OWN will air this summer a new documentary series from Essence magazine that looks at Black America over the past 50 years. 

The five-part series, Time of Essence, will explore a different decade from the 1970s through today and show how the magazine has informed and reflected Black culture through first-hand commentary from the icons, trailblazers, Essence staffers and leaders who lived and defined them, said the network.

The documentary will feature such celebrities as Regina Hall, Halle Berry, Whoopi Goldberg, Taye Diggs and Sheryl Lee Ralph, as well as longtime Essence Editor and Chief Susan L. Taylor and current Essence magazine editor Mikki Taylor. 

“In 1970, Essence recognized that Black women’s contributions to society were being undervalued, and set a new standard as the first publications to reflect Black womanhood, affirming her strength, style and achievements and provoking industry reform and change," OWN President Tina Perry said. “This series will be a testament to what Essence has been historically and how it continues to shape the culture at large today.”

Time of Essence is executive produced by Christian Sarabia and Nicole Elliott, Raymond Garcia, Emmet Dennis, Sidra Smith, Stephanie “NöNe'' Dunivan and Barkue Tubman-Zawolo.■ 

The second season of the Paramount Plus original series Star Trek: Picard will premiere March 3 and will feature Whoopi Goldberg reprising her role from the original Star Trek: The Next Generation series, the streaming service revealed Friday.

The series will feature Goldberg in the role of Guinan, who will appear throughout the show's sophomore campaign, according to the streaming service.  

According to Paramount Plus, season two of Star Trek: Picard, "takes the legendary Jean-Luc Picard and his crew on a bold and exciting new journey: into the past. Picard must enlist friends both old and new to confront the perils of 21st century Earth in a desperate race against time to save the galaxy’s future – and face the ultimate trial from one of his greatest foes," said the service.

The series stars Patrick Stewart, Alison Pill, Jeri Ryan, Michelle Hurd, Evan Evagora, Orla Brady, Isa Briones, Santiago Cabrera and Brent Spiner.

Hollywood Friday paid tribute to iconic actor/director and civil rights activist Sidney Poitier, who died Thursday night at the age of 94. 

Poitier’s prolific movie career features such groundbreaking films as In The Heat of the Night, Raisin in the Sun, The Defiant Ones, To Sir, With Love and Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner that helped paved the way for Black actors in the 1950s and 1960s. Poitier was the first Black man to win the Academy Award for best actor for his role in the 1963 film Lilies of the Field.

Poitier also directed several hit films, including Buck and the Preacher starring Harry Belafonte, Uptown Saturday Night with Bill Cosby and Stir Crazy with Richard Pryor and Gene Wilder. In 2009, Poitier was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

On TV, Poitier was nominated for Emmy Awards for his portrayals of Nelson Mandela in Showtime’s Mandela and De Klerk, and Thurgood Marshall in ABC’s Separate But Equal.

In tribute to Poitier, OWN on January 9 will present a day-long, Poitier programming tribute including re-airings of The Oprah Winfrey Show episodes in 2000 and 2007 and Oprah Winfrey Presents: Legends Who Paved the Way from 2015; and the 1967 film To Sir, With Love, said the network.

Weigel Broadcasting's retro services Movies! network and Decades network will feature Poitier-themed programming blocks over the next two months. Movies! will air Poitier’s first credited screen role in No Way Out on February 7, as well as three of his films -- No Way Out, Edge of the City and Blackboard Jungle on February 28, said network officials. 

Decades Network will air a 1972 episode of The Dick Cavett Show on January 10 featuring Poitier and Belafonte discussing their movie Buck and the Preacher, said the network.

Industry celebrities from Oprah Winfrey and Morgan Freeman as well as cable networks BET and TV One also paid tribute to Poitier on social media.

Actress/producer Whoopi Goldberg has teamed with Oxygen to develop Strut, a reality series that follows the lives of several transgender models that premieres on the network Sept. 20. Goldberg, Strut’s executive producer, recently spoke with Multichannel News programming editor R. Thomas Umstead about the show, as well as her key role in ABC’s daytime talk show The View, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. An edited excerpt follows.

