NBCUniversal Chicago plans to market Black History Month with special content including profiles of local business and civic leaders who are making an impact and pushing toward societal change and awareness.

NBCU Local Chicago includes WMAQ, WSNS and NBC Sports Chicago. Feature stories can also be viewed at the stations’ digital outlets, NBCChicago.com, TelemundoChicago.com and NBCSportsChicago.com.

Also Read: Local News Close-Up: Chicago Is the City of Big Stories

Among the stories planned this month at WMAQ: 

• On Tuesday, arts & entertainment reporter Lee Ann Trotter will interview musician and actor and activities Common about his new book, And Then We Rise: A Guide To Loving And Taking Care of Self.
• On February 2, Alex Maragos profiles two local Olympians: Lincolnwood native basketball star Jewell Loyd, who who uses her platform to push for greater awareness and acceptance of people with dyslexia, and Team USA Triple Jumper Tori Franklin. born in Evanston and raised in Downers Grove, who recently started a non-profit called Live Happii, empowering youth through travel, mental wellness and movement.
• On February 5, Mary Ann Ahern will do a special report on the recent findings of the Illinois Underground Railroad Task Force.
• On February 8, Christian Farr takes a deep dive into Evanston’s current reparations program.

WSNS, also known as Telemundo Chicago, will have features on an Afro-Cuban business owner who guides young Latino entrepreneurs and a story about a new program at the National Museum of Mexican Art.

NBC Sports Chicago will have “Discover Black Heritage” content on its shows including Coors Light Bulls Pregame Live featuring Jason Goff, Kendall Gill and Will Purdue, Blackhawks Pregame Live featuring Pay Boyle Tony Granato and Caley Chelios and Sports Sunday with Leila Rahimi and Mike Berman.

“In conjunction with NBCUniversal’s ‘Discover Black Heritage’ campaign, we are proud to share new stories celebrating the achievements and impact of Chicago’s Black community across our three local properties,” Kevin Cross, president and general manager, NBCUniversal Local Chicago, said. “It is our responsibility to educate our viewers on the progress and continued challenges of our diverse community, which is a year-round focus for our entire team.”

Chicken Soup for the Soul’s streaming apps Redbox and Crackle are marking Black History Month with three original series that have been created as part of a relationship with Publicis Media’s APX Content Ventures.

One series, Homecoming: The Journey to the Year, is presented by American Family Insurance. The show uses narration, interviews and archival photos and video to tell homecoming stories from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

The other series are The HBCU Honors Awards Show and Miami’s Richmond Heights: The Black Shangri-La. 

All three are produced by Hip Rock Star. 

“We’re thrilled to be working with Hip Rock Star and APX Content Ventures to bring these amazing series to our viewers,” Chicken Soup for the Soul chief content officer Phil Oppenheim said. “I know our audience will find them inspiring and insightful.”

The inaugural HBCU Honors Award Show showcases the brightest HBCU alumni.  The event was held at the Black Archives-Historic Lyric Theater in Miami, Florida. Emmy award-winning actress and producer Wendy Raquel Robinson, a Howard University alumna, hosted.

Miami’s Richmond Heights: The Black Shangri-La is based on the book Images of America: Miami’s Richmond Heights by authors Patricia Harper Garrett and Jessica Garrett Modkins. The documentary follows the lives of Black World War II veterans who lived in a self-contained community.  The documentary will also take a closer look at the socioeconomic fabric of this time, segregation and civil rights.

“The debut of these highly anticipated series parallel so harmoniously with the importance of telling and preserving Black history,” Jessica Garrett Modkins, CEO and founder of Hip Rock Star and the docuseries’ executive producer, director, and writer, said.

“It is our mission to be a catalyst for truth — to provide intentional documentation of our Black experience,” Modkins said. “APX’s support of Black content curators is unprecedented and provides an opportunity for filmmakers to continue to validate the life experiences of Black people. Telling these stories and honoring the amazing individuals in our projects is essential to preserving our history. I am honored that we can give viewers distinctive, meaningful, and comprehensive content and entertainment that elevates our unique experiences, voices, and timeless stories surrounding the Black community.” ■

Fox Business Network on air host Charles Payne will host a February 23 Black History Month-themed special focusing on successful African-Americans in business.

The show, Making Money with Charles Payne: Black History and Achieving the Dream, will celebrate success stories of Blacks in business and politics, according to network officials. 

For the special episode Payne will be joined by former former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Dr. Ben Carson, real estate investment company Peebles Corporation CEO Don Peebles and Virginia Lieutenant Gov. Winsome Sears, said the network. 

Also: Weekly Cable Ratings: Fox News Extends Primetime, Total Day Streak

 
Cable programmers and streaming services are commemorating Black History Month with numerous African American-themed original scripted series, movies, documentaries and specials. 

Here's a sampling of what's on tap for the second half of February (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):

 Feb. 18

Uprooted

(documentary)

Discovery Plus 

Feb. 18

Lincoln’s Dilemma

(miniseries)

Apple TV Plus

Feb. 21

Black Patriots: Heroes of the Civil War

(documentary)

History

Feb. 21

One Thousand Years of Slavery

(documentary)

Smithsonian Channel 

Feb. 22

RACE: Bubba Wallace

(sports documentary)

Netflix

Feb. 22

The Secret History of the Civil War

(documentary)

History

Feb. 23

Proud Family: Louder and Prouder

(animated series)

Disney Plus

Feb. 23

Frederick Douglass: In Five Speeches

(documentary)

HBO Max

Feb. 25

Tyler Perry’s A Madea Homecoming

(movie)

Netflix

Feb. 26

NAACP Image Awards

(special)

BET

AMC Networks is marking Black History Month with a new series of public service announcements featuring members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

Among the main objectives of the 56-member caucus are criminal justice reform, combatting voter suppression and expanding access to broadband.

It is the ninth such PSA campaign in partnership with the Caucus and Color of Change.

The spots began running February 1 and will air throughout the month across AMC, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV, WE tv, and ad-supported VOD, as well as stream on AMC's ALLBLK African-American targeted streaming service.

The latest campaign, tagged “A Closer Look at the Black Experience,” features eight caucus members including chairwoman Rep. Joyce Beatty (pictured above) and majority whip Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.), whose daughter, Mignon, is former acting FCC chairwoman and whose focus has been on expanding access to broadband for all. The PSAs — four thematic spots — focus on the caucus‘ mission of empowerment, voting rights, positive portrayals of Blacks in media and health and wellness.

The PSA campaign is in addition to special Black History Month programs and digital content. ■

As the TV industry celebrates Black History Month, African-American viewers say they‘re seeing more of themselves and their stories on the small screen but want to see even more inclusive content that reflects their experiences.  

Today, there are nearly 50 scripted series on broadcast, cable and streaming services that feature Black leads or predominantly Black casts. While that’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 559 scripted TV shows offered in 2021, according to FX research, industry observers say it‘s certainly an improvement over what was on television a decade ago.

While several iconic and popular shows will leave the air this year (ABC’s Black-ish, OWN’s Queen Sugar, TNT’s Claws and Showtime’s Black Monday), there are plenty of new shows aiming to fill the gap (Amazon Prime Video’s Harlem, ABC's Queens, Starz’s Run The World and ABC’s The Wonder Years). Also on tap is the much-anticipated March return of FX’s original comedy series Atlanta, starring Emmy-winner Donald Glover.

Also: Black History Month: What to Watch (February 1-14)

Black viewers are noticing the increase in content. According to Horowitz‘s recent FOCUS: Black: Consumer Engagement report, 55% of viewers said that they are seeing more Black actors as lead characters in scripted TV shows. More importantly for distributors, two in three Black viewers say that seeing Black characters and communities portrayed in positive ways positively impacts their decision to watch a show or a movie, according to the report.

