Snowfall (TV show)

Stories

An ’80s epic starts a compelling (and final) season

Eight years ago, an unknown English actor met a well-known American producer-director-writer.
Damson Idris had done a few plays, a few TV episodes, one movie; he knew nothing about the chaotic 1980s era in South Central Los Angeles. John Singleton knew everything about it.
They ate Jamaican food in South Central and talked. And then? “He waited for me to get home,” Idris told the Television Critics Association, “before calling me and telling me, ‘Hey, you got the part.’”
That’s the lead role in “Snowfall” (shown here with Idris), the fierce and compelling drama starting its sixth and final season. Its first two episodes – 10 and 11:11 p.m. Wednesday (Feb. 22) on FX, then going to Hulu – conclude with a sensational scene pitting Idris (as Franklin) against Amin Joseph (as Jerome, his uncle). Read more…

By Mike Hughes / February 21, 2023
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“Snowfall”: drug-dealers, danger and, especially, family

We expect characters to change a bit, to get older and slower and maybe wiser.
Still, few have done it with the dizzying speed of Franklin Saint, the centerpiece of “Snowfall” (shown here). When the series started, he was a brainy teen with a strong college future; in this fifth season, he’s been flying a private plane and ruling a business, turning drug deals into real-estate schemes.
Is anything unchanged? “He still loves his family,” Damson Idris, who plays him, told the Television Critics Association. “Despite the animosity …. family has been the thing that’s kept him afloat.”
That’s clear in the season’s fourth episode, which airs at 10 p.m. Wednesday (March 9) on FX, reruns hourly until 2 a.m., then goes to Hulu. Franklin insists everyone catch the welcome-home dinner for his mother; we find big changes in his: Read more…

By Mike Hughes / March 7, 2022
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With death and dismay, ‘Snowfall’ nears season-finale

From the start, “Snowfall” had delivered sharp jabs.
Lucia had most of her family killed … then vanished. Franklin, the brainy teen, became a drug boss; his friends became killers.
Still, nothing matched the latest jolt: Franklin casually killed Andre, the honest neighborhood cop. On the day of the funeral, Melody – Andre’s daughter, Franklin’s ex-girlfriend– shot him three times and left him to die.
What’s going on? As the season-finale arrives, viewers might incorrectly expect the worst: Maybe Franklin’s being killed and the show – whose co-creator, John Singleton (shown here), died in April at 51, after a stroke – is being cancelled. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / September 9, 2019
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A busy summer: FX sets six dates

Cable-TV has become a permanent solution for TV’s summertime blues.
Now FX has set the summer starts for “Baskets,” “Legion” and then “Snowfall,” the deep drama produced by the late John Singleton. Three other shows had already been set, starting with “Archer” — which was an action-adventure last year (shown here), but now goes sci-fi. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / May 2, 2019
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John Singleton: A big loss for quality TV

John  Singleton burst onto the movie world with a revolutionary fervor. His first Oscar nominations — for writing and directing “Boyz n the Hood” — came when he was just 24; he was reportedly the youngest person and the first African American nominated as director.
Oddly, those were also his last nominations. In the years that followed, he said, Hollywood was sometimes frustrating. But lately, Singleton — who died today (April 29) at 51 — had found a place known for supporting creative talent: cable’s FX network. Read more…

By Mike Hughes / April 30, 2019