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Empire in the Media: Read It In Billboard

Trini

By Trini
in Empire

Princess Sparkle
Message added by Princess Sparkle

Remember: Keep your thoughts on the Jussie Smollett situation on his situation only - not Chicago politics, not policing in general, not politics in general, not the state of the country in general, not OJ, not Michael Avenetti, not anyone except Jussie Smollett. 

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ribboninthesky1

ribboninthesky1

I think one difference between Scandal and Empire is, from what I recall, Scandal didn't really pick up steam until season 2.  Granted, season 1 was barely a season with only 6 or 7 episodes, but it wasn't a ratings hit right out of the gate. 

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SimoneS
SimoneS

Whatever his motivation, it doesn't matter, all that that matters is the damage that his false hate crime allegation to people who are being violently attacked and victimized. 

jsbt
jsbt

Yeah, no. Agree to disagree. I believed Jussie Smollett's story wholeheartedly. It echoed the times we live in. It broke my heart. I was a fan. Now all I do is see red when I think about it. It m

RealReality10
RealReality10

There are always going to be a subset of people who will question a story of a hate crime or sexual assault.  Those minds are closed and there is no opening them. The disservice JS did was with r

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Artsda

Artsda

Taraji had to retract and issue an apology for attacking the Glendale Police for pulling over her son for profiling. The department released the dash board cam showing her son got off easy and not all the charges he could have gotten. She shouldn't have said anything at all to the media without all the facts.

 

http://www.celebuzz.com/2015-03-28/taraji-p-henson-apology-glendale-police-son-racial-profiling/?utm_source=sc-tw&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=tphenson

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aprilbabe

aprilbabe

Taraji had to retract and issue an apology for attacking the Glendale Police for pulling over her son for profiling. The department released the dash board cam showing her son got off easy and not all the charges he could have gotten. She shouldn't have said anything at all to the media without all the facts.

 

http://www.celebuzz.com/2015-03-28/taraji-p-henson-apology-glendale-police-son-racial-profiling/?utm_source=sc-tw&utm_medium=ref&utm_campaign=tphenson

her son probably lied to get out of trouble, she believed him. Saw she was  wrong and apologized. Its not a big deal imo. If only other people would admit when they were wrong and issued an apology.

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CofCinci

CofCinci

The movie began. Mr. Daniels turned to Ms. Sidibe. “How many calories do you think are in popcorn?” he asked.

“About zero,” she said.

He left his seat and soon returned, carrying a small bucket of popcorn.

Should he be taking nutritional advice from her?
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Queena

Queena

(edited)

Should he be taking nutritional advice from her?

I took that as him being a jackass. I forgot, Gabby is open season because she's fat. /eyeroll

Not directed towards you Coff, but I found Daniels very off putting.

Edited by Queena
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wanderingstar

wanderingstar

(edited)

I took that as him being a jackass. I forgot, Gabby is open season because she's fat. /eyeroll

Not directed towards you Coff, but I found Daniels very off putting.

 

Same here. The popcorn thing just made me want to punch him.

Edited by Gillian Rosh
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SailingBy

SailingBy

Daniels sounds exhausting and annoying in that article.

 

I agree, and I'm afraid it sort of solidifies my opinion of him which was admittedly based on very limited information. Even disregarding the general obnoxiousness described, someone who describes his partner as "this queen" in front of a reporter, or describes himself as "such a queen", and apparently thinks that's amusing in some unexplained way, has lost me at "this".

 

It also confirms to me where some of what I've described before as antediluvian attitudes towards gay men shown in Empire come from, such as Cookie apparently thinking it's perfectly acceptable to describe Michael as "she" when she first meets him, without even deigning to first say hello to him, or address him in the first person at all (and both Jamal and Michael clearly thinking that's OK too): they come from Lee Daniels. Someone should really tell him stuff like that passed its sell-by date by, oh, c. 1960 at the latest. And regardless of the date, it was always rude, offensive and annoying.

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aprilbabe

aprilbabe

There are so many people claiming to be on Empire next season, will be interesting to see who actually shows up. Have a feeling it won't be as many as rumored.

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SailingBy

SailingBy

There are so many people claiming to be on Empire next season, will be interesting to see who actually shows up. Have a feeling it won't be as many as rumored.

I'm sure they'll be able to fit in a cameo for Mo'Nique, though.