While the report shows that viewers are reacting positively to the increase in Black images currently on-screen, Horowitz Research chief revenue officer and insights and strategy lead Adriana Waterston said there’s a desire to see even more diversity and inclusion within those characters and storylines. Indeed, Horowitz reported that 66% of Black TV viewers wanted to see more TV shows and movies that showcase the diversity of the Black experience here in the U.S. 

“This is an audience that in itself is incredibly diverse in a lot of ways, including cultural diversity, religious diversity and lifestyle diversity,” Waterston said. “There are so many differences that can be celebrated, and consumers are now saying that it’s not just enough for the representation of Black audiences to be good in numbers and quality. They are saying, ‘I want to really see myself represented,’ and that requires a level of understanding of the audience and a level of nuance.” 

Shows like Netflix‘s French-produced series Lupin, about a Senegal-born man looking to avenge his father’s death in Paris, and CBS‘s Bob Hearts Abishola — which takes a comedic look at immigrant life in America — have begun to help shine a light on diversity within the African-American community. 

“Current statistics and research substantiate that the U.S. Black population is not monolithic,” said One Caribbean Television president of sales and marketing Mark Walton. “At a time when Black-themed content is in demand, telling the stories of Black immigrants, primarily from Africa and the Caribbean, and their descendants, undoubtedly provides an opportunity to attract millions of viewers, many of whom rarely see themselves reflected in the narrative of being Black in America.”  

Waterston added: “The awakening to the dangers of stereotypical representations that was so damaging for so long has made people become more sensitive to on-screen portrayals. The next phase is not only being sensitive but being inclusive.” ■

Cable programmers and streaming services are commemorating Black History Month with numerous African American-themed original scripted series, movies, documentaries and specials. 

Here's a sampling of what's on tap for the first half of February (for some videos, viewer discretion is advised):  

Feb. 4 – Phat Tuesdays

(documentary)

Prime Video

Feb. 5 - Single Black Female

(movie)

Lifetime

Feb. 6 -- Power Book IV: Force

(drama)

Starz 

Feb. 7 -- One Thousand Years of Slavery – The Untold Story

(documentary)

Smithsonian Channel

Feb. 8 -- The Loyola Project

(documentary)

CBS Sports Network

Feb. 10 -- Real Husbands of Hollywood More Kevin, More Problems

(special)

BET Plus

Feb. 11 -- Everything’s Gonna Be All White

(docuseries)

Showtime

Feb. 11 -- Clotilda: Last American Slave Ship

(documentary)

National Geographic

Feb. 12 -- Profiled: The Black Man

(documentary)

Discovery Plus

Feb. 13 -- Bel-Air

(drama)

Peacock

Feb. 14 -- Special Black History Month Roundtable

(special)

MSG Network 

Almost three dozen shows spotlighting diversity and inclusion from noncommercial KCET Los Angeles and PBS SoCal will air on the TV stations and stream via the free PBS Video App in celebration of Black History Month in February.

Those include 17 new shows, originals and episodes of PBS series, including American Experience, American Masters, Finding Your Roots and The Migrant Kitchen.

The goal, said the stations, is to "actively promote a more inclusive and equitable future for all," with stories about diverse voices and historic moments.

Among the offerings: American Masters Marion Anderson: The Whole World in Her Hands, about the singer best known for her Freedom Concert on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial after she was denied the use of Constitution Hall because of her race; American Experience's The American Diplomat about three African American ambassadors representing a country abroad that continued to, discriminate against them at home; and Broken Bread, an original KCET series about social justice issues through the lens of food and its power to counter the forces of gentrification.

Others spotlighted during the month include Jesse Owens, Muhammad Ali and Fannie Lou Hamer. ■

As the nation continues to celebrate Black History Month, a number of television distributors are making sure that the recognition of African-American contributions to the country echo loudly on the small screen beyond February.

National Geographic on Feb. 10 said it will mark the 100th anniversary of the devastating Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre in which white racists burned down a thriving Black community in the city. The documentary, Red Summer, recounts the two-day massacre that left as many as 300 Black people dead and more than 10,000 homeless and displaced. The documentary will air in June as part of Nat Geo’s celebration of Juneteenth, when the last African-American slaves in the U.S. learned of their emancipation. 

Until recently, this dark period in the United States was all but buried in the history books. National Geographic Global Television Networks president Courteney Monroe revealed during her TCA Winter Tour opening remarks that she had only recently become aware of the incident. “This tragedy was the most visible during a period in the early 20th century when Jim Crow laws were at their height and the [Klu Klux Klan] was resurging across the nation,” she would add. 

ALSO READ: Black Voices Rising

Nat Geo will also pay homage to the Queen of Soul, Aretha Franklin, through its March limited series Genius: Aretha. It’s the third installment of the network’s Genius franchise, built around prominent and creative historic figures, and the first featuring an African-American legend. Nat Geo will follow up Franklin with a Genius focused on Martin Luther King Jr. 

HBO in March will sing the praises of a legendary female R&B singer, Tina Turner, in Tina. The documentary charts the singer’s career of more than five decades, recounting her early fame, her personal and professional struggles, including her tumultuous marriage to Ike Turner, as well as her even more improbable resurgence as a global star in the 1980s. Also in March, Lifetime will air a movie chronicling the life of iconic gospel singer Mahalia Jackson — the first of four films the network will develop with Good Morning America host Robin Roberts. 

Making Awards History

African-American images and stories are teeing up history in the upcoming awards season as Black actors and projects garnered a record-setting number of nominations. For example, four of five SAG Awards best film nominations are led by people of color — three of them with predominately African-American casts: Netflix’s Da 5 Bloods and Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Amazon Video’s One Night in Miami. 

Other Black historically themed shows, like HBO’s Lovecraft Country — which weaves the negative history of the 1950s Jim Crow period within an equally scary sci-fi tale — Hulu’s The United States vs. Billie Holiday and Judas and the Black Messiah, which focuses on the government’s infiltration of the Black Panther Party in the 1960s, drew multiple nominations in major categories across nominations for Screen Actors Guild and Critics Choice Awards.

Black History Month has arguably taken on greater significance this year in light of the social justice movement ignited by the death of George Floyd last May. TV One president Michelle Rice said that the continued proliferation of content created about, by and for African-Americans will help ensure that the history, stories, images and messages resonate throughout the year. 

“Even though TV One targets black people and we feel like we get that message out to our audience every day, I think it’s also important to get that message out to consumers who are not Black,” she said. “When you talk about this whole anti-racism movement, it’s really about educating and getting people to understand that our stories are part of the fabric of this country.”

Cable programmers and streaming services will mark  the February-long commemoration with a slew of African American-themed original scripted series, movies, documentaries and specials. Here’s a sampling of what’s on tap.