MCN:What should viewers expect fromStrut?

Whoopi Goldberg: It’s kind of amazing. Most people don’t realize that there have been transgender models for years. We’re dealing with real people in the show. We deal with parents and kids and brothers and sisters, and religion, as these folks are trying to find their way on the runway. We’re trying to hit on a lot of different levels while understanding that this is not something new.

MCN:It’s not something new, but it may be new to many Oxygen viewers. Do you have any concerns about what viewer reaction will be to these young men and women profiled in the series?

WG: I don’t. People will either get it or they won’t. We’re hoping that this will help reach people who may not be aware of it, but also people who are struggling with it. One of the things that people keep saying is “God doesn’t make mistakes” … I always say, “God does not make mistakes, but Mother Nature will mess with you forever.” We get quadruplets and twins — we have hermaphrodites that are born.

There are so many things that happen to us as human beings that when someone says, “I don’t think I’m in the right body,” why would you doubt that? It’s not like it’s going to make them popular; they do it because they realize that there’s some difference that they need to deal with.

We see what happens when people are closed off to folks who are different — there’s a high rate of suicide, we get a high rate of folks working in the sex industry because no other industry is accepting. What they don’t realize is that they’ve known folks like this for a very long time, whether its male-to-female or vice versa. So we’re not telling you what to think — we just want you to know that you need to be aware when talking to people that you have to be respectful.

MCN:What does Oxygen bring to the table?

WG: The ability to put it on the air without anyone going, “Can you make them more like women?” They didn’t do any of that. They thought that this was an important conversation to have given what’s going on in the world. These are folks who have been modeling for a while, and it’s pretty brave to let folks know who you are, where you are going and what your dreams are. That’s what this is about. We didn’t want anything salacious.

MCN:Do you see this show potentially reaching beyond Oxygen’s traditionally female-skewing audience?

WG: I do. There are a lot of folks that we will never know that are affected by this very issue, whether they’ve begun the transition, or they’re thinking about it or want to talk to someone about it, or are looking for answers. We may be able to help them and make them feel better about the world they’re living in. We can say, “You’re not alone — we’re here and here’s what people are doing to change the conversation.” I’m really proud of all of our models, because it’s not an easy thing to come out and say that I’m different — here’s what I’m going through and here’s why I’m going through it. Here’s what I believe, and I have a parent that believes something different. I hope people will watch it with an open mind and an open heart.

MCN:I’d be remiss if I didn’t congratulate you on the 20th anniversary ofThe View. Did you thinkThe Viewwould reach the 20-year mark when you started?

WG: I had no idea how long I’d been on the show. (Laughs.) This was Barbara Walters’s idea, so congratulations to her.

MCN:Do you thinkThe Viewhas transcended the talk show category and become more of a trend-setter for the genre?

WG: I came to it late and I never watched it before I became involved in it, so I don’t know where they came from. I think it has spawned a lot of other shows, but they can’t do what that show does. That show has the ability to talk about everything from sex to politics, and everyone has a different opinion. I see lots of people trying to do it, but I don’t see anyone doing it as well as The View has.

Oxygen will explore the world of transgender models in a new original series produced by Whoopi Goldberg, the network said Monday.

The series, Strut, will follow a set of models pursuing careers in the world of fashion while challenging stereotypes of gender and beauty, said network officials. Strut is produced by One Hoe Productions and 44 Blue Productions, with Goldberg, Tom Leonardis, Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch and Bobby Sizemore serving as executive producers.

"Strut follows a group of inspiring and resilient trailblazers who are working to change the modeling industry, and the world around them, by simply being true to themselves,” said Rod Aissa, executive vice president of original programming and development for Oxygen Media in a statement. “These individuals will empower viewers as they live their lives fully and unapologetically, despite facing many obstacles throughout their journey.”