Legend, an executive producer of WGN America’s sophomore drama series Underground, which chronicles the escape of antebellum-era Southern slaves via the Underground Railroad.

Legend added, “It has been great for diversity on television.”

Related > MCN Original Video: John Legend Discusses 'Underground' Season 2

Still, the question remains whether the influx of African-American showrunners and producers will be a passing trend or a key feature of television’s future. Even as African-American-produced, directed and created projects on cable networks proliferate across cable networks and streaming services, minority producers remain rare behind the camera.

Minority show creators in general represented just 7.8% of cable scripted shows during the 2013-14 season, according to the UCLA 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report. While those numbers will undoubtedly climb over the next few years as post-2014 shows like ABC’s Black-ish and Starz’s Power are factored in, Darnell Hunt, director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA, said at September’s NAMIC Conference that the representation numbers will still remain below the overall U.S. minority population.

The history of the entertainment industry is littered with periods when movies and TV shows featuring African-American culture looked to have broken into the mainstream, only to nearly vanish within a few years, Insecure showrunner Prentice Penny said.

In particular, he pointed to what was initially thought of as the “Golden Age” of diversity in movies during the late 1980s and early 1990s, when films such as Menace II Society, She’s Gotta Have It and Boyz n the Hood seemed ready to open doors to more films directed and produced by African-Americans. But in the 2000s, few movies from mainstream studios were being helmed by African-American writers, directors and producers.

“The truth is I have no idea,” Penny said when asked whether the current trend of African-American produced content will be long-lasting. “There are always those moments where they make all of these projects and then, 10 years later, there’s nothing. I hope this is [sustainable] and that lots of voices can get heard.”

Certainly, the critical and audience appeal for these shows bodes well for a potentially sustained future. FX’s Atlanta, which follows the lives of cousins trying to make it big in the city’s rap scene, drew 3 million viewers in its Sept. 6 premiere, the most for an FX series in five years. That was followed by a slew of industry accolades, including a Critics’ Choice Award and two Golden Globe Awards for Glover, both as an actor and producer of the series.

Last month, FX rewarded Glover with an exclusive television production deal that includes a second season of Atlanta, set to return in 2018 after Glover finishes his work on the next Star Wars film.

“We’re going to try to get that show back as soon as we can because there’s a great audience that wants that show,” FX president Eric Schrier said during the network’s Television Critics Association tour press event last month.

HBO’s Insecure, which drew 1.1 million viewers in its Oct. 9 premiere, has also been renewed for a second season. Penny — who will produce and star in truTV’s reality series Upscale With Prentice Penny, set to debut in March — said he was initially surprised at the incredibly positive response to the show.

“There’s no formula … you have no idea what people will respond to,” he said. “I feel blessed that people responded to it. You can’t control what the viewing public decides to watch, so you just have to do the best you can.”

He also said that the expansion of distribution outlets via online streaming services like Netflix, Hulu and YouTube will continue to create opportunities for diverse images and stories to be produced.

Added Underground’s Legend: “The landscape was much different then because there are way more distribution channels now — not just cable, satellite or premium channels but so many other places, like Netflix and Hulu, where people can view content. As content creators, its gives us more latitude to populate these different channels with interesting and diverse content.

“It’s made TV more diverse than film because there are so many different opportunities for audiences to get what they’re looking for on television, which means a diverse range of viewpoints and voice can be seen and heard,” Legend added.

Beyond selected hit shows, networks are well aware that African- American viewers are an important audience. African-Americans continue to consume more video than any other group, thereby increasing the viability of content that appeals directly to those viewers. African-Americans average more than 42 hours of live TV viewing during the third quarter of 2016, according to Nielsen’s Total Audience Report, well above the U.S. average of 29 hours, Hispanics (22 hours) and Asian-Americans (14 hours).

KEY TO KEEPING AUDIENCES

Also, as the overall U.S. population continues to diversify, the need for new, unique stories told from a different point of view will force linear network distributors to continue to foster the development of content created by producers and creators of color — otherwise, audiences will migrate to the web, Penny said.

“I think that in the digital space people can just make their own content and put it out there for people to connect to right away,” Penny said. “It changes how we get content to the marketplace, so it definitely opens the door for literally anybody of any color or nationality that has something to say to put it out and get a response right away.”

FX Networks president John Landgraf said 52% of FX’s show directors in 2017 will not be white men, in an effort to better reflect the diversity of the network’s audience.

“We’re going to keep going until everything about our channel and every aspect of our channel is fair and better reflects the diversity of the population of the country we live in, and is not as skewed as the whole industry has been towards white heterosexual males,” Landgraf said at the last month’s Winter Television Critics Association Press Tour.

Added Underground executive producer Misha Green: “I think the diversification of stories that are being told right now will continue because there are more outlets. I think more content is needed, and the gatekeepers who wanted to keep the gate closed are now saying we need shows. I think the increase of content has helped more diverse voices come through, but more still need to come through. I can’t wait to see and hear those voices.”

Netflix on Jan. 26 will stream an interview special featuring Oprah Winfrey and Ava DuVernay, the OTT service said Wednesday.

The 30-minute interview, 13TH: A Conversation With Oprah Winfrey & Ava DuVernay, comes on the heels of an Oscar nomination in the Best Documentary Feature category for DuVernay’s 13TH.

The special features Winfrey interviewing DuVernay about her filmmaking process for 13TH, which launched on Netflix last October.

“The truths revealed within 13TH are stunning, and a brilliant primer for a much needed global conversation,” says Lisa Nishimura, Netflix vice president of original documentaries in a statement. “The 13THinterview special was born from an organic post-screening discussion between two of the most influential and insightful women in media, Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, who invite us to share in their personal feelings surrounding one of the most important issues of our time.”

OWN CEO Oprah Winfrey will team with Selma producer Ava DuVernay to create a new original drama series for the network.

DuVernay will write, direct and executively produce the series, which is inspired by the acclaimed novel Queen Sugar. Winfrey will also serve as an executive producer for the series and will appear in multiple episodes in a recurring role, marking the first time that Winfrey will act in a series for OWN.  

Production for the series, which will chronicle a spirited woman who leaves Los Angeles to claim an inheritance of an 800-acre sugar cane farm in the heart of Louisiana, is scheduled to begin later this year. 

The series will join several OWN scripted shows developed by Tyler Perry, including the hit show Haves and the Have Nots.  

“I loved this book and immediately saw it as a series for OWN,” said Winfrey in a statement.  “The story’s themes of reinventing your life, parenting alone, family connections and conflicts, and building new relationships are what I believe will connect our viewers to this show.”