Oprah Winfrey Network

Let’s all rise for a show that keeps surviving

In the fragile TV world, a small glitch might doom a show.
Then there’s “All Rise” (shown here), belatedly starting its third season on June 7. It has managed to survive:
— The Covid shtudown, late in its first season. It even did a special episode, with characters having only Zoom-type conversations.
— Controversies surrounding its creator/producer. He was investigated twice, then fired. By then, another executive producer and five of the seven original writers had quit, complaining about his views on Black and female characters.
— And what’s usually the final blow: After the second season, CBS canceled it. “We thought we were over,” showrunner Dee Harris-Lawrence told the Television Critics Association. Read more…

“All Rise” rises from the dead

Another canceled TV show has been rescued, this time by a three-way coalition.
“All Rise” (shown here) was dropped by CBS after two seasons. In the new plan:
– Those seasons will rerun on both HBO Max and Hulu, beginning Dec. 1.
– They’ll also rerun on the Oprah Winfrey Network. All three – OWN, HBO Max and Hulu – will then add a new, 20-episode season. Read more…

Working for Oprah has its benefits

There’s an added benefit to doing an Oprah Winfrey Network show: You might meet Oprah Winfrey.
Well, maybe not a three-dimensional, in-person Oprah, during this social-distancing era. But there’s her image, talking to you on your computer screen.
“It was like some angel landed in the Zoom,” said Maahra Hill (shown here), who has the title role in “Delilah,” at 9 p.m. Tuesdays (starting March 9) on OWN.
Jill Marie Jones, who co-stars, recalled the first such Zoom call: “She had her Oprah voice that was just so golden goodness. And then she said my name in her Oprah voice and I just died.” Read more…

Oprah special Aug. 28 ripples with history

Six key moments in Black history – from the tragedy of the Emmet Till lynching to the triumph (shown here) of Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech – all happened on the same date.
That was Aug. 28, which was dramatized in a short film by Oscar-nominee Ava DuVernay. Now that will be the centerpiece of an Oprah Winfrey Network special on – appropriately – Friday, Aug. 28.
“OWN Spotlight: Culture Connection & August 28th, Ava DuVernay & Rev. Sharpton” will air at 1, 4 and 6 p.m. that day. It will also be on OWN YouTube page, starting at 2 p.m. ET. Read more…