OWN will produce a January special that gives a behind the scenes look at the drama series Underground, the network said Thursday.

The special, Revisiting Underground, will debut Jan. 5 after OWN’s premiere of the historical series drama, which aired on WGN America for two seasons from 2016-2017. OWN acquired the rights to Underground from Sony Pictures Television earlier this month.

Also Read: Oprah Winfrey Swaps Most of OWN Stake for Discovery Shares

The special, hosted by series executive producer John Legend, will take a behind-the-scenes look at the series, which stars Aldis Hodge and Jurnee Smollett and follows the journey of slaves running for their freedom during the 1850s. 

Underground on OWN will feature a revitalized version of the series, with newly filmed episodic introductions by cast members and never-before-seen footage, according to OWN. Underground co-creators Misha Green and Joe Pokaski along with Legend and Anthony Hemingway served as executive producers of the series.

Grammy award-winning singer/songwriter John Legend played a different tune in 2016 when he served as executive producer of WGN’s drama series Underground, which in its two season-run chronicled the harrowing escape of slaves along the 19 century’s Underground Railroad. 

In this 2017 interview, Legend discusses Underground's significance and relevance to today’s social movements.

WGN America continued to build its lineup of scripted series with the acquisition of three crime-themed series set to premiere in 2018.

The three series include Shoot The Messenger, a crime thriller starring Elyse Levesque (Orphan Black) and centering on the complex relationships between crime reporters and the police; Pure, which chronicles a secretive subculture through the eyes of a conflicted, good-hearted man trying to protect his family and preserve his faith; and 100 Code, which stars Dominic Monaghan (Lost, Lord of the Rings Trilogy) and the late Michael Nyqvist (John Wick, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) as cops from different parts of the world teaming up to investigate the deaths of several women in New York and Stockholm.

The acquisitions come on the heels of the network’s recent pickup of the Anna Pacquin-led drama series Bellevue.The series acquisitions also continue WGN America's move to build its scripted lineup since the cancellation of Undergroundand Outsiders earlier this year as a result of plans to reallocate resources away from the scripted series business as part of Sinclair Broadcast Group’s pending merger with WGN America parent Tribune Media.

“WGN America continues to deliver one of the best crime lineups in television,” said Gavin Harvey, president, WGN America in a statement. “These four new original series build upon our strong slate of compelling programming that offers nonstop mystery, thrills and suspense for the growing number of fans of the crime genre.”

The big winners of the 2017 Emmy Awards nominations were HBO and Netflix with their combined 200+ nominations, along with shows like This Is Us, Westworld and Saturday Night Live.

Diversity also took center stage in Los Angeles during Thursday’s Emmy’s nominations program as a record number of actors of color received nominations for their outstanding performances on the small screen, from Emmy veterans like Viola Davis, Regina King and Anthony Anderson to newcomers like Snoop Dogg and Donald Glover.

Some of the top Emmy nominated shows also featured multiple nominations for actors of color. HBO’s Westworld drew a scripted series-high 22 nominations, including nominations for Thandie Newton and Jeffrey Wright for best supporting actress and actor in a drama, respectively.

Sterling K. Brown – who won an Emmy last year for his role in FX’s People v. O.J. Simpson – was nominated in the lead actor in a drama series category along with Ron Cephas Jones for best supporting actor in a drama and Brian Tyree Henry for guest drama actor for their roles in the 11-time Emmy nominated drama This Is Us.

Both Westworld and This Is Us were also nominated for best drama series.

Related: Strong Rookie Class Vies for Emmy Nods

The record number of Emmy nominations for actors of color comes despite some arguably glaring Emmy snubs. Voters for the major series and acting categories showed no love for HBO’s Insecure and its star Issa Rae or Oprah Winfrey’s performance in the pay service’s original movie The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks – although the series is nominated in the best TV movie category. Also, last year’s Emmy winner in the best actor in a drama series category Rami Malek won’t be back to defend his title after not getting nominated for his starring role in USA’s Mr. Robot.

Still, there’s a lot for diversity champions to cheer about, even as a noticeable number of shows with lead actors of color are no longer on the air. Shows like Netflix’s The Get Down and Sense8, Fox’s Pitch, Hulu’s East Los High, WGN’s Underground, ABC’s American Crime and most recently NBC’s The Carmichael Show have all left broadcast, cable network and video streaming service lineups, taking with them some of the momentum the industry had been building with regards to showcasing diverse images and stories on screen.

As long as the industry continues to keep its focus on the inclusion of images and stories derived from a wide and diverse source of talented individuals, there will continue to be a large pool of deserving performances from which the TV academy can choose its best and brightest to honor.

