Tina Mabry Archives - Old Ain't Dead

Review: Grand Army

2 Comments / Streaming, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / October 26, 2020 / Alphonso Romero Jones II, Amalia Yoo, Amir Bageria, Crystal Sha're Nelson, Darnell Martin, Grand Army, Jaden Jordan, Katie Cappiell, Maliq Johnson, Marcela Avelina, Odessa A'zion, Odley Jean, So Yong Kim, Tina Mabry, Women Directors

Grand Army tells the story of high school students at Grand Army High School in Brooklyn. It’s a grim look the struggles and problems that high school students face these days. It’s streaming on Netfix.

Lucy Boynton, Ben Platt, Laura Dreyfuss, Theo Germaine and Rahne Jones in The Politician

Review: The Politician, season 2

2 Comments / Streaming, TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / June 24, 2020 / #eldersrock, Ben Platt, Bette Midler, Brad Falchuk, Gwyneth Horder-Payton, Ian Brennan, Judith Light, Julia Schlaepfer, Laura Dreyfuss, Lucy Boynton, Rahne Jones, Robin Weigert, Ryan Murphy, season 2, Susannah Perkins, Tamra Davis, The Politician, Theo Germaine, Tina Mabry, Women Directors

The Politician, season 2, returned to Netflix with the same ambitious politician engaged in a run for office, much like season 1. All the back-stabbing, conniving, bald-faced lying that we saw in season 1 returned as well.

10 Great TV Series Directed Wholly or Partly by Women from 2017

2 Comments / TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / December 22, 2017 / Alias Grace, Amy Sherman-Palladino, Ava DuVernay, Claire Scanlon, Floria Sigismondi, GLOW, Jennifer Leacey, Kari Skogland, Kat Candler, Kate Dennis, Lana Wachowski, Lynn Shelton, Margaret Atwood, Mary Harron, Melanie Mayron, Mia Lidofsky, Minkie Spiro, Neema Barnette, One Mississippi, Queen Sugar, Reed Morano, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, Sally Wainwright, Sense8, Sian Heder, So Yong Kim, Strangers, Tanya Hamilton, The Handmaid's Tale, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, Tig Notaro, Tina Mabry, To Walk Invisible: The Brontë Sisters, Victoria Mahoney, Wanted, Wendey Stanzler, Women Directors

My standard disclaimer about top 10 end of year lists: there are many things I don’t see on TV because I don’t have the right channels or subscriptions. If I overlook your favorite, that may be why. Here are the best TV shows I saw in 2017 (even if they weren’t released in 2017).

Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Rutina Wesley, and Kofi Siriboe in Queen Sugar

Review: Season 1 of Queen Sugar

1 Comment / TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / June 27, 2017 / Ava DuVernay, Bianca Lawson, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Dondre Whitfield, Ethan Hutchison, Glynn Turman, Greg Vaughan, Henry G. Sanders, Isaac White, Kat Candler, Kofi Siriboe, Natalie Baszile, Neema Barnette, Nicholas L. Ashe, Ninja N. Devoe, Omar J. Dorsey, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Sugar, Rutina Wesley, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, season 1, So Yong Kim, Tanya Hamilton, Timon Kyle Durrett, Tina Lifford, Tina Mabry, Victoria Mahoney, Women Directors

Season 1 of Queen Sugar was outstanding, engaging, enlightening, and demanding. It ended with a cliffhanger that could mean huge changes in season 2.

Review: Dear White People the TV series

3 Comments / TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / May 1, 2017 / Barry Jenkins, D.J. Blickenstaff, Dear White People, John Patrick Amedori, Justin Simien, Logan Browning, Marque Richardson, Obba Babatundé, season 1, Tessa Thompson, Tina Mabry, trailers, Women Directors

Dear White People the series picks up where the movie ended. We go back to the black-face Halloween party and see it from several students’ perspectives. The technique of replaying important events from different characters’ points of view is used to great effect in the TV series.

Rutina Wesley, Dawn-Lyen Gardner and Kofi Siriboe in Queen Sugar

Watch This: New Trailer for Queen Sugar

1 Comment / TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / August 3, 2016 / Ava DuVernay, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kat Candler, Kofi Siriboe, Natalie Baszile, Neema Barnette, Queen Sugar, Rutina Wesley, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, So Yong Kim, Tanya Hamilton, Tina Mabry, trailers, Victoria Mahoney, Women Directors

Queen Sugar has already been renewed for a 16 episode second season before the first season begins airing. Season 1 begins on OWN on Tuesday, September 6 and Wednesday, September 7 with two nights of commercial-free TV directed by Ava DuVernay.

Watch This: Trailer for Queen Sugar

2 Comments / TV series / By Virginia DeBolt / June 28, 2016 / Ava DuVernay, Dawn-Lyen Gardner, Kat Candler, Kofi Siriboe, Natalie Baszile, Neema Barnette, Nicholas L. Ashe, Oprah Winfrey, Queen Sugar, Rutina Wesley, Salli Richardson-Whitfield, So Yong Kim, Tanya Hamilton, Tina Mabry, Victoria Mahoney

Queen Sugar, coming to OWN, is the first TV series with episodes directed by Ava DuVernay. It’s produced by Oprah Winfrey. Starring in Queen Sugar as the Bordelon sisters are Rutina Wesley and Dawn-Lyen Gardner.

Review: Mississippi Damned

10 Comments / Movies, Streaming / By Virginia DeBolt / September 14, 2015 / Adam Clark, Ava DuVernay, Chasity Kershal Hammitte, DB Woodside, Jossie Harris Thacker, Kylee Russell, Malcolm David Kelly, Malcolm Goodwin, Michael Hyatt, Mississippi Damned, Simbi Kali Williams, Tessa Thompson, Tina Mabry, Tonea Stewart, trailers, Women Directors

Mississippi Damned is an examination of what keeps people trapped in a cycle of poverty and abuse, and how some of them manage to escape. If you watched the excellent documentary What Happened, Miss Simone? you know that Nina Simone wanted to be a concert pianist. And you probably already knew that Nina Simone wrote the song “Mississippi Goddam” which …

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