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In the Works: Comedy Central Bets on Black
Comedy Central has greenlit the pilot Michael Ian Black Doesn't Understand, which Variety describes as a "scripted showcase" for the oh-so-dry, poker-faced funnyman.... BET on Wednesday unveiled a development slate that boasts 16 new series, including projects from Will Smith (Cipha, an animated sci-fi series), Vin Diesel (Hannibal, an animated look at the ancient African king), D.L. Hughley (S.O.B., a hidden-camera reality series) and Orlando Jones (Bufu, an [again] animated sketch-comedy offering). (Nice to see BET drumming up so much on-camera work for black actors.) Also in the mix is the 26-year-old cabler's first original sitcom, Somebodies, based on the indie film of the same name.
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Apr 19, 2007 9:19 AM
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I'm white and not overly familiar with BET programming other than their music series and repeats of shows like The Wire... but aren't all these new shows a good thing? Even if many are animated and not providing much for on-camera black actors, surely it will increase work for black voice-over actors as well as writers, producers, etc. Bravo to BET for trying to step up their game. If these are successful, maybe they'll do more original series with on-camera talent.
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Apr 19, 2007 11:27 AM
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BET = H.A.M. I blogged here weeks ago that Viacom planned to increase BET's budget to produce original programming and this is what they have to show for it. BET is always a day late and a dollar short. MTV had the whole animated period years ago...as well as hidden-camera reality shows (Jackass and Punk'd anyone?). I know that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but does anyone over at BET have any creativity or independent thoughts? My people...my people...SMH.
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Apr 19, 2007 9:13 PM
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