WGN America has pulled the plug on its sophomore drama series Outsiders, the network confirmed Friday.

The series, which follows a family clan defending their mountain land and their way of life from the town below, is currently in its second season. While the show has done well from a ratings perspective, Peter Kern, interim president and CEO of WGN parent Tribune Media, said in a statement that the company will be “reallocating our resources to a more diverse programming strategy.”

The network has been on ratings roll, posting this past March its best primetime monthly viewing audience in network history -- led by Outsiders and sophomore series Underground.

The series finale of Outsiders will air on April 25.

Kern’s complete statement is as follows:

“After three years of investing in marquee, brand-defining dramas, WGN America has successfully expanded its audience, its reach, and its presence in the minds of viewers.  In our next phase, we intend to expand our original and unique content to continue growing our relevance and appeal to the widest possible audience.  To achieve this, we will be reallocating our resources to a more diverse programming strategy and to new structures, enabling us to expand both the quantity and breadth of content aired by WGN America.  This move is designed to deliver even more value to our advertising and distribution partners.  To free up the resources to reach this goal, we will unfortunately not be renewing ‘Outsiders.’  We are grateful to our production partners at Sony Pictures Television and the terrifically talented people who made the show possible.”

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.”

For independent and niche-targeted cable networks, it’s tough to stand out from peak television’s burgeoning crowd. Such programmers are counting on this week’s cable portion of the nearly three-week Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour to put themselves in the spotlight.

Durning the two-day cable schedule (Jan. 13-14), more than 30 cable networks and streaming services will present their new and current scripted and reality shows to the more than 200 TCA member writers gathered in Pasadena, Calif. The cable sessions are facilitated by the Cable & Telecommunications Association for Marketing.

Get complete coverage of the 2017 Winter Press Tour.

The Winter TCA, which officially launched last Thursday (Jan. 5) with presentations from the broadcast networks, generated headlines this past November when NBC, ABC and CBS decided to eliminate the tour’s traditional executive panels. Those sessions allow reporters to ask executives about industry trends and upcoming show developments.

Premium programmer Starz, as well as streaming services Amazon and Netflix, decided to sit out the winter tour, leading some industry observers to question the event’s continued news value.

But Reelz, WGN America and other small players set to present this week say TCA is an invaluable forum to get the word out on their upcoming projects.

“TCA is critical because an independent network doesn’t have the reach and clout that the big conglomerates have for their broadcast and cable networks to speak to media of all shapes and sizes,” Reelz CEO Stan Hubbard said. The network will look to promote its upcoming miniseries The Kennedys — After Camelot, starring Katie Holmes and Matthew Perry.

“TCA provides to an opportunity for an independent network like Reelz to really put our best foot forward in a forum that would otherwise be difficult for us to duplicate,” he said.

The tour gives WGN America, which will promote its drama series Underground and Outsiders at TCA, a means to reach out to entertainment media alongside larger network and streaming service competitors.

“In a world of 400-plus scripted shows, not to mention the competition of all other forms of entertainment, TCA is an opportunity to take an audience that comprises the majority of the entertainment press and to capture their attention and imagination,” WGN America president and general manager Matt Cherniss said. “If your show and network can intrigue in an environment in which hundreds of shows, compressed in a few weeks, are attempting to set themselves apart from the crowd, then it’s a strong sign that the show can do the same for the audience as well.”

Even though it’s not scheduled to present a particular show, El Rey Network president and general manager Daniel Tibbets said the ability to talk to TV critics about the network’s development and future plans in an executive forum is important for the emerging network.

“TCA offers a great opportunity for me to have an actual conversation with critics from all over the country about our strategy, which is unique in this ever-shifting media landscape,” Tibbets said.

Even with opportunities to promote shows on digital platforms and through social media, Hubbard said there’s no substitute for talking and promoting television shows through forums that are TV-oriented.

“At the end of the day TV is TV,” Hubbard, who is also an investor in independent arts network Ovation TV, said. “YouTube is not TV, and TV is not YouTube.

“People still watch a lot of TV shows by sitting down and viewing it on a television set,” he said. “For a network like ours, it’s still about people watching television and that’s what advertisers still pay for, and that’s why TCA is so critical for us.”

Hulu has acquired the sixth and final season of Sony Pictures Television’s Community, giving it exclusive streaming rights to all six seasons, the subscription video-on-demand service said Monday (Aug. 15).

Hulu also expanded its deals for Sony’s Underground, Outsiders and Rescue Me. Underground and Outsiders air on Tribune-owned cable network WGN America, while Rescue Me aired on FX from 2004-11.