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CofCinci

CofCinci

I'm sure they'll be able to fit in a cameo for Mo'Nique, though.

Mo'Nique is dead to him. He definitely seem like the type where you're either in his fur hammock or dead to him forever.

Ps. I just can't stop thinking about this fur hammock. I want my husband to tug our mattress to the curb and replace it with this fucking hammock. Like I'm Gillian at Henri Bendel or something.

With all the A, B, C and F-list celebrities dying to be on this show, I'm worried that the second season is going to be a stunt casting extravaganza. Love Boat shit. Oh, here's Isaah Washington in a flashback. Oh hai there Halle B. as prison matron. Look, it's Debbi Mazur, better known for Madonna's eye brows and cooch waxing in 1993 but here she is now as Hakeem's professor.

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Kendall

Kendall

With all the A, B, C and F-list celebrities dying to be on this show, I'm worried that the second season is going to be a stunt casting extravaganza. Love Boat shit. Oh, here's Isaah Washington in a flashback. Oh hai there Halle B. as prison matron. Look, it's Debbi Mazur, better known for Madonna's eye brows and cooch waxing in 1993 but here she is now as Hakeem's professor.

 

 

Absolutely hilarious. Although, I have to say that Isaiah is probably the only other actor that I believe could've done Lucious any pride. I am no Wesley fan, so that would've almost been a "not gonna watch" even after all the Cookie Monster Madness took the world by storm.

 

So, yeah, if they can come up with a role for him? That would be awesome. Fistfights on and off screen!

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GreekGeek

GreekGeek

With all the A, B, C and F-list celebrities dying to be on this show, I'm worried that the second season is going to be a stunt casting extravaganza. Love Boat shit. Oh, here's Isaah Washington in a flashback. Oh hai there Halle B. as prison matron. Look, it's Debbi Mazur, better known for Madonna's eye brows and cooch waxing in 1993 but here she is now as Hakeem's professor.

How about Queen Latifah as a prison matron who sings? (Shout out to Chicago). Halle could be a snooty friend of Anika. 

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SailingBy

SailingBy

Mo'Nique is dead to him. He definitely seem like the type where you're either in his fur hammock or dead to him forever.

That was why I made my little joke about a Mo'Nique cameo.

But I really think this fur hammock thing should become a regularly-used expression.

"Do you think the boss is going to give Jim that promotion?"

"Nah. I don't think Jim is in the fur hammock anymore."

 

On a more serious note: I took a look at some past articles about Lee Daniels, pre-Empire, but very relevant to what he brought to it. In every single profile of him he comes across as, to put it politely, very high-maintenance for everyone around him. He seems to be someone who doesn't so much have issues, he has lifetime subscriptions. The dramatic accounts he gives of his own life also seem to be, well, slighty inconsistent at times. Here is the NY Times, in 2009, reporting something Daniels told them:

 

When Daniels was 15, his father was shot and killed.

 

The NYT also adds that this was in 1975, which would definitely make him 15 at the time.

But here he is again, talking, also in 2009, to the LA Times:

 

There is also his father, William, who died when Daniels was "12 or 13, I can't recall," a fact he offers up casually, as if that loss weren't infused with searing emotions.

 

In fact, this absence of showing any searing emotions on the subject leads the LA Times to continue with:

 

The legacy of the father he prefers not to talk about -- the ways in which that relationship diminished him, undercut his self-esteem, pain him still -- has in part pushed the filmmaker to succeed, because "if I don't, it will mean everything he ever said about me was true." The father represents a stolen childhood for Daniels, a violent act witnessed by Daniels at 5, one he is not ready to speak about publicly.

 

Since all that stuff can only have come from Daniels directly, how the hell was he "preferring not to talk about it"? (Except for leaving out details of the "violent act" which, I think everyone can agree, is very likely the garbage can incident in Empire.) He must have been gushing about it. And since that relationship (or rather, abusive non-relationship) with his dad is clearly still so much on his mind, and is also clearly what turned into the Jamal/Lucious relationship, I find it very strange that he is uncertain by several years about when his dad died. Would any gay teenager with a physically abusive homophobic dad not remember if that man was finally removed from his life when he was 12, or 15? That's an awfully big gap for someone at that age. (I have never had any experience of anything even remotely ressembling this, or anything else Daniels recounts about his life for that matter, but it seems a very strange thing to me to be unclear about. Being hazy about exactly when stuff in your adult life happened, I can fully comprehend.)

