Category: Hollywood by Choice

The 2016 Emmy Nominations are in and Black performers have something to shout about. Twenty-one Black actors and actresses have been nominated in a total of 16 acting categories, from comedies to dramas.

Is “The Great White Way” seeing things in color these days? If you watched the 70th Annual Tony Awards you’d think so. To begin with, “Hamilton” led the race with 11 awards out of an historic 16 nominations.

Fall Season 2016 schedule was recently announced. And TV viewers will be answering the question, “should it stay or should it go?”

The Black presence is strong in the new season, and Hollywood includes other ethnic performers as well. A number of shows reflect that “common ground” kind of thing we all go through regardless of race, age, or body type which makes for funny, heart-tugging, and dramatic moments which reflects the human condition.

Monday, May 30, Memorial Day, History Channel presents “Roots” a four part mini-series based on the novel by Alex Haley, chronicling the history of his family from slavery to freedom. Before you say it’s been done before, please note the History Channel says this groundbreaking series is reimagined, a different telling for a new generation. As Anika Noni Rose who stars as Kunta Kinte’s daughter Kizzy says young people of today should know “…They didn’t come from chains.”

“I don’t want people to feel like we got lucky,” said Jason Mitchell, the subject of an increasing amount of best supporting actor Oscar buzz for his portrayal of the late hip-hop artist Eazy-E in Universal’s “Straight Outta Compton.”
“For lack of a better expression, we worked our asses off,” added the young star.

“In my mind, I see a line and over that line I see green fields and lovely flowers and beautiful White women with their arms stretched out to me over that line. But I can’t seem to get there no how. I can’t seem to get over that line.”

Since the nominees for the 67th Emmy Awards were announced last week, butterflies have filled the stomachs of Hollywood. In the eight years that I’ve reported on the Emmys, this marks the first time I can’t profile all of the nominees. It’s not that I don’t want to; I simply don’t have the space because there are to many Blacks.