Earlier this year, Hulu and Sony announced a library deal, adding all episodes of Happy Endings, The Shield, Party of Five, Dawson’s Creek and Damages to the service, as well as several movies, including Jerry Maguire and Midnight in Paris.

Cult comedy hit Community starred Joel McHale as Jeff Winger, a lawyer who had to return to community college because he’d been faking his credentials for years.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

Get complete coverage of the 2016 TCA Summer Tour.

Beverly Hills, Calif.—Eight panelists affiliated with shows on El Rey, Starz, TV One and WGN America tore into the multifaceted issues of TV diversity during a vibrant, insight-packed panel at the TCA summer press tour.

El Rey founder and chairman Robert Rodriguez delivered a brief introduction to the session. “Cable has made great strides,” he said. “There’s never been a more important time to build cultural understanding of people and working together.”

Panelists spent ample time talking about the positives — more shows with diverse casts on air, multiplying outlets, more people of color involved behind the scenes — but also brought to light the ongoing struggle to reflect America in full.

“The way the system is set up, in order to get a job or be able to vote on awards, it’s all just old practices that don’t suit us at all,” said Victoria Mahoney, a director with credits on feature films as well as TV series like Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse and OWN’s Queen Sugar.

“The old guard’s got to let go of their grip a little bit because that’s not the way the world looks,” said Jurnee Smollett-Bell, who stars on WGN America’s Underground. “Storytellers have a right to express what’s inside of them … and consumers and viewers have a right to see themselves.”

Mahoney noted that she is among the 4% of overall directors who are women of color, according to recent guild surveys. “I’ve never been in the bottom 4% of anything in my life,” she quipped.

D’Angela Proctor, senior vice president of original programming and production for TV One, said the executive suite is another area with a lot of room for improvement.

“We have to be at the table at every single level” for truly inclusive programming to permeate the TV business, she said.

Read more at broadcastingcable.com.

WGN America has launched a new mobile app supporting its Underground-Railroad drama series Underground. Features in the app -- launched on the Apple and Android platforms -- include behind-scenes video, character and cast information, links to watch full episodes (if verified) on the show's home page and a channel finder for people trying to locate the Tribune Media-owned network on their TV lineups. The series, revolving around the "Macon 7" group of African American slaves who escape a Georgia plantation seeking freedom north of the Ohio River in 1857, is midway into a 10-episode first season. The sixth episode, "Troubled Waters," airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT.

READ MORE: Bringing Underground to the surface: an interview with executive producer John Legend.

WGN America calls Underground the No. 1 social program on cable on Wednesday nights, and the app contains sheareable content. It is averaging 3.1 million viewers on a live plus seven day viewing basis, according to the network.

Cable networks will look to build on the momentum created for the genre by recent projects including FX’s American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson with limited series and specials of their own pulled from the pages of history.

HBO will tackle the 1990s controversy surrounding Anita Hill’s sex-discrimination charges levied during the 1991 Senate confirmation hearings of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas with the Saturday (April 16) premiere of original move Confirmation. It will also dig into President Lyndon B. Johnson’s first year in office with the May 21 telefilm All the Way.

On the dramatic-series side, Sundance TV will examine the 1916 Easter Rising in Ireland on centenary Sunday, April 24, with the limited series Rebellion.

And A&E on Memorial Day (May 30) will premiere the four-episode remake of 1970’s slavery-themed miniseries Roots.

The projects follow the recent ratings success of high-profile, history-themed projects. FX’s 10-part series American Crime Story: The People v. O.J. Simpson drew 3.9 million viewers (per Nielsen live-plus-same-day ratings) for its finale April 5 after generating a network-record 5.1 million viewers (also on a live-plus-same-day basis) for the Feb. 2 series premiere.

The retelling of the infamous 1995 Simpson murder trial also generated significant press coverage and social-media buzz that helped build awareness and ratings.

WGN America set a network ratings record with the March 4 premiere of original drama series Underground — the story of slaves escaping bondage along the 19th century Underground Railroad — drawing 1.4 million viewers.

Network executives said the success of The People v. O.J Simpson and Underground are helping to build momentum for a genre that appeals both to older viewers and hard-to-reach younger watchers.

“The appeal of television it its ability to transport you into a story, and to be able to do that across time and go to early 20th century Ireland, or even just back to the 1990s to the O.J Simpson trial, is almost like time-traveling and immersing yourself in that time and place,” said Jan Diedrichsen, executive director of SundanceTV. “That has incredible appeal to viewers of all ages.”

