Today is a good day for TV diversity. Two series featuring predominantly black casts make their debuts, and PBS has a new series that explores the demographic shifts taking place in America.
• Atlanta opens at 9 p.m. today on FX. Expect something different in this comedy/drama. In fact, I found it to be much more of a drama with elements of comedy. This is not black-ish 2.0. There is some serious stuff going on, along with some surreal storytelling.
Atlanta was created by actor, writer and musician Donald Glover, who stars in the series, serves as an executive producer and helps write the thing.
The series follows the lives of two cousins who are trying to make their way through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and help their families.
Glover plays Earnest "Earn" Marks, who is (1) broke, (2) pushed out by his parents, (3) the baby daddy of his best friend, Vanessa (Zazie Beetz) and (4) the cousin of up-and-coming rapper Alfred Miles (Brian Tyree Henry), who performs under the name Paper Boi.
Keith Stanfield plays Darius, Alfred's entourage and visionary.
Earn wants to be Paper Boi's manager. Vanessa wants him to be a real partner and good father. Alfred doesn't know what he wants his cousin to be. At least not in the beginning.
In addition to not expecting black-ish, don't look for Empire Lite either. The series is low-key, character-driven and mesmerizing.
Glover, familiar to many viewers from his five seasons as Troy Barnes on Community, makes his hometown another character in the series. It shows Atlanta to be gritty and oddly welcoming and the portrayal seems genuine.
I highly recommend you give the series a chance. There will be 10 episodes in the first season, and they're rated TV-MA for language and violence.
• Queen Sugar premieres at 9 p.m. today on the Oprah Winfrey Network with a second episode at the same time Wednesday. If you haven't wandered up the dial far enough to find OWN, this series would be a good excuse to do so.
Let's simply call Queen Sugar a juicy melodrama with an attractive black cast and dive right in. The series is based on Natalie Baszile's novel of the same name and is executive-produced by Oprah Winfrey and Selma director Ava DuVernay. It follows the tale of the estranged Bordelon siblings in deepest, darkest Louisiana.
At the center of the saga are Nova (Rutina Wesley), a journalist and activist; Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), the wife and manager of an NBA player; and ex-con Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe), who is searching for redemption.
The family patriarch dies and the siblings must come together to run the family's struggling 800-acre sugar cane farm. Also down on the farm are Aunt Violet (Tina Lifford) and family friend Remy Newell (Dondre Whitfield).
Drama ensues.
Go ahead and commit. The series has already been renewed for a second season.
• America by the Numbers kicks off at 9 p.m. today on AETN. Subtitled "The New Deciders," the public affairs documentary series features anchor and executive producer Maria Hinojosa and explores "the dramatic demographic shifts" taking place across the country.
Keyed to the 2016 presidential election, the series illustrates how Asian-American, black, black millennial, Arab-American, Hispanic evangelicals and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) voters are exerting their strength and influence in the race.
PBS says these types of stories are underreported and looks to "reveal the human face of the biggest population change in U.S. history."
The series labels the group "the new American mainstream" and seeks to show how they are "influencing elections, culture, commerce and every facet of contemporary life."
• Paradise lost. Coming to a close at 7 p.m. today is Season 3 of ABC's fabricated reality romantic soap opera Bachelor in Paradise. It's an hour of your life you'll never get back.
If you want to completely kill the evening, Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise follows at 8 and features hosts Michelle Collins and Sean Lowe dishing on the last episode.
Joining them for this final episode will be actor Paul Scheer (The League), German disc jockey DJ Flula Borg, and Paradise cast members Wells Adams, Caila Quinn and Jared Haibon.
Bonus: The show will include unseen deleted scenes and bloopers. Enjoy.
• Finales set. Mistresses wraps up Season 4 at 9 p.m. today on ABC, and Zoo comes to the end of its second season at 8 p.m. today on CBS.
The TV Column appears Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday. Email:
mstorey@arkansasonline.com
Style on 09/06/2016