Feb. 1

Bucket List
(Sports Documentary)
Crackle

Sew the Winter to My Skin (Movie) Crackle 

ALSO READ: Cover Story: Black Voices Rising

Feb. 5

Malcolm & Marie
(Movie)
Netflix 

Feb. 8

Whitney Houston & Bobbi Kristina: Didn’t We Almost Have It All
(Documentary)
Lifetime

Feb. 9

Black Art: In the Absence of Light 
(Documentary)
HBO 

Feb. 10 

Tuskegee Airmen: Legacy of Courage
(Documentary)
History

Feb. 12

Hip Hop Uncovered 
(Music Documentary) 
FX 

Judas and the Black Messiah (Movie)  HBO Max 

Feb. 16

The Black Church 
(Documentary)
PBS 

Tyler Perry’s Madea’s Farewell Play  (Comedy Special)  BET

Feb. 18

The March on Washington: Keepers of the Dream
(Documentary)
National Geographic

Feb. 21

Boiling Point
(Special)
BET

Disrupt and Dismantle 
(Special)
BET

Feb. 22

Mr. Soul! 
(Documentary) 
PBS 

ALSO READ: Netflix, HBO Lead NAACP Image Awards Nominations

Feb. 23

OWN Spotlight: They Call Me Dad
(Special)
OWN

Feb. 26

The United States vs. Billie Holiday 
(Movie) 
Hulu 

Black Renaissance  (Special)  YouTube Originals 

Feb. 28

The Undefeated Presents: A Room of Our Own 
(Special)
ESPN

Don’t Waste Your Pretty  (Movie)  TV One 

When the New Year’s Eve Ball dropped, ending 2020, the television industry was left licking its proverbial wounds after a year that saw a once-in-a-century pandemic leave an unprecedented mark on show productions and business operations. 

A silver lining through all the disruption was the growing influence of African-American images and storylines on those productions that did make the air. Sparked by the industry’s continued inclusion efforts both on- and off-screen — and fueled in part by last summer’s protests against social injustice — African-Americans continue to increase their presence across a wide spectrum of platforms and genres.

ALSO READ: Black History Month: What to Watch

“What we are seeing are more stories being told that reflect the African-American experience, and as such you are getting more positive representations of African-Americans,” OWN president Tina Perry said. “By the nature of it being more, you are absolutely getting more positive [portrayals] and better quality [content].”

Indeed, African-Americans have found success across the television spectrum both in front of and behind the camera. At last September’s 72nd Emmy Awards, African-American actors and actresses set a record for Emmys won in major acting categories for comedy, drama and limited series with seven. 

The achievement was led by Zendaya, who at age 24 became the youngest performer ever to win lead actress in a drama series for her role in HBO’s Euphoria, and Regina King, who picked up her fourth Emmy — tying Alfre Woodard for the most acting Emmys won by a black performer, according to the Los Angeles Times — for her leading role in HBO’s limited series Watchmen. 

More Representation, More Awards

African-American producers, directors and actors contributed to the 2021 awards-season buzz with several critically acclaimed original movies in 2020, including Netflix’s war drama Da 5 Bloods, directed by Spike Lee, as well as the Denzel Washington-produced film Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, starring Viola Davis and the late Chadwick Boseman in his final role. More recently Amazon Prime Video’s One Night in Miami … produced by Regina King, has also received rave reviews.   

Black actors blazed their way into the superhero genre, with King’s Emmy-winning lead role in Watchmen, based on a 1986 DC Comics series; Anthony Mackie’s co-starring role in The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, a Marvel Studios limited series launching on Disney Plus in March; and Javicia Leslie’s genre-shattering role as the female Caped Crusader in The CW’s Batwoman. 

Leslie said at last month’s CW Media Day that it’s frustrating that in 2021, her turn in Batwoman makes her the first African-American lesbian to star for a major studio. Breaking through that barrier now will only open the door for others to follow, she said. 

“When I was growing up I didn’t see versions of myself on the screen, especially a superhero, [in] movies and television shows,” she said. “I think that representation is so important, and I think that we deserve to have representation.”  

African-Americans also made strides in the horror/sci-fi genre, with directors such as Jordan Peele and Misha Green (Underground) producing HBO’s critically-acclaimed series Lovecraft Country — which on Feb. 3 picked up a Golden Globes nomination for best drama series —  and Whoopi Goldberg starring in the CBS All Access adaptation reboot of Stephen King’s The Stand. In 2021, Amazon will debut horror event series Them from director Lena Waithe (Showtime’s The Chi) as well as Ava DuVernay’s sci-fi thriller Dawn, based on Octavia Butler’s 1987 book.

Overall, Black actors accounted for the highest total share of screen among any racial minority group at 18%, exceeding their estimated 14% share of the U.S. population, Nielsen said in its December 2020 report Being Seen on Screen: Diverse Representation and Inclusion on TV.  The report, which examined the 100 most-watched shows each on broadcast, cable and SVOD services in 2019, also showed that 92% of those programs had some level of diversity — including women, people of color and/or LGBTQ+ individuals — in its cast.  

The data correlates with what has been a continual increase in the number of African-American images on-screen. The share of roles for Black actors on scripted shows during the 2018-19 TV season increased to 18% from 15.7% on broadcast; 18.2% from 17.5% on cable; and 11.9% from 10.1% for subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) services compared to the year prior, according to UCLA’s 2020 Hollywood Diversity Report: A Tale of Two Hollywoods.

Demand for Inclusive Content

While African-American viewers have always over-indexed in television viewing — Nielsen’s Total Audience Report for First Quarter 2020 showed that Black viewers watched more than five hours of programming per day,  well above that of Hispanics (2 hours, 40 minutes), Asians (1 hour, 54 minutes) and Whites (3 hours, 43 minutes) — their representation on screen is beginning to reflect the reality of TV’s audience, according to Nielsen VP of diverse insights and partnerships Charlene Polite Corley. 

“With the demand growing for inclusive content, I think the trend of including Black talent on-screen is here to stay and I hope we see more of it,” Corley said. “What our data shows is that there’s so much opportunity to tell even more stories and to provide more opportunity for diverse talent, including Black talent.”

Eric Deggans, TV critic for National Public Radio, added that African-American viewers want to see themselves reflected on the screen, so it behooves distributors to provide inclusive content to draw not only black viewers, but all viewers. The 2020 Horowitz Research Group State of Viewing & Streaming survey reported that 64% of all viewers found it appealing to watch TV shows that tell the stories of diverse communities different from their own. 

“We’re at a point now where cable and broadcast television especially can’t
afford to take any viewers for granted, so it makes more sense for them to offer shows that feature Black casts,” said Deggans, author of Race-Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation.

While African-Americans have experienced other blips of increased representation on TV only to see them dissipate over time, actress/comedian Kym Whitley said this time the movement within the industry feels like more than just a trend.

“We’re at the beginning of something great, so therefore there are opportunities I feel that have opened up,” said Whitley, who last year appeared in BET’s Twenties. “I believe that after all the [social injustice] protests and the speaking out of people saying that what we’re seeing is wrong, I think it’s becoming more evident that this moment has to take place. I believe the world has opened up and now everyone is looking.” 

Indeed, last summer’s protests sparked by the May killing of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers helped influence the further infusion of African-American talent both in front of and behind the camera. Industry executives said the movement and its focus on issues regarding racial inequities in education, law enforcement and employment have energized content producers to create programming that better reflects the voices and images of their audience. 

ALSO READ: Netflix, HBO Lead NAACP Image Awards Nominations

In the aftermath of the protests, industry executives said diversity initiatives such as last July’s CBS Television Studios and NAACP content production partnership‚ which sees CBS work with the civil rights organization to acquire, develop and produce more diverse programming — has fostered opportunities for more inclusive programming for years to come. 

“The industry has been talking about diversity and inclusion for some time now and we would have gotten to this point eventually, but I do think the George Floyd death last May quickened the pace and made everyone think more about race issues and racial justice in America as well as issues about diversity,” OWN’s Perry said. “In our industry people took it to heart, and some of the results we are seeing are about people being more thoughtful about those issues in light of a lot of the protests and conversations that happened last year about racial injustice in America.”

Added Nielsen’s Corley: “I think after a year like 2020, it can’t all help but be connected. We have seen audiences gravitate to content not just for entertainment but also a way to help be informed about some of the things that were happening, particularly after the murder of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement.” 