Rebellion, which dramatizes Ireland’s fight for independence through the eyes of three women and their families, is a departure from the network’s mostly fiction-based scripted series. But Diedrichsen said the series fits the SundanceTV brand because it tells a strong and compelling story through well-developed, engaging and relatable characters.

Its historical backdrop is an added benefit for viewers, Diedrichsen said. “Viewers know the ending to the story — the Irish gained their independence — but you’re watching this story and experiencing history differently than reading about it. That allows you to connect and identify with the characters, because you know more than the characters know.”

History, which has scored in the past with shows such as Texas Rising, Hatfields & McCoys and The Bible, will look to draw viewers to its remake of Roots, a remake of the 1977 ABC miniseries based on Alex Haley’s best-selling novel about the journey of an African-American family through slavery. The four-night, eight-hour series will premiere May 30 on A+E Networks outlets History, A&E and Lifetime.

With viewers looking to the past to see how its events shaped today’s issues, the genre is as popular now as ever, History general manager Jana Bennett said.

“It’s not accidental that there’s been some success with shows that look at real stories, rather than just fictional depictions, and that’s true of O.J., Underground and [Netflix’s drug-themed series] Narcos,” she said. “I think the audience is really up to seeing the real story of how did we get here and looking at the bigger questions of what’s the context of where we are now, and how it reflects history.

“There’s a real need among viewers for a change of pace from the acceleration of today’s technology-driven environment and an appetite for history, which helps to answer the question of how we got here in the first place,” Bennett said.

WGN America’s drama series Underground generated 1.4 million viewers for last night’s premiere episode, setting a network ratings record for an original series, according to Nielsen.

The series, which which depicts slaves escaping along the 19th century’s Underground Railroad, bested the Jan. 26 premiere of network drama Outsiders, which drew 1 million viewers in its debut.

With replays, the March 9 Underground premiere averaged 2.5 million viewers for the night, according to Nielsen.

The series, executively produced by singer/writer John Legend, stars Jurnee Smollet-Bell and Aldis Hodge.

RELATED:Bringing ‘Underground’ to the Surface: A Q&A With John Legend | MCN Original Video: Content Spotlight on 'Underground'

WGN America shines a light on the Northern escape of slaves from the South in its new original series Underground.

The series, created by Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, stars Aldis Hodge (Straight Outta Compton) as Noah, a field slave who has tried to escape his slaveowners several times, only to be caught and beaten for his transgressions. Yet his thirst for freedom is never quenched, so – armed with a map outlining the road to the North -- he plans another attempt at escape, but this time he tries to bring in others to join him on his journey.

Meanwhile inside the house serving the plantation owning family is Rosalee (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), who along with her mother Ernestine (Amirah Vann), lives a more comfortable existence than the slaves in the field, yet slaves they remain.

A chance encounter in which Rosalee is ordered to tend to Noah’s wounds from a violent lashing due to his last escape attempt sets the stage for an eventual joining of the two as they both look for the freedom that exists for themselves and other slaves outside of Georgia.

Noah’s plan is not without fear or consequences, and the series’ initial episodes brilliantly capture the grit and passion of the slaves’ desire to be free and the perils they face in obtaining their goal. The action within the plot will have viewers on the edge as executive producer John Legend cleverly weaves both contemporary and period music to gin up the often thrilling scenes incumbent to the planning of the slaves’ ultimate escape. The opening scene in particular sets the tone for the series as a slave runner is pursued through the woods to the beat of Kanye West’s "Black Skinhead."

Underground also benefits from a strong supporting cast, which includes Noah’s partners Moses (Mykelti Williamson), Sam (Johnny Ray Gill) Henry (Renwick Scott) and Zeke (Theodus Crane), as well as his nemesis Cato (Alano Miller). Outside the plantation, farmer August Pullman (Christopher Meloni), abolitionist lawyer John Hawkes (Marc Blucas) and his wife Elizabeth (Jessica De Gouw) contribute a different, nuanced perspective to the main slave escape plot.

While the series’ title is based on the real-life Underground Railroad that allowed slaves to escape the southern states through an intricate network of trails, much of the series’ early action takes place on the plantation. Undoubtedly future episodes will further weave that historical element into what is a very entertaining series that will have viewers anxiously awaiting the next weekly episode.

