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Posts tagged as “Tracee Ellis Ross”

ABC Gives Full-Season Orders to ‘Black-ish’ and ‘How to Get Away with Murder’; CBS Renews "Extant"

Blackish, Murder, Extant
According to Variety.com, television projects featuring African-American leads have fared extremely well this season.  ABC has given full-season orders to the Anthony Anderson/Tracee Ellis Ross comedy “Black-ish” and the Viola Davis vehicle “How to Get Away with Murder,” two of the highest-rated new programs on all broadcast channels.  CBS, in turn, has picked up summer sci-fi drama “Extant” for a second season.  “Extant” stars Halle Berry and is produced by Steven Spielberg.

“Murder” is the fall’s highest-rated new series in adults 18-49, and the premiere also set DVR playback records, gaining about 6 million viewers within the first three days of its airing. It is created and executive produced by Pete Nowalk (“Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy”). Shonda Rhimes (“Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy”), Betsy Beers (“Scandal,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) and Bill D’Elia (“Grey’s Anatomy,” “The West Wing”) also serve as executive producers.
“Black-ish” has come on strong as the fall’s top new comedy in 18-49 (2.9 rating) and total viewers (9.1 million) in same-day viewing estimates. This week, the show saw a 12% week-to-week increase in adults 18-49, retaining about 80% of its “Modern Family” lead-in. It was created by Kenya Barris and is executive produced by Anderson, Barris, Jonathan Groff, Larry WilmoreLaurence Fishburne, Helen Sugland and E. Brian Dobbins.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson (follow @lakinhutcherson)

Tracee Ellis Ross/Anthony Anderson Sitcom “Black-ish” Gets Picked Up By ABC

Blackish
via Instagram

You may recall in February when we reported Tracee Ellis Ross had signed on for the cast of Anthony Anderson’s pilot for “Black-ish” on ABC. Well congratulations to the pair, since ABC recently announced they will be picking up the show for their 2014-15 TV roster.
As mentioned, the series will center around Anderson’s character, an “upper-middle-class Black man who struggles to raise his children with a sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions from his liberal wife, old-school father and his own assimilated, color-blind kids.”
Ross recently shared the news with her 300,000+ Instagram followers:
“Yup we’re #Blackish …this is a dream and yet it’s reality! @kenyab_in_imax3d #KenyaBarris #LaurenceFishburne @AnthonyAnderson #LarryWilmore and MEEEEE …thank you ABC.”
The actress will play alongside Anderson as his liberal wife and also expressed:
“This is how I feel right now…#goodthingshappening.”
Laurence Fishburne is an executive producer of the show and make some re-occurring appearances as the old-school dad.  Anderson recently appeared in NBC’s short-lived comedy “Guys With Kids”. He’s also been tapped to host the NBC game show “Wall of Fame”. Tracee Ellis-Ross is arguably best known for her role as the ambitious Joan Clayton on the CW network’s “Girlfriends”. This will be ABC’s sixth comedy pilot this season and it’s second African-American themed drama pilot so far. We’re looking forward to some honest laughs.
article via madamenoire.com

Tracee Ellis Ross Lands Lead Opposite Anthony Anderson in ABC Comedy Pilot

Via Vibe
(Photo via Vibe)

One of our favorite girlfriends, Tracee Ellis Ross, may be heading back to primetime TV.  According to Deadline, Ross landed a lead role in an untitled ABC comedy pilot, which was written by Kenya Barris (The Game) and previously called Black-ish.  The pilot also stars Anthony Anderson, and will mark Ross’ return to TV since BET shelved her family comedy Reed Between the Lines.
Here’s a synopsis of the show:

An upper-middle-class black man (Anderson) struggles to raise his children with some sense of cultural identity despite constant contradictions and obstacles coming from his liberal wife (Ross), old-school father (reportedly Laurence Fishburne), and his own assimilated, color-blind kids.

The pilot is being produced by ABC studios, Fishburne’s Cinema Gypsy and Principato Young, and recently Larry Wilmore (The Bernie Mac Show) was brought on as executive producer/showrunner.
article by Britni Danielle via clutchmagonline.com

Patti LaBelle, Venus Williams and Queen Latifah are Among 2013 Honorees for Black Girls Rock!

Patti LaBelle accepts the lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in Los Angeles. The R&B diva has agreed to pay $100,000 to a Manhattan woman who accused her of hurling curses and water at her and her 18-month-old daughter during a dust-up over parenting in an apartment building lobby. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
ATLANTA (AP) — Patti Labelle and Queen Latifah both will be among those honored as part of the Black Girls Rock! awards show on BET in November.  Black Girls Rock! founder Beverly Bond announced the show’s honorees in a statement Monday. Other honorees include tennis champion Venus Williams, screenwriter-producer Mara Brock Akil, ballet dancer Misty Copeland, community organizer Ameena Matthews and children’s rights advocate Marian Wright Edelman.
Actresses Tracee Ellis Ross and Regina King return as hosts of the ceremony, which will air Nov. 3. It will be taped later this month at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, N.J.  Black Girls Rock! is a nonprofit organization that mentors young black girls and works to fight negative images of black women in the media.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press via thegrio.com

Tracee Ellis Ross Launches 'Hair Love' Campaign In Response To Funny Hair Envy Meme (VIDEO)

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mf0eOhNCjg&w=560&h=315]
Hair envy is a serious matter. The intense emotion has made droves of women fry, dye and cut their hair to replicate fabulously coifed notables (see: FLOTUS and Kate Middleton) or that woman (or man) in your office who looks like they just stepped off the set of a hair commercial. We’ve even contemplated going green (and we’re not talking about recycling).
tracee ellis rossAnd with the natural hair movement well underway, many ladies are coveting curl patterns that aren’t their own. Isn’t that the opposite of embracing your natural hair? Actress and curly girl, Tracee Ellis Ross, is addressing this unfortunate trend by launching the “Hair Love” Campaign–a call to action for women to start loving their hair, as-is.
Prompted by an Instagram meme from AroundTheWayCurls showing a little girl crying with a caption reading, “That moment you realize you don’t have Tracee Ellis Ross’s hair,” the 40-year-old star created a video response to express her gratitude–but to also explain her views on the matter.
“I don’t want you to want my hair. The reason I don’t want you to want my hair is I’m of the school of love what you got. For me, the reason my hair was such a battle was because I was trying to make it something it wasn’t. I wanted the hair that somebody else had,” Tracee says in the video.
She goes on to say: “I love that you love my hair but I only love that you love my hair if it’s an inspiration for you to love your hair.”
What a fabulous sentiment. We love that Tracee’s speaking out about this and hope it encourages others to really start embracing their own hair.
article by Julee Wilson via huffingtonpost.com

Tracee Ellis Ross Launches New Website With Focus On Fashion, Health and Well-Being

“Girlfriends” and “Reed Between The Lines” actress and style icon Tracee Ellis Ross launched traceeellisross.com on Monday, offering a digital outlet for her fashion, beauty, health-consciou, humorous and inspirational posts.  The site, which is part of the Women’s Influencer Network, is chic and well-designed, with its clean-meets-modern layout.  The site also seamlessly loops in all of the actress’ social media profiles (twitter, facebook, instagram, pinterest) for easy shareability.  Check it out by clicking the link above.
article by Lori Lakin Hutcherson