Empire and TV

Today is Wednesday. 

And there is no new episode of Empire tonight. It’s done for the season, so you will have to wait until September, at least.

Empire is that good – I would be remiss if I didn’t say enough about how the show has defined two genres of prime time television - - nighttime soap operas (Dynasty and Dallas) and music (Miami Vice and NY Undercover). Woven together, they form a powerful TV show which addresses contemporary issues, such as homosexuality, mental illness, dysfunctional family, power and greed. In case you haven’t heard of Empire, it chronicles the exploits of the Lyon family and their recording label. Terrance Howard plays Lucious Lyon, the head of Empire Entertainment , Taraji P. Henson plays Cookie Lyon, Lucious’ ex-wife who came home from jail after spending 17 years for drug dealing. They have three sons, Andre (played by Trai Byers) who is bipolar, Jamal (Jussie Smollett) who is openly gay, and Hakeem (Brayshere Y. Gray) who aspires to be a great hip-hop artist. Cookie is determined to bring the Lucious family together, even if it’s destroying the relationship between Lucious and his fiancée, Anika Calhoun (Grace Gealey) or be forced to make an important decision to the Feds in regards to a murder case involving Lucious as a suspect. Empire debuted on FOX Television Network on January 7 to positive reviews and was the network’s highest rated drama in three years. Since then, every episode saw an increase in total viewership, from 9.9 million viewers and a 3.8 rating to the show’s two episode finale garnering a robust 17.6 million viewers and a 6.9 rating in the second and final hour. Empire also has plenty of original music in each episode and the season 1 album soundtrack immediately went number one on the Billboard chart.   

Ms. Henson has what I consider to be the baddest role in TV, period. She plays Cookie Lyon to the hilt and really shows how bad she is - - when Cookie hates someone, she can go all out in destroying the person's life and his/her relationships. She is also determined to gain some control of Empire Entertainment from Lucious since her release from jail. The series also leaves a lot of skeletons for Season 2 which I won't tell you for now.   Sorry, that's my second wife/ (j/k)

Now with a show like Empire, can you wait until Season 2 starts?  Boo, Boo Kitty.