Monday, February 23, 2015

First Look: Empire

This show might be halfway through airing it's first season (and already commissioned a second one) but now that it's come to my attention, I am really hoping a UK broadcaster gets the rights to air this one pretty soon.


Empire - a 12 episode series, starring Terrence Howard (Crash, The Brave One) as Lucious Lyon - a former drug dealer turned CEO of a hip-hop label named Empire Entertainment whose life is about to fall apart when he's diagnosed with Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and his outspoken ex-wife, Cookie, played by Taraji P. Henson (Person Of Interest) re-enters his life after a spell in prison for drug dealing, intent on getting her share of Lucious's ill gotten gains while attempting to bring her family back together.


A family containing three sons, all of whom are vying to be Lucious's successor when the latter dies. The sons are Andre (Trai Byers) - the oldest one, married to his childhood sweetheart, Jamal (Jussie Smollett), a talented gay singer/songwriter in a relationship with Michael (Rafael de la Fuente) and seen as the black sheep of the family and finally, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray), the fame obsessed younger brother desperate to claim the family throne.

Watching the trailer, this is certainly an interesting series and one that has been something of a ratings juggernaut for FOX. Created by Danny Strong and Lee Daniels with music from Timbaland and guest appearances from the likes of Naomi Campbell and Courtney Love, Empire has been something of a critical darling as well as one of the biggest drama hits of the year and with the mixture of music, soap opera fun and a plethora of diverse characters, it's definitely one to watch out for.

Season 1 Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dBzu_jKLJek

Empire airs Wednesdays 9pm on FOX for US viewers. A UK broadcaster has yet to be confirmed.

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