 

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jsbt

jsbt

(edited)

I mean, I know the man has an outsize personality, but really, so is everything about Empire, his brainchild. And I think his personal story was worth mining and exploring for fiction - it obviously deeply resonated with the audience. His personality IRL may not be to everyone's taste and that's their business, but I'm interested in his show. I'm not seeing the issue, and I'm not at all sure why fully re-assembling the forensic timeline of the man's life or his struggles as a child is remotely relevant. Maybe I'm misreading something.

Edited by jsbt
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Apprentice79

Apprentice79

Interesting news.  My sister was a POI fanatic and quit cold turkey when they killed off Carter.

The show always  said that they would bring Carter back via flashbacks...Plus the producers of the show are very powerful in Hollywood, there is no need to create enmity for no reason. If she was still on Person of interest, she would never have been able to do do Empire...I saw a picture of Taraji as Carter, she totally  transformed back into Carter. There was no hint of Cookie at all....

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Queena

Queena

That was why I made my little joke about a Mo'Nique cameo.

But I really think this fur hammock thing should become a regularly-used expression.

"Do you think the boss is going to give Jim that promotion?"

"Nah. I don't think Jim is in the fur hammock anymore."

On a more serious note: I took a look at some past articles about Lee Daniels, pre-Empire, but very relevant to what he brought to it. In every single profile of him he comes across as, to put it politely, very high-maintenance for everyone around him. He seems to be someone who doesn't so much have issues, he has lifetime subscriptions. The dramatic accounts he gives of his own life also seem to be, well, slighty inconsistent at times. Here is the NY Times, in 2009, reporting something Daniels told them:

The NYT also adds that this was in 1975, which would definitely make him 15 at the time.

But here he is again, talking, also in 2009, to the LA Times:

In fact, this absence of showing any searing emotions on the subject leads the LA Times to continue with:

Since all that stuff can only have come from Daniels directly, how the hell was he "preferring not to talk about it"? (Except for leaving out details of the "violent act" which, I think everyone can agree, is very likely the garbage can incident in Empire.) He must have been gushing about it. And since that relationship (or rather, abusive non-relationship) with his dad is clearly still so much on his mind, and is also clearly what turned into the Jamal/Lucious relationship, I find it very strange that he is uncertain by several years about when his dad died. Would any gay teenager with a physically abusive homophobic dad not remember if that man was finally removed from his life when he was 12, or 15? That's an awfully big gap for someone at that age. (I have never had any experience of anything even remotely ressembling this, or anything else Daniels recounts about his life for that matter, but it seems a very strange thing to me to be unclear about. Being hazy about exactly when stuff in your adult life happened, I can fully comprehend.)

I love Empire, Daniels, not so much. The less I hear from him the better. The less he keeps injecting his story into the story of Jamal. I'm perfectly fine with Jamal's story, and him being the way that he is, and yes growing. However, if Jamal starts acting like the Daniels of the articles, Empire will lose a viewer.

Although, the fur hammock, YES!

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angelita100

angelita100

For the people who loved the character of Carter, who cares about flashbacks.  That guarantees you what, 1 or two episodes for the rest of the run. 

 

Queena - I felt the same way about Shonda Rhimes and her podcasts. That whole writer team was silly so I didn't listen to them because it impacted the way I felt about her shows. 

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yourstruly

yourstruly

(edited)

 

I mean, I know the man has an outsize personality, but really, so is everything about Empire, his brainchild.

It really wasn't his idea-the idea originally came from Danny Strong, who brought it to Daniels as a potential movie project. Daniels then said it should be a TV show. His name is on the promos because of his name recognition. But the basic concept is Danny Strong's.

 

E4 (a Channel 4 offshoot that is aimed at the 18-35 demographic) in the UK picked up the show and it will begin showing there "in the spring" (within a month or two). The promos are beginning to air.

 

I'll be interested to see how the show does outside of the USA.

Edited by yourstruly
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SimoneS

SimoneS

(edited)

While it is true that the concept for Empire was Danny, he and Lee have said in interviews that they teamed up to flesh and create the details and over the top soap opera elements that so many of us love.

 

I don't have an opinion on Lee Daniels one way or the other. I liked the Times' interview with him that I posted above. If nothing else, he seems to have a personality which so many other celebrities seems to lack or hide.

 

I read somewhere that Empire did not do well in Australia. We will see how it does in England which as a more diverse population.

