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Posts tagged as “David Alan Grier”

NBC Renews "The Carmichael Show" Starring Jerrod Carmichael, David Alan Grier and Loretta Devine for a 3rd Season

By goodblacknews on May 15, 2016
THE CARMICHAEL SHOW renewed season 3
THE CARMICHAEL SHOW (Photo Courtesy NBC)

article by Elizabeth Wagmeister via Variety.com

After back-and-forth negotiations between NBC and 20th Century Fox Television, “The Carmichael Show” has finally been renewed for a third season. The network and studio have settled on a 13-episode order for Season 3 of the critically-acclaimed comedy.

Inspired by the life and comedy of stand-up comedian Jerrod Carmichael, “The Carmichael Show” follows Jerrod and his opinionated southern family as they reluctantly deal with modern-day America knocking at their front door. The show covers topics of religion, sex, politics, mental health and gender identity, and has tackled controversial subject matter such as Black Lives Matter and the Bill Cosby scandal.
David Alan Grier stars as Carmichael’s father, Loretta Devine plays his devoutly religious mother, Amber Stevens West plays his progressive fiancée, Rel Howery plays his brother and Tiffany Haddish plays Howery’s estranged and outspoken wife.
The series debuted as a summer show with a six-episode run. In its second season, it struggled in the ratings, averaging a 1.2 rating in adults 18-49 and 5.1 million viewers overall in Nielsen’s “live plus-3” estimates. However, NBC does not have any other returning comedies on the 2016-2017 slate, other than “Superstore,” which is getting a hard push Thursday nights this fall.  The critical praise for “Carmichael Show,” in addition to the network’s desire to find a bigger comedy presence, likely helped with the Season 3 renewal.
To read full article, go to: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/the-carmichael-show-renewed-season-3-nbc-1201775319/

"The Wiz Live" Ratings Strong: NBC Musical Draws 11.5 Million Viewers

By goodblacknews on December 4, 2015
The Wiz Live! NBC
COURTESY OF NBC

It’s Also the Most-Tweeted Live Special Program on Record

Two years after NBC stunned the industry with huge ratings for its live presentation of “The Sound of Music,” the network was back at it Thursday night with “The Wiz Live,” which drew impressive numbers of its own. The event also set a Nielsen Twitter record as most social live special program in the more than four years of tracking such numbers.
Despite facing a highly-rated NFL game on CBS, last night’s live musical, whose all-star cast included Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, Ne-Yo, Amber Riley, Uzo Aduba, Stephanie Mills and David Alan Grier, averaged a 3.4 rating/11 share in adults 18-49 and about 11.5 million viewers overall from 8 to 10:45 p.m.,  according to preliminary Nielsen estimates. The only NBC entertainment series to fare better this fall is “The Voice,” whose season premiere averaged a 3.5/11 in 18-49 and 12.37 million.
According to Nielsen, roughly 269,400 people send 1.6 million tweets about “The Wiz Live!” on Thursday night and 6.4 million people saw those tweets a total of 128.9 million times. Last night’s production more than tripled the number of tweets for either “Sound of Music” (449,536) or “Peter Pan” (474,735).
Last night during the 8-11 p.m. EST window, global digital marketing technology company Amobee Brand Intelligence said “The Wiz Live!” attracted 1.374 million tweets during its three-hour telecast window — more than four times the number generated last year during the live telecast of “Peter Pan Live” (360,000). Roughly 30% of the sentiment was positive, 58% neutral and 13% negative — meaning the Twitter sentiment was 133% more positive than negative around the broadcast. Shanice Williams, the 19-year-old actress playing Dorothy, scored especially well, with only 2% of the sentiment surrounding her performance considered negative.
As expected, “The Wiz Live!” fared especially well in markets with large African-American populations. While the overall household average in Nielsen’s 56 metered markets was 7.9, the top scores came in Richmond (16.1), Norfolk (15.0), Baltimore (14.8), Washington, D.C. (13.2) and Atlanta (13.2). Joining D.C. and Atlanta as top-10 markets soaring above the national average were Philadelphia (10.3), New York (10.2) and Chicago (10.0).
article by Rick Kissell via Variety.com

"The Wiz Live!" Airs Tonight on NBC, to be 1st Live TV Program to Provide Vocal Description for Sight-Impaired

By goodblacknews on December 3, 2015

"The Wiz Live" on NBC, December 3 at 8pm EST/PST
“The Wiz Live!” on NBC, December 3 at 8pm EST/PST (photo courtesy NBC)

NEW YORK — When “The Wiz Live!” airs on NBC this Thursday, it will come alive for the blind with a voiced description of the broadcast’s sights and action integrated into its soundtrack.
NBC parent Comcast says this will be the first live entertainment program in U.S. history to be accessible in this way to those who are blind. The vocal description is a narration track interspersed between existing pauses in dialogue that describes the show’s visual elements such as facial expressions, settings, costumes and stage direction.
This enhanced broadcast of “The Wiz Live!” will be a pilot program available on local NBC stations where SAP (Second Audio Program) feeds are available. The service will be provided by Descriptive Video Works, which has provided more than 1,000 hours of live description for certain news and sports events.
“The Wiz Live!” premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. EST, with stars including Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier, Ne-Yo, Elijah Kelley, Uzo Aduba and Common, as well as Shanice Williams as the young heroine, Dorothy.
article via accessatlanta.com

Uzo Aduba and Amber Riley join NBC’s "The Wiz Live!"

By goodblacknews on August 7, 2015

Uzo Aduba (l) and Amber Riley (r) join the cast of NBC's "The Wiz" (Photo via eonline.com)
Uzo Aduba (l) and Amber Riley (r) join the cast of NBC’s “The Wiz” (Photo via eonline.com)

It looks like Uzo Aduba and Amber Riley are going to be playing sisters on NBC’s The Wiz Live!
Aduba will be playing Glinda the Good Witch, and Riley will be playing Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North and Glinda’s sister.
“We are so happy to welcome two actors we’ve admired and wanted so much to work with,” said executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron in a statement. “We look forward to showcasing the amazing musical talents of Amber and we are eager to introduce Uzo’s remarkable singing voice for those who know her solely as an extraordinary dramatic actress.”
These two stars join the already glamorous cast, which includes Queen Latifah, Mary J. Blige, David Alan Grier and rising star Shanice Williams.
The Wiz Live! airs on Thursday, December 3 on NBC.
article via thegrio.com