Will Progress Stick? 

Still, some executives are not sure that the industry is fully committed to inclusion. 

“We’re seeing strides in the right direction, but I feel it’s too early to say if there is a real change happening or a moment coming out of everything that happened over the summer last year,” producer/writer and showrunner Nkechi Okoro Carroll (The CW’s All American) said on a panel during WarnerMedia’s January virtual Sundance experience. “This industry has so much to make up for because it’s been so systemic for so long that the jury is still out until I see where we are a few years from now.” 

OWN’s Perry said one way to assure that African-American images and stories remain at the forefront of the industry is for the top executives at the major studios and production companies to be inclusive.

“Inclusion and diversity has to be at the forefront of all hiring and programming decisions — that means writers, producers, directors, network and studio executives,” she said. “Empowering those people is the first step to ensuring that diverse stories are pitched, purchased, developed and presented about African-American life.”

Added Whitley: “I remember an executive producer told me that we hire who we know, but now you have to do a little extra work. Just because you don’t know us, we’re there. When you know better, you’ll do better.” 

Hearst Television is running the initiative “Project CommUNITY: History & Hope” throughout February, which is Black History Month. The group calls it “an effort to give voice to the experiences of Black seniors by uniting them with young Black journalists for probing, in-depth interviews and conversations exploring the state of race in America.”

Hearst TV is aiming to produce at least 28 stories, one for each day of Black History Month, with each of the company’s television stations producing at least one.

Project CommUNITY launched in January 2019 across 26 markets to investigate, chronicle and study the nation’s deep divisions, as well as the undertakings across the country focused on uniting people within their communities. CommUNITY stories appear on air and online, and feature in-depth interviews, investigations, feature stories and community conversations. 

Also Read: John Robertson Promoted to VP Distribution at Hearst TV

“As part of Project CommUNITY, our stations have produced dozens of specials and stories addressing race and social justice, moving critical conversations forward and identifying and celebrating positive efforts to bring neighbors together,” said Barbara Maushard, Hearst Television senior vice president, news. “‘Project CommUNITY: History & Hope’ adds an innovative, multi-generational element to the exploration of persistent racial injustice and inequality, and pathways to greater understanding that can help bridge divides. This process starts with in-depth, engaging conversations among people of varying generations, and the compelling, untold stories these conversations might surface can be a powerful starting-point for positive change.”

The Hearst TV stations include WBAL Baltimore, WCVB Boston and KCRA Sacramento.

With the NAACP set to open its 51st annual Image Awards on Feb. 22, celebrating the achievements of people of color in the media, it’s not BET, TV One or OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network with the most nominations among networks.

It is Netflix, with 30.

Netflix, along with BET+, Bounce’s Brown Sugar and Urban Movie Channel, are leading the charge among streaming services to challenge African American-targeted cable networks for the hearts, eyeballs and dollars of viewers who are voracious for content that reflects their images and stories. In response, cable networks such as TV One, BET and OWN have doubled down on original fare in an effort to remain viable.

The result has been an unprecedented amount of quality content targeted to African-American viewers. “The streaming competition that the black networks are facing has provided additional pressure for those networks to up their content game,” Cheryl Grace, Nielsen’s senior VP of U.S. strategic community alliances and consumer engagement, said. “I think they have done that. They know that they have to compete with binge-watching on platforms that are increasingly serving up content in really large doses.”

Streaming platforms have indeed become more competitive in appealing to an African-American viewer who watches more than 50 hours of live and time-shifted television a week — more than 10 hours above the total population, according to Nielsen’s 2019 Diverse Intelligence Series (DIS) report. Netflix has generated headlines by securing top African-American producers such as Ava DuVernay and Shonda Rhimes to develop original content.

Nearly 40% of African-American viewers subscribe to Netflix, according to Nielsen, followed by Hulu at 15% and Amazon Prime Video at 14%. Further, Horowitz Research survey Focus TV & Video Content reported that 60% of African-American viewers feel that original content offered by brands like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon are more reflective of America’s diversity than shows on broadcast and cable networks.

DuVernay said Netflix over-indexes with African- American viewers, which contributes to her work’s strong performance on the platform. When They See Us drew more than 23 million viewers within its first month of release last May. “I’ve enjoyed a great amount of freedom there, so they are doing fine by me,” she said.

Other African-American-targeted streaming services are seeing increased audience numbers. Urban Movie Channel (UMC), which offers classic and original African-American targeted movies and series, has seen subscriptions for its $4.99 monthly service increase by 400% over the past 18 months, according to Brett Dismuke, UMC chief content officer. The service, the brainchild of BET founder Bob Johnson and his RLJ Entertainment, which was purchased by AMC Networks in November 2018, has benefited from AMC’s marketing and promotional muscle.

Along with original drama series like Craig Ross Jr.’s Monogamy and Stuck With You, the service offers popular shows from sister cable services WE tv and AMC such as Marriage Boot Camp: Hip Hop Edition and Growing Up Hip Hop.

Better Black Streaming

“Our mission is to stream black better,” Dismuke said. “When looking at our direct competitors, we have the most offerings of exclusive, original content. Our growth is attributable to the content that we’re providing.”

Nielsen’s Grace said the growing appeal in African-American content on streaming services has caused the industry to realize black viewers are not monolithic in their viewing choices.

The increase in streaming viewing hasn’t come at the expense of African-American targeted cable networks, she added. “If anything, we may see a spike in African-American viewership because viewers have to keep up with all of the new content.”

Indeed, OWN said its viewership grew last year as its original content continued to resonate with viewers despite the competition. The network’s relationship-themed unscripted content — OWN recently renewed Black Love, Love & Marriage: Huntsville, Black Women OWN the Conversation and Ready to Love — as well as veteran original scripted series like Queen Sugar and Greenleaf, have made OWN the most-watched cable network by African-American women.

“We are aware of the competitive marketplace, so our strategy has been more, more and more content for our viewers,” OWN president Tina Perry said. “Despite the attempts by over-the-top services to put more African-American content out there and attract that viewer, we’re still finding success.”

BET is positioned to serve African-American viewers on linear TV and streaming platforms. BET+, which launched in September, is a complement to the 41-year old BET basic cable network, which has parlayed its 2019 production deal with Tyler Perry into two scripted series, The Oval and Sistas.

BET+ general manager Devin Griffin said the programmer’s two offerings provide viewers with the best of both worlds. “For cord-cutters and cord-nevers, we are seeing the vision and plan that we laid out of BET+ being consumed as a complement to BET across a number of different vectors,” Griffin said, although he would not disclose BET+ subscriber numbers. “We really look at the various platforms where people can engage with the BET brand as being an interlocking ecosystem. BET+ is intended to help us expand the tent on what we’re able to offer in combination with linear.”

Long-running service to the African-American audience gives established linear channels the inside track as they launch streaming platforms, TV One senior vice president of programming Brigitte McCray said. She said the network’s lineup of unscripted series, including music documentary show Unsung and true-crime series Fatal Attraction, as well as its 2020 schedule of 10 original movies, will help TV One stay in the forefront of African-American viewing choices.

“There’s no doubt that our competitors at Netflix and Amazon have realized how important and rich the African-American audience is,” McCray said. “Without a doubt, it’s our space, and nobody knows and serves that audience better than us. TV One is unapologetically in the black people business, and we represent authentic voices and black storytelling through the lens of black culture.”

Crossover Content

As more shows featuring African-American leads and storylines roll out on all platforms, industry executives said such shows are also appealing to a mainstream audience. “Shows like Greenleaf, David Makes Man and even Empire have black viewers as their core constituency, but other viewers are tuning in as well because they like the storylines and the storytelling,” said Eric Deggans, National Public Radio television critic and author of Race- Baiter: How the Media Wields Dangerous Words to Divide a Nation.

