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From 1968 to 1973, the first all-Black public-television variety show SOUL!, guided by sharp gay producer and host Ellis Haizlip, offered an uncompromising celebration of Black literature, poetry, music, and politics. This documentary about Haizlip and his show includes clips of live performances from The Last Poets, Al Green, Earth Wind and Fire, literary figures like Nikki Giovanni and James Baldwin, politics, dance and more. The series was among the first to provide expanded images of African Americans on television, shifting the gaze from inner-city poverty and violence to the vibrancy of the Black Arts Movement. On HBO. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Feb 21, 2023 - 1 comment

The lodge of the Sons of Adam fills with guests, including Letitia, George and an increasingly suspicious Atticus, on the night before a major ritual. Our heroes are tormented by memories and plan their rescue of Atticus' missing father. This thread includes discussion of Matt Ruff's original book of 8 linked short stories.
posted by mediareport on Aug 24, 2020 - 4 comments

HBO's new horror/period piece series about black lives in a 1950s where H.P. Lovecraft's shoggoths are real, including discussion of Matt Ruff's original collection of 8 linked short stories.
posted by mediareport on Aug 18, 2020 - 13 comments

Series Finale: Gently hosts a birthday party for Miss Luma and most of the gang gathers. A surprise visitor from the past turns up.
posted by mediareport on Mar 25, 2020 - 5 comments

Gently and Evan shop for counselors and recap their relationship thus far.
posted by mediareport on Mar 19, 2020 - 5 comments

Conflict between Evan's focus on work and a newly-buttoned-down Gently boils over at a dinner.
posted by mediareport on Mar 19, 2020 - 1 comment

Differing expectations and backgrounds clash, resolve and clash again as Gently, Evan and their families plan a big day. The two dads meet for the first time and find they have much in common, and Evan's mother tries her best. Bonus: extended interview with Ava DuVernay in which she discusses the love story's origins in her documentary 13th, the actors choosing not to use an intimacy coordinator for the sex scenes, and why she "really wanted to embrace a darker-skinned sister" for the romantic female lead role.
posted by mediareport on Mar 4, 2020 - 1 comment

Evan has a stressful breakfast with Gently's uncles. Miss Luma is in on a scheme. Evan takes Gently for a hike and fancy dinner, only to find the two of them have different conceptions of time. Evan ignores the advice of a friend. Ava DuVernay's one-day-per-episode look at love between two black professionals in Los Angeles continues. Bonus video: DuVernay talks about how she achieved gender parity in the first season by making sure over 50% of the show's entire crew (not just writers and directors) are women.
posted by mediareport on Feb 27, 2020 - 2 comments

Three months into their renewed relationship, Evan brings Gently to meet his parents at their 40th anniversary party. Gently’s own mother suddenly shows up in town as well, after years of absence.
posted by mediareport on Feb 19, 2020 - 1 comment

One year after their first encounter, Gently and Evan meet again at an art gallery and spend the day together, with Evan running into the Friend Test from Gently’s BFF. Bonus bowling alley and emergency room visits.
posted by mediareport on Feb 19, 2020 - 1 comment

Ava DuVernay's new series tracks the relationship between Gently (Xosha Roquemore) and Evan (Alano Miller), two young African-Americans in south Los Angeles. Each of the 8 episodes takes place during one day, across what the series will cover as five years. In the premiere the two meet at the library and spend the day getting to know each other via cheesecake and a refrigerator. Cicely Tyson has a supporting role as a sharp, sly aging film star. Airing, like DuVernay's Queen Sugar, on the Oprah Winfrey Network.
posted by mediareport on Feb 19, 2020 - 3 comments

Jenna and Wesley are back for Season 3! This week, they look at the movie “Proud Mary” as a jumping-off point for the cultural moment that black women are having. The discussion includes a brief history of black women in movies and television, from Hattie McDaniel to Dorothy Dandridge to Whoopi Goldberg to Halle Berry. Then Wesley and Jenna consider what all this means for Oprah’s theoretical presidential run. [more inside]
posted by roger ackroyd on Jan 18, 2018 - 0 comments