The Brit actor who’s just signed to play maverick cop Alex Cross in David Twohy’s Cross, stars in the 6-part BBC mini-series Luther playing another maverick cop (think Cracker meets Prime Suspect meets Wallender). Luther uses the Columbo trick of letting the viewer discover early on who the murderer is – the suspense comes from watching how Luther will catch the murderer. Brit TV reviewers agreed Elba saved a tired formula “pitched somewhere in that territory between fantasy and cliché that commissioning editors find so irresistible,” humphed the Guardian, while the Daily Telegraph said: “Luther lets Elba down”. Poor early reviews impacted ratings. From an audience of 5.8 million (24%) for its first outing, ratings fell to 3.1 million (12.3%) by episode five. Despite falling ratings, the Beeb announced at the Edinburgh TV festival it was commissioning Luther for a couple more two-hour specials. Luther premieres October 17.
via deadline.com
Posts published in “TV”
(CBS) A few miles from the White House in southeast Washington sit some of the worst public schools in America. The students there are mostly poor, mostly black, and their test scores are low. Only one in three finish high school; of those who do go on to college, just five percent graduate.
But right in the middle of this same area is also one of the most successful and innovative public schools in the country. Started in 1998, the school is called SEED. It’s the nation’s first urban public boarding school.
Ninety one percent of the students finish high school, and 95 percent go on to college. It’s a charter school that’s getting national attention. Admission is by lottery, open to any family in the district willing to take a chance.
Taurean Blacque (born Herbert Middleton Jr. in Newark, New Jersey, May 10, 1941) is an American television and stage actor, best known for his role as Detective Neal Washington on the series Hill Street Blues. He also is a past national spokesman for adoptive services, having been one of the first single black men in the United States to adopt a child.
Before appearing on television, Blacque trained and performed at the New Federal Theater in New York, a theater founded to provide opportunities to minorities and women. Early in his acting career, Blacque began making guest appearances in sitcoms such as What’s Happening!!, Sanford and Son, The Bob Newhart Show,The Tony Randall Show, Good Times, and Taxi, and auditioned for permanent roles on others, including Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati, eventually played by Tim Reid.
In 1981 he joined the cast of the fledgling police drama Hill Street Blues, staying with the show throughout its run, which ended in 1987. While appearing on that show, he was nominated in 1982 for the Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, but lost to fellow HSB actor Michael Conrad, in the only year in which all the nominees in a category came from the same series. His theatrical career continued during his run on the show, winning him an NAACP Image Award of Best Actor (Local) in 1985 for his role in Amen Corner. In 1986 his stage roles included the male lead in the musical Don’t Get God Started during its initial six-week summer run in Beverly Hills.
After Hill Street ended, Blacque moved to Atlanta, Georgia, to provide a better home for his children; in his new home, he has focused on theatrical work while making occasional guest appearances on television. Notable stage performances include Stepping Into Tomorrow with Yolanda King in 1987, and a 1988 revival ofCeremonies in Dark Old Men. Television work included a pilot, Off-Duty, for CBS, in which Blacque once again played a police officer; the show was not picked up by the network. Blacque also had a small role in Disney’s animated film Oliver & Company. In 1989, he portrayed Henry Marshall on NBC’s Generations.
Blacque initially was asked to serve as spokesman for the County of Los Angeles Adoption Services office though he had no adoptive children at the time. Upon looking into adoption, he was told that as a single black male, he was not eligible to adopt; however, he pressed on, eventually adopting ten children in addition to the two sons he already had. The adopted children included twin boys and a group of five children whose mother could not keep them due to her drug addiction. In 1989 he was asked by President George H. W. Bush to serve as a national spokesman for adoption.
article via www.wikipedia.com
article via www.wikipedia.com
The National Association of Black Journalists named CNN’s Soledad O’Brien Journalist of the Year at its spring Board of Directors meeting.
O’Brien is the impetus of CNN’s acclaimed “In America” franchise, which began with CNN’s “Black In America” in 2008, a groundbreaking documentary, which took an in-depth look at the challenges confronting blacks in America.