Shows such as Fox’s Empire, which finished 2018 in the top 20 among both African-Americans and total viewers 18-plus, and Starz’s Power, the most-viewed premium cable show among African-Americans and second only to Game of Thrones among all viewers, prove shows with predominantly African-American casts can draw a broad audience.

“The color of this revolution in African-American television is not black, it’s green,” Power creator and executive producer Courtney Kemp said. “This content is making people money right now.”

And there’s no end in sight. With new projects coming down the line from Kemp (Power Book II: Ghost); Lena Waithe (BET’s Twenties); DuVernay (OWN’s Cherish the Day); Perry (BET’s House of Payne revival Assisted Living); Zöe Kravitz (Hulu’s High Fidelity); and Jordan Peele (Amazon’s The Hunters and HBO’s Lovecraft County), African-American audiences will have plenty more content to DVR and binge-watch for the foreseeable future.

“If you see a bunch of people running to target an audience, there must be a sense that there is enough audience there for people to grab,” Deggans said. “If there wasn’t an audience to be served, you wouldn’t see these big programmers developing so many shows targeted to black audiences.”

DuVernay said it’s a great time for an African- American producer. “There’s no longer the stigma of moving from movie to TV to music video to short-form,” she said. “We as storytellers can now do it all.”

Marvel’s latest entry into the superhero movie genre collection, Black Panther (pictured), is breaking multiple box office records and with numerous cast members of African and Caribbean descent, it’s already igniting the national conversation about immigrants from these parts of the world.

Regrettably though, even amid the prevalence of February’s Black History Month storytelling, the narrative of the foreign-born black American community is still largely a secret. African and Caribbean immigrants have historically made noteworthy contributions to American society; however, their unique stories are often lost in the media’s depiction of the black American experience.

Does it surprise you that roughly one in five black Americans is foreign-born or are descendants of immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean?

In an article published Jan. 28, a Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census data placed the black immigrant population and their children at 18% of the total black population in the U.S. in 2016.

What this means to most demographers is that the market of foreign-born black Americans and their offspring numbers 8 million strong, at a minimum.

Clearly, this is a sizeable enough audience that shouldn’t be ignored; however, I can’t seem to recall there being any regularly scheduled programs or specials on broadcast or cable TV that reflect the experiences of this audience segment.

As far as I can tell, the stories of the foreign-born black American experience are nearly invisible on both mainstream TV as well as on any of the channels targeted to black audiences, even though there are some compelling reasons to recognize that the U.S. black population is not homogeneous.

Here are a few more facts from the U.S. Census about this target market that you may not know:

• The black immigrant population has increased five-fold since 1980.
• About half (49%) of the foreign-born black population is from the Caribbean, with Jamaica and Haiti being the largest source countries.
• Between 2000 and 2016, the number of immigrants from Africa doubled and they now make up about 39% of the overall foreign-born black American population.
• U.S.-born black Americans have a median age of 29 compared to immigrants from Africa (37) and from the Caribbean (47).
• Household incomes for some well-represented black immigrant groups are quite impressive, namely Nigerians ($94,030), Guyanese ($76,316) Ghanaians ($74,500) and Jamaicans ($72,237).
• Overall, 31% of adults 25 or older in the U.S. have a college degree, however among Nigerian-American adults, 59% have bachelor’s degrees or higher.
• In some black immigrant communities, more than 60% of the population are home owners, namely Guyanese (65.1%), Eritreans (63.4%) and South Africans (63.4%).
• Perhaps the most impressive characteristic of the foreign-born black American community is their economic connection to home. The Inter-American Development Bank reported that nearly $10 billion was remitted to the Caribbean in 2015, mainly from immigrants living in the United States. Similarly, economists calculate that Africans living in the Diaspora remit more to their homeland annually than all the aid from Western countries, combined.

In an era where all rating points and consumer dollars matter, the benefit of serving up more relevant programming reflecting the total black experience should be apparent. Programmers and advertisers, hungry for new “underserved” markets, must realize that there is an economic advantage to effective target marketing.

Interestingly, there is an impressive list of well-known celebrities of Caribbean and African origin and ancestry who could be allies in an initiative to engage this target market.

You can probably name a few, like Lupita Nyong’o (Kenya), Rihanna (Barbados) and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Nigeria), but a quick Google search will uncover quite a few others who you may never have known had roots in the Caribbean or Africa, namely Nia Long (Trinidad), LL Cool J (Barbados), Thandie Newton (Zimbabwe), Kandyse McClure (South Africa), even Al Roker (Bahamas). Many of these artists might relish an opportunity to create content that reflects their ancestral roots.

So, if you are a TV programmer or advertiser who has not recognized these segments of the black audience during Black History Month, luckily there are other opportunities to reach both the African and Caribbean communities.

June is Caribbean American Heritage Month, a time recognized by the U.S. Congress and the White House to celebrate the contributions that people of Caribbean descent have made to our country. Africa Day, May 25th, is an occasion established by the African Union to commemorate the independence of all 54 African nations.

Mark Walton is currently president of sales & marketing for One Caribbean Television and was previously EVP, sales & marketing at The Africa Channel. He also teaches part-time in the Media Studies department at The New School. Pictured: Lupita Nyong’o and Chadwick Boseman in Black Panther.

(UPDATED) The following is a guide to some of cable's Black History Month programming.

Related: 'Our Time' Has Come|Keeping TV One in Front on the Movement

Feb. 2
2 Dope Queens (Special)
HBO

Feb. 9
Eddie Griffin: Undeniable (Comedy special)
Showtime

Feb. 11
Behind the Movement (Movie)
TV One

The Undefeated Presents: Dear Black Athlete (Special)
ESPN

Feb. 17
Douglas Wilder at Virginia Commonwealth University
(Talk/lecture)
C-SPAN3

Feb. 18
Oral Histories: Henry ‘Hank’ Thomas (Talk)
C-SPAN3

Uncensored (Documentary series)
TV One

A Long Way From Home: The Untold Story of Baseball’s Desegregation (Documentary)
TV One

Feb. 20
Death Row Chronicles (Documentary)
BET

Feb. 24
Real America: A City Decides — 1956 (Documentary)
C-SPAN3

Notes from the Field (Special)
HBO

Feb. 26
The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X (Documentary)
Smithsonian Channel

Feb. 27
Marlon Wayans: Woke-ish (Comedy special)
Netflix

Unsolved: The Murder of Tupac and The Notorious B.I.G. (Series)
USA Network

Oprah at The Apollo (Special)
OWN

INTERSTITIALS:TV One will launch a new short-form video campaign featuring actor Common that will feature a variety of topics related to Black History and the issues affecting the African-American community.
--AMC Networks will launch its 5th Annual Black History Month Public Service Announcement campaign. which features interviews with nine Members of the Congressional Black Caucus and showcases the people and events that inspire each elected official as they reflect on what Black History Month means to them. The spots will air on AMC, BBC AMERICA, IFC, SundanceTV, and WE tv throughout the month of February.
--Nickelodeonis celebrating Black History Month with a brand-new series of PSAs set in Charleston, South Carolina, that explore themes of education, culture and cuisine as they relate to African Americans.

He used his voice — a deep, mesmerizing, reverberating baritone — to rouse and compel and sometimes shock a nation into action. The impassioned, ardent and controversial speeches that were at the heart of Malcolm X’s call to action were unlike anything those in the 1960s had ever heard before.