RELATED: MCN Review: WGN America's 'Underground'|MCN Original Video > Content Spotlight: WGN's 'Underground'

Grammy-, Golden Globe- and Oscar-winning singer/songwriter John Legend is looking to hit the right notes on TV, serving as executive producer of WGN America’s antebellum drama series, Underground, which depicts the “Underground Railroad” used by 19th-century African-American slaves to escape the South for the free states and Canada (premiering March 9). He also produced the title song. The 37-year-old Legend discussed his move into television, along with his Get Lifted production company, as well as diversity on the small screen with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead. An edited transcript follows.

MCN:What drew you to theUndergroundproject?

John Legend: We were happy to join a team that was already in place with [show creators] Joe [Pokaski] and Misha [Green] and an amazing cast. We’re just happy to help bring the story to light because that’s what producers do — we collaborate with great creative people. I think it’s such a powerful and riveting show and I want people to see it.

MCN:Did you have any apprehensions about moving into the television arena?

JL: [Get Lifted partner Mike Jackson] convinced me that because of who I am and what I do this would be a great opportunity to have an impact in the business, since I’m already plugged into the creative community and Hollywood. I’m an English major who loves to read and consume great stories, as well as great TV and film, so I can use my influence in the community to help bring great stories to light.

MCN:You also had a big hand in directing the music for the show. Since this is a period piece was it difficult to create and match music to the time in which the story takes place?

JL: We used contemporary music, and while we also used period music, we didn’t want it to feel stuck in that era. We wanted to connect it with current popular culture and make it feel like it was coming off the walls of a museum and feel more present and alive. We all went into it with that vision — we didn’t want it to feel staid and stiff, and feel like you were doing a homework assignment to watch it. We wanted it to feel alive and full of action, suspense and thrills. So the music helped us do that.

MCN:Do you think younger viewers will gravitate to the series given its historical nature?

JL: We’re trying to make this relevant to anybody who’s watching it — black, white, Latino, Asian, young or old. We’ve been removed from slavery now for several generations, and we know a little about it from history books, although I think our history classes don’t do a good enough job of telling the stories. We think the power of the story itself and the characters, as well as the storytelling by the director and the music, will connect it to a younger generation. We didn’t slap in new music just to make it cool for the kids, but we really tried to make the music feel organic to what was happening in a given situation.

MCN:Do you think the increased amount of multicultural-themed shows on television helps the overall appeal and interest in the show?

JL: It’s clear that you’re able to see a lot of people of color on television right now in various roles and time periods, and I think the success of shows like Empire, Black-ish, Scandal and other shows where we’re seeing black people in positions of power doing things behind and in front of the camera shows Hollywood and the powers that be that it’s important to tell diverse stories, and creates a climate where it’s easy for us to get this type of show on the air. We’re really starting to see a diverse range of content — not just black and white, but also Asians, Latinos, people of different eras and different countries. You’re seeing a lot of subcultures that are being explored in great television shows, and this is an important story and time period in American history, and we’re excited to get this story on the air.

MCN:What other projects are you working on?

JL: We’re producers on a movie Southside With You, which premiered at Sundance. We’re also working on a couple of documentary projects, not to mention I’m working on a new album and expecting a baby [with wife Chrissy Teigen].

Get more #TCA16 news.

Pasadena, Calif. -- WGN America's two new drama series, Outsiders and Underground, will premiere commercial free, the network said Friday at its Television Critics Association press tour event.

Outsiders, which follows a tight knit family defending their land atop a mountain, debuts Jan. 26, while Underground – which tells the story of revolutionaries of the Underground Railroad – bows March 9, according to network officials.

“We will air the series premieres of each show commercial free in order to give viewers a pure and uninterrupted introduction to these two very different words,” said WGN president and general manager Matt Cherniss.

Cherniss added that WGN America will stream the first three episodes of Outsiders and Underground on OTT service Crackle, Facebook as well as WGN America and Sony Youtube channels after their respecitve premieres on the network.

WGN America also announced it will launch on Cablevision on Jan 16, extending its distribution to 80 million homes.

Musical artist John Legend will executively produce WGN’s new drama series Underground, the network announced Wednesday during its Television Critics Tour session.

The series, which will follow plantation slaves that band together to fight for their freedom, will debut next year. Legend’s Get Lifted company will also oversee the score, soundtrack and all music aspects of the series.

“We are thrilled that John Legend will lend his impressive talents to Underground, a story that chronicles the compelling journey of brave individuals whose fight for freedom still inspires us today,” said Matt Cherniss, President and General Manager, WGN America and Tribune Studios Cherniss.  “We look forward to John, Mike and Ty’s creative imprint on this series that we believe will be both provocative and captivating.”

Cherniss said that network will offer four scripted series in 2016 including freshman series Underground and The Outsiders, as well as sophomore series Manhattan and Salem.