 

Terrance Howard is in Madonna's new video for her latest release, Ghosttown

 

Edited by SimoneS
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funkopop

funkopop

I must say Hulu is milking their exclusive rights to streaming Empire for all its worth.  I follow Hulu on Tumblr and every other day they are promoting the series and the actual platform always has it as one of its quick play choices.

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Joimiaroxeu

Joimiaroxeu

I'm sure they'll be able to fit in a cameo for Mo'Nique, though.

Probably not unless there's a lawsuit or something which forces Lee Daniels to do it. She's now released the emails between her and Daniels' representatives supporting her claim that she was the original choice for Cookie. Releasing private emails is a step over the professional line, I think, and I'm not sure what she hoped to accomplish by doing that. It's not as if LD is now going to go, "Oops, my bad, well, I guess we'll just fire Taraji and put Mo'Nique in the role!" IMO Mo'Nique is just digging herself into a bigger hole.

 

Gabourey Sidibe and Ta’Rhonda Jones are now series regulars.

That's great. Maybe now both characters will be fleshed out more.

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TV Juriste

TV Juriste

Probably not unless there's a lawsuit or something which forces Lee Daniels to do it. She's now released the emails between her and Daniels' representatives supporting her claim that she was the original choice for Cookie. Releasing private emails is a step over the professional line, I think, and I'm not sure what she hoped to accomplish by doing that. It's not as if LD is now going to go, "Oops, my bad, well, I guess we'll just fire Taraji and put Mo'Nique in the role!" IMO Mo'Nique is just digging herself into a bigger hole.

 

That's great. Maybe now both characters will be fleshed out more.

Mo'Nique's emails don't even prove she was offered the role. All they show is that she was asked to audition for the role and before she could even audition - the Fox executives pulled the plug on the whole thing -- http://www.tvjuriste.com/ask-tv-juriste-why-is-monique-still-claiming-taraji-stole-her-cookie/

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darkestboy

darkestboy

That's great. Maybe now both characters will be fleshed out more.

 

Actually this is a fair point. I like Porscha and Becky but they need some actual character development. Look at Michael - that guy was in six episodes and aside from culinary school and dating Jamal, he was very much a cipher as a character.

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SailingBy

SailingBy

(edited)

Actually this is a fair point. I like Porscha and Becky but they need some actual character development. Look at Michael - that guy was in six episodes and aside from culinary school and dating Jamal, he was very much a cipher as a character.

In season 1, both Jamal's love interests haven't really been characters, but plot devices. Guy #2 is a bit better fleshed out, but probably by accident (at least we understand how he and Jamal met, that there was instant mutual attraction, and that they have some shared interests). They probably didn't want to do the all too common thing where there's a supposedly gay character who's never actually seen being gay, as in having any kind of visible sexual partner. Plus, such characters are convenient for the writers because they can have Jamal say things to them, or have them say things to him, purely for exposition purposes. In a novel you can have an authorial voice provide that stuff, in comic books you can put it in thought bubbles. But in TV or movies, you have to dress it up in dialogue, and that dialogue often has to be with characters outside the main storyline (or it would mess up other plot points). For instance, that first date conversation between Ryan and Jamal in ep. 8 wasn't a conversation that would ever have happened in any real world. It put into words something that was really supposed to be happening in Jamal's head. It would be nice if they could get beyond that in season 2.

Edited by SailingBy
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PrincessTT

PrincessTT

Well, Empire has now made it to Britain, we can now wait and see what it does ratings-wise. 

 

The ratings over here could well be deceptive... There are a lot of us who had an interest in the show and so have already watched it at US pace online. 

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darkestboy

darkestboy

(edited)

Daily Mail's mixed review on the series. It's not the worst article they've written but it still has some of their usual head desk moments ....

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-3060618/But-Empire-really-new-Dynasty.html

 

Digital Spy's 12 Moments They Fell In Love With The Show ....

 

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/ustv/feature/a644658/empire-12-times-we-fell-in-love-with-e4s-big-new-show.html#~pbfmV6mPEOMg9m

 

Radio Times write ups on the show ....

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-04-28/why-taraji-p-hensons-ballbusting-force-of-nature-cookie-is-the-best-thing-about-empire

 

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2015-04-28/empire-is-over-the-top-soapy-and-gaudy-but-its-utterly-brilliant

Edited by darkestboy
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