Now, a program airing on the Smithsonian Channel as part of the channel’s TheLost Tapes series — titled The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X — will explore the myth and life dichotomy of this civil rights leader.

Most compelling is the way in which the program’s storytelling may impact your own impression of this mesmerizing, impassioned, controversial young man.

The story of Malcolm X is mostly likely refracted back to most of us through a heavy filter of history, controversy and the legacy of other civil rights leaders. But the Smithsonian documentary offers viewers a new take: an un-narrated, real-time accounting of his life as it unfolded. The documentary charts the path of Malcolm as he attempts to make sense — and alter the path of — one of the most turbulent times in our nation’s history.

Starting Jan. 31, the documentary will be screened at a series of co-hosted red-carpet premieres in 16 cities across the nation, beginning at the National Museum of African American History & Culture in Washington, D.C. On Feb. 21, a special screening will take place at the National Black Theatre in Harlem where Malcolm X’s daughter, Ilyasah Shabaaz, will offer remarks about her father on the 53rd anniversary of his death. Community leaders, government officials and public figures will be in attendance at these events, including MVPD partners Comcast, Charter and Altice.

Real-time Storytelling Offers New View

According to David Royle, executive vice president of programming and production for the Smithsonian Channel, the unique filmmaking style of The Lost Tapes highlights a storytelling style that is both dramatic and has contemporary relevance. “The unique filmmaking style of The Lost Tapes really plays to [our] hunger [for authenticity],” he said.

Filmmaker Tom Jennings pulls together rarely-seen video footage, newly discovered audio tapes, newspaper headlines and, for the first time, newly public footage of Nation of Islam rallies that recreates key moments in time. 

The documentary has neither talking heads nor any interviews, only short captions that explain the video and audio on screen. No one tells you how to think or what to believe.

It’s a modern way to explore history in the Internet age, Royle said. 

The program examines the pivotal years of Malcolm X’s life, touching on his work as a minister and his time as a spokesperson for the Nation of Islam. It looks at his years as a student of Elijah Muhammad, who lobbied for the separation of African Americans from white society, and Malcolm X’s eventual disillusionment with that path.

Take the shocking audio recordings taken from within the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem on Feb. 21, 1965, when Malcolm X was assassinated by three gunmen who rushed the stage as he was speaking.

That first report, from an off-duty freelance radio reporter named Gene Simpson, was described as pandemonium.

“Shots rang out all over the place,” Simpson says in the unnerving original recording. “He’s now laying on the stage. He’s alive, but feebly.” Malcolm X died soon after. 

For decades, those tapes had been locked away in a storage unit in Hawaii until they were unearthed and restored for the documentary.

Filmmaking that Charts a Difficult Path

Making the documentary in this way was not an easy process. But it was necessary for the filmmakers to depictthe way Malcolm X's ideas evolved over time — as opposed to letting the filter of history alter the view from 2018.

“The finished films are so enthused with drama that it looks easy, as if the stories just unfolded in some seamless outpouring,” Royle said. “But it’s difficult to accomplish this without using scripts or interviewees to explain what’s going on.”

“You can’t help but be impressed not only by his immense intellect but his charm and charisma, [and by] his humor and dazzling smile,” Royle said. “It's really fascinating to imagine what he would have accomplished if he had survived.”Footage within The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X, includes appearances of the activist that have never been broadcast before.

“The Lost Tapes: Malcolm X” will debut on Feb. 26 at 8 p.m. ET/PT on the Smithsonian Channel.

To celebrate Black History Month, We tv is running a series of public service announcements (PSAs) featuring 10 African American members of Congress talking about who has inspired them most.

The PSAs will air on the network and be available on a microsite at WEtv.com. The site also features a photo gallery and alist of Black History Month events around the country.

The PSAs feature Senator Tim Scott and Representatives Alma Adams, Joyce Beatty, G.K. Butterfield, Yvette Clarke, Marcia Fudge, Robin Kelly, and Cedric Richmond. Also weighing in are Sen. Cory Booker and Rep. John Lewis.

Related > Cover Story: Rise Up

(Editor’s note: The following shows aired prior to publication: BET miniseries Madiba and series The Quad, both on Feb. 1.)

Feb. 5

In Focus: Black Women in Media (special)

Africa Channel

Shades of You (special)

Africa Channel

Feb. 8

News One Now Primetime Special: Excellence in Black Hollywood (special)

TV One

Feb. 10

Animal Nation With Anthony Anderson (series)

Animal Planet

No Regrets (movie)

Urban Movie Channel

Related > MCN Original Video: John Legend Discusses 'Underground' Season 2 in a Multicultural Perspectives Segment

Feb. 11

48th NAACP Image Awards (special)

TV One

The Black 14: Wyoming Football 1969 (special)

CBSSN

Feb. 12

Fighting for Kings and Empires (special)

Africa Channel

Feb. 15

Sway's Universe Doomsday Cypher 2 (special)

Revolt Tv

Feb. 17

Hatching Shakespeare (movie)

Urban Movie Channel

Related > Black History Month Interstitials 2017

Feb. 20

The Breaks (series)

VH1

MLK Now 2017 (special)

Revolt Tv

Feb. 21

Trevor Noah: Afraid of the Dark (special)

Netflix

Feb. 25

Media (scripted series)

TV One

Feb. 26

Black and Blue(special)

Revolt Tv 

Feb. 27

The Obama Years: The Power of Words (special)

Smithsonian Channel

Related > Cover Story: Rise Up

Disney XD: The net launched an initiative Feb. 1 that began with the story of acclaimed African-American pilot Charles Alfred “Chief” Anderson Sr., known as the “Father of Black Aviation” for his brave leadership as the chief civilian flight instructor for the Tuskegee Airmen. The story, hosted by Nathaniel Potvin (Disney XD’s MECH-X4), originates from the nonprofit Tomorrow’s Aeronautical Museum in Compton, Calif., and includes the museum’s founder and executive director, Robin Petgrave; Ted Lumpkin of the 100th Fighter Squadron; and Kimberly Anyadike, the youngest African-American woman to pilot an airplane across the United States.

Nickelodeon: The kids-targeted network is celebrating Black History Month with a series of PSAs honoring influential African-Americans who are making history today. Nick’s original 30-second spots will highlight the accomplishments of Gordon Bellamy, a game and interactive entertainment executive; Elaine Welteroth, editor in chief of Teen Vogue; Misty Copeland, principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre; and Marcus Samuelsson, celebrity chef and restaurateur. The interstitials show how these individuals are breaking boundaries, achieving remarkable success in their respective fields and encouraging kids to make history.

Related > Black History Month: What to Watch

Disney Junior: For younger viewers (age 2-7), Doc McStuffins, the title character from the acclaimed animated series, introduces notable women and men in a series of interstitials launching on Disney Junior Feb. 8. They are: Stephanie R. Grant, a pilot who led the first all-women African-American flight crew to operate a commercial airliner; Disney legend Floyd Norman, who in the 1950s was one of the first African-American animators at Walt Disney Studios; and Dr. Myiesha Taylor, an emergency doctor and founder of the Artemis Medical Society, an organization comprising more than 4,700 women physicians of color from around the world.

Related > MCN Original Video: John Legend Discusses 'Underground' Season 2 in a Multicultural Perspectives Segment

Disney Channel: The Mouse network has created interstitial segments honring notable African-Americans who have influenced and inspired kids and families, including Martin Luther King Jr., former President Barack Obama, Jackie Robinson, Maya Angelou, Ella Fitzgerald, Lee Daniels, Viola Davis and others. Among the featured segments: The story of Descendants star Cameron Boyce and his personal connection to The Clinton 12, the historical African-American teens who in 1956 were first to integrate a public school in the South. Boyce’s grandmother, Jo Ann Allen Boyce, was among The Clinton 12.

RELATED: Making History Into Television [subscription required] | Black History Month: What to Watch | Watch the Trailer for FX's 'The People v. O.J. Simpson'

Veteran actor Courtney B. Vance plays iconic lawyer Johnnie Cochran in FX’s new 10-part limited series The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, based on the book written by Jeffrey Toobin. The 55-year-old Vance discussed the series with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead, and provided his perspective on how the sensational 1994 case altered the way Americans discuss race. An edited version of the interview follows.

MCN: How did you prepare for the role of playing Johnnie Cochran?

Courtney B. Vance: A lot of times, you have to look at these iconic roles and make a decision as to how are you going to get in, and how are you going to do this? Johnnie Cochran cut his teeth on police brutality cases for years before the O.J. Simpson case came up, and so I know I’m not him, and I wasn’t going to spend my time trying to be him. I spent my time researching and finding out as much as I could about his life and his journey.

And then I knew the scripts would be tremendous, so I wouldn’t have to worry about that. If I could just give the appearance and the semblance of Johnnie Cochran, the scripts would do the rest. And the audience would be able to enter into the world. That’s the main thing for me — that I get out of the way and people can enter into the world. If I do my job, then they don’t see me, they see Johnnie.

MCN: Why is now the best time for this project to happen, 20 years after the verdict was handed down?

CBV: Because we all started with watching the Bronco and ended with the verdict, with black people in one corner and white people in another corner, mad or happy, and nobody ends up learning anything. Everybody goes back to their corner knowing what they know. Yet two people were killed, and was justice really served? I don’t think so.

So I knew that we really needed to sit down and unearth this thing and look at it with 20 years’ perspective for people who were back there during that time and remember it.

Before, they were so emotional, but now, 20 years later, the emotion hopefully is not as prevalent, and so maybe some sense and some perspective can be gotten as we look at it with a 20-year telescope, and [we can] understand a couple of things and maybe have a conversation about it, whereas 20 years prior no conversation could be had.

It was a trial that had a little bit of everything in it for everybody. We put it on television, and the thing blew up.

MCN: Do you think that the show actually retries O.J.?

CBV: I think it’s looking at the trial from the perspective of the attorneys with background information about their lives and their histories, so you can get a better sense of why certain decisions were made — why a certain decision was made about the glove and about Mark Fuhrman and the tapes and all. Because we were so close to it, and because a lot of times we just saw the result of what happened, we don’t know exactly what happened with that.

We didn’t know about [prosecuting attorney] Marcia Clark and all the drama that ensued with her and her second husband. I don’t know how she survived that case. I don’t know how [prosecutor Christopher] Darden survived all the things he went through. I mean, it was so much in the history and the course of this case that was about so many things other than truth or innocence, as is every case.

Nothing is ever black and white — it’s all a series of shades of gray. We have the opportunity to actually look with perspective to see what happened, how it happened and, based on all of that, hopefully at the water coolers we can begin to [discuss it].

MCN: You were quoted as saying that you cheered the O.J. verdict. Explain to me what you were feeling then and why you felt that way?

CBV: I was in Toronto with Nathan Lane and Tony Goldwyn, doing a project for Hallmark called The Boys Next Door. And Tony and I were, I guess, in his trailer, watching the verdict. And if you talked to black people and you talked to white people, I think black people were not cheering for O.J. — it wasn’t about O.J. O.J. even himself says, “I’m not black, I’m O.J.”

But this case was about race. Race is one of those things that we don’t like to talk about, like religion and politics. I mean it is a deep, deep issue that you can’t ignore. And we ignored it. We ignored it to our peril.

So my fist went up pumping because I’m realizing that finally Johnnie Cochran … this case was the culmination of all of his work. That’s what we were celebrating — all those times in courtrooms, throughout the American landscape, the black man and woman ended up on the short end of the stick. And this time, in the largest venue, we ended up victorious. So that’s what I think black Americans were celebrating. We’re not celebrating because two people were killed — nobody celebrates that. We were celebrating that finally somebody worked the system.

And was justice served? I don’t know whether it was or not, but the system was worked for the first time on this large a scale. That’s what I think African-Americans were celebrating.

MCN: Having said that, are you surprised that there is so much buzz around this show and the trial 20 years later?

CBV: I think there’s buzz around the show, No. 1, because the show was good. If the show wasn’t good, there wouldn’t be buzz. They wouldn’t be talking about it because the fact of the matter is Fox spent a lot of time and a lot of money to make sure, to ensure, that this would be done well. As [executive producer and director] Ryan Murphy said, they spent a lot of money on lawyers, making sure that every line was well-researched and was correct from a legal standpoint. Time was paid, attention was paid and the fruits of all of that labor are what we’re seeing. There is no guarantee that it will be received well, but we gave it our best shot and spent a lot of time and effort making sure that our story, our 10-part story was told well. And that’s all you can hope for.

FX on Tuesday (Feb. 2) will premiere a new, scripted series focused a true-to-life, high-profile criminal trial with racial overtones: specifically, the case of an African-American man accused of murder amid the shadow of alleged police misconduct.

It’s a scenario that might have been ripped from today’s headlines, but FX’s The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story takes its cue from the trial of the former National Football League star, held more than 20 years ago.

As issues of race continue to influence the country’s discourse on politics, crime and punishment and entertainment — the recent flap over the lack of diversity in nominations in high-profile Oscar categories comes to mind — cable networks look to tap a growing interest in scripted content that reflects real-life African-American stories and people both past and present.

RELATED:Channeling Cochran, 20 Years Later: Courtney B. Vance on How Time Will Bring Perspective to ‘The People v. O.J. Simpson’

UNDER-TOLD TALES

From the highly-anticipated People v. O.J. Simpson, to History’s upcoming remake of Roots to WGN America’s Underground, which depicts slaves escaping along the 19th century’s “Underground Railroad,” networks are offering true stories that most viewers will recognize, but haven’t been fully explored either on the small screen or in highschool history books.

In many cases, they feature common threads that tie into the complex issues of race facing the nation today.

“Black is the new black,” Stephen Hill, BET’s president of programming, said. “There’s a variety of stories being told on a lot of different platforms, so it’s an exciting time for this kind of television, and it makes everyone step their game up.”

Indeed, original series and movies featuring real-life African-American themes have recently garnered both ratings success and industry awards:

• HBO’s Bessie took home four 2015 Emmy Awards last September, including one for best television movie, and garnered Golden Globe, Critics’ Choice, Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award nominations for lead actress Queen Latifah’s portrayal of blues singer Bessie Smith.

• Lifetime’s Jan. 23 original movie Toni Braxton: Unbreak My Heart, a biography of the popular contemporary rhythm and blues singer, drew 3.6 million viewers and was the most-watched original cable movie among adults 25-54 and women 18-49 since Whitney, Lifetime’s Whitney Houston biopic, in January 2015.

• Book of Negroes, BET’s six-part miniseries airing in February 2015, drew more than 13 million viewers across multiple platforms during its run. It was also the most-watched miniseries by African- American audiences across key demos.

Another half-dozen cable original series, miniseries and movies based on true-life African-American stories are slated to debut later this year or are in development.

CRIME, PUNISHMENT, RACE

As entertainment projects featuring mainly African-American casts gain critical and audience success, there’s been more interest in shows with historical themes related to the black experience in America, executives said.

“If you look at the landscape today, TV shows like Empire to theatrical films like Creed and Straight Outta Compton have been huge commercial successes,” FX Networks and FX Productions CEO John Landgraf said. “I think there’s now a greater willingness to embrace more content with African-American themes and perspective.”

Shows such as The People v. O.J. Simpson appeal across audience demographics because they touch on hot-button issues of crime, punishment and race that the U.S. is still wrestling with, Landgraf said.

Viewers are also fascinated by true stories that challenge the perceptions and realities of the criminal justice system, as evidenced by interest in such shows as HBO’s The Jinx and Netflix’s Making of a Murderer.

“I think O.J. is about this moment in time right now, and the debate going on in the United States about how equitable our society is or is not, and includes a specific focus inside the debate about the equity within the criminal justice system,” Landgraf said. “In general, we’re interested in the weakness and the strengths of our own criminal justice system. They speak to the flaws of our system and potential police misconduct, but also, frankly, to the weaknesses of juries as well.”

TV movies like Bessie or HBO’s upcoming Confirmation — which depicts Anita Hill’s sex-discrimination charges levied during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas — are strong stories of a type that has received little TV fanfare, but with universal storylines that appeal to all viewers, HBO Films president Len Amato said.

UNDERSERVED AUDIENCES

It also helps that these shows appeal to a still-underserved African- American audience that watches more TV than any other ethnic group. African-Americans watched 43 hours of live TV per week during the second quarter of 2015, compared with 24 hours by Hispanics and 16 hours for Asian-Americans.

“First and foremost, people are looking for a good story, because those are color-blind,” Amato said. “Then, you’re reaching audiences that are underserved. Even if you don’t have a progressive bone in your body that cares about diversity, just on that level alone, where the rubber meets the road, it’s good business.”

Plus, younger viewers who might not know the gritty details of the O.J. Simpson saga or about the Underground Railroad can identify with the storylines and plots.

“So many people don’t know the Anita Hill story — it’s not exactly something that’s pushed in the history books — so if it brings the story to a new generation and they gain some insight, or they take pride in the fact that a situation like this could lead to empowerment, [that] is good,” Amato said.

The trial of O.J Simpson, as portrayed in the FX series (see related Q&A), set the stage for much of what we see on TV today, Landgraf said.

“It’s the mother of all true reality stories; it is the beginning of the 24-hour news cycle and of crime as infotainment,” he said. “Most young people believe that the most fascinating, crazy stuff that’s ever happened in the world of reality television has happened in their lifetime and, when they see this, they’re going to realize that many of the things that happened during this trial [are] still the craziest thing that’s ever happened to reality TV.

“It gave rise to the media environment in which young people have lived their entire lives,” Landgraf said.

Underground (premiering Wednesday, March 9) was more about telling a good story than teaching a history lesson, WGN America president and general manager Matt Cherniss said.

Though the characters in Underground are fictional, the series stays true to the documented history surrounding the Underground Railroad, the 19th-century network of secret escape routes and safe houses used by runaway slaves.

“Obviously, it’s a controversial time period and it’s a subject matter that’s sensitive and takes a high level of execution and care when you approach it,” Cherniss said. “But when I read the script, I just read a great adventure and not a period piece.

“Too often to this point, people have looked at that particular time period and felt that it needed to be honored in such a way that there wasn’t an opportunity to insert a bit of genre into the storytelling,” he added.

The fact that the pilot includes a Kanye West song — procured under the watchful eye of executive producer John Legend — also can’t hurt in reaching millennials, even if the series is set some 150 years before the hip hop superstar was born.

MORE IN THE PIPELINE

As demand across numerous platforms for diverse, scripted content continues to grow, networks see room to make more stories based on what they call the treasure trove of good, true-life African-American themed stories that have yet to be told.

Along with History’s retelling of the classic miniseries Roots, based on the novel by Alex Haley, HBO in May will debut the original movie All the Way, which chronicles the relationship between President Lyndon B. Johnson and Dr. Martin Luther King in the midst of the Civil Rights Movement.

BET is developing biographical movies on the R&B music group New Edition and on former South African president Nelson Mandela.

“People like to know that what they’re seeing has some basis in the truth,” BET’s Hill said. “Also, with these projects you get to see what’s behind the curtain of stories that you already know the beginning, middle and end of.”

Added WGN America’s Cherniss, “Having many more outlets out there creating original content and looking at things that are distinctive as far as the subject matter is concerned does provide a broader landscape for different stories to be told.”

Black History Month: What to Watch

A sampling of shows set to air in February

Feb. 1

Change Agents: History in the Making(short films)

TV One

Feb. 2

The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story(limited series)

FX

Feb. 3

Preachers of Atlanta(reality series)

Oxygen

Feb. 5

47th Annual NAACP Image Awards

TV One

Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown to ‘Off The Wall’(documentary)

Showtime

Feb. 9

Here We Go Again (series)

TV One

Feb. 10

The Next 15(reality series)

TV One

Feb. 13

SportsCenter on the Road From Hampton University(special)

ESPN

Feb. 14

Rise Up: SportsCenter Black History Month Special(special)

ESPN

Feb. 24

About the Business(reality series)

BET

Feb. 29

Major League Legends: Hank Aaron(special episode of docuseries)

Smithsonian Channel

Hate in America(documentary)

Investigation Discovery

Also This Month:

• Disney XD and Disney Channel will run a documentary-style interstitial that illustrates the bravery of young African-Americans through the lens of Cameron Boyce (Descendants) and his timeless hero, Jo-Ann Boyce — his grandmother, who was one of the Clinton 12, a group of 12 black Tennessee teens who were the first to integrate into an all-white high school in the South in 1956, following the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education.

• Music Choice will offer a package of music videos dubbed “The New Classics,” including videos from Drake, Fetty Wap and Rihanna, as well as videos from the soundtracks of popular black movies such as Straight Outta Compton.

ESPN and its sister regional sports service Longhorn Network will commemorate Black History Month with original specials featuring African-Americans who made a positive influence in sports and society.

ESPN will televise on Feb. 22 Trailblazers; Past Present and Future, which will team current African-American sports stars with living legends to discuss challenges still to be overcome, said network officials.

Longhorn Network on Feb. 10 will air Reflections on Race, which tells the story of nine African-American students who integrated Central High School in Little Rock, Ark., following the 1954 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education declaring segregation unconstitutional.

The network will also premiere on Feb. 26 Through the Eyes of Texas: Integration, in whichHeisman Trophy winner Ricky Williams looks back at how the state’s flagship university responded to integration.

Also as part of the month-long celebration, SportsCenter and Outside the Lines during the week of Feb. 8  will air a feature exploring why some athletes are now willing to be more politically outspoken. On Feb. 15, SportsCenter will examine the importance of football at an underprivileged, economically and racially segregated high school in Tuscaloosa, Ala. as part of its SC Featured segment, said network officials.

Al Jazeera America will debut four new episodes of its Talk To Al Jazeera focusing on prominent African-Americans as part of its recognition of Black History Month, the network said Friday.

The service will also launch a month-long social media campaign under the tagline #BrandingBlack that will look to raise important questions about the line between multicultural marketing and potential perpetuation of stereotypes.

The Talk to Al Jazeera lineup for February includes interviews with American ballet dancer Misty Copeland (Feb. 1); Recording artist Akon  (Feb. 8); comedian/activist Rain Pryor (Feb. 15) and Writer/photographer Taiye Selasi (Feb. 22).

In addition, the network’s series Real Money with Ali Velshi will tackle several issues during  the month including  the Commercialization of Black History Month (Feb. 6);  Is MLK too old-school a symbol for Black History Month?(Feb. 13); “Selma”/Branding Black History Month (Feb. 20) and Black History Month & Ferguson (Feb. 27).