Page 26 - Florida Sentinel 10-2-15 Edition

Entertainment
Wesley Snipes Ok With Not Being Lucious Lyon; Likes New TV Role
ABC Family Greenlights Sitcom Based On Nicki Minaj’s Life
T.I Signs Talent Development Deal With Warner Bros.
Warner Bros Television has signed a talent holding/devel- opment deal with actor and hip-hop artist Tip “T.I.” Harris. Under the pact, the studio will develop potential new series for Harris and also could cast him in an existing project.
In television, T.I. has done season long arcs on Show- time’s House Of Lies and Starz’s Boss. T.I. recently completed production of Sea- son 5 of his hit VH1 reality se- ries The Family Hustle. His recent feature credits include
T.I. signs deal with Warner Brothers
Marvel’s Ant-Man and Warner Bros’ Get Hard and Entourage. T.I., who just wrapped the Sleepless Night remake opposite Jamie Foxx.
Nicki Minaj’s star just got a little brighter...
ABC Family has just an- nounced they will be the net- work home of a sitcom based off of the singer’s life, in which Minaj will appear, and execu- tive produce the show.
“BREAKING NEWS! @NickiMinaj is executive pro- ducing & appearing in a new @ABCFamily comedy based on her life!” the network’s Twitter
account writes.
The show will focus in
Nicki’s childhood growing up in Queens, New York with her vivacious Caribbean immigrant family and her superstar aspira- tions when she attended the fa- mous performing arts LaGuardia High School. A pilot episode will be filmed this win- ter.
Along with her sitcom, Minaj will also get her own video game in conjunction with game devel- oper Glu, the company respon- sible for the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood game which raked in $74 million in 2014.
It’s no secret that Lee Daniels initially envisioned Wesley Snipes—over Ter- rence Howard—in the role of Lucious Lyon on Empire. While Snipes is not ruling the Lyon clan, he has joined TV’s diversity party with NBC’s The Player, a high-concept, action- packed drama set in Vegas where high rollers gamble on whether a player will stop a crime. Snipes plays Mr. Johnson, the pit boss.
The series is a huge enter- prise for the 53-year-old Snipes, whose Hollywood ca- reer was stalled by a prison stint for tax evasion and other complications. Still, because Snipes’ résumé is packed with badass big-screen roles like New Jack City’s Nino
Wesley Snipes was slated to be Lucious Lyons
Brown and Blade, his pres- ence on the small screen is noteworthy.
‘Power’s Success Leads Starz Network To Sign 50 Cents To 2 -Year Deal
On the heels of the success of Starz’s drama Power, the series’ executive producer Cur- tis “50 Cent” Jackson is ex- panding his relationship with the pay cable network, sign- ing an exclusive two-year over- all deal to develop new projects while continuing as an exec producer on Power.
Starz has been the perfect partner to make Power the suc- cess that it is and I am looking forward to developing many more record-breaking series with them,” says Jackson.
Power season 2 averaged more than 6.8 million viewers per episode, on track to be-
ANTHONY ZUIKER ..creator and owner of CSI
franchise
50 Cents was the creator and executive producer of ‘Power’.
come the most watched season ever for a Starz original series, according to the network.
Soul Train The Musical com- ing soon to Broadway!
Anthony Anderson And Wife Splitting
Anthony Anderson’s
wife has filed for divorce from the actor. The Black-ish star and his wife Alvina were high school sweethearts. But ac- cording to reports, the couple had been separated since April 2014. Alvina was noticeably absent from the Emmys awards ceremony, of which Anthony was nominated for Best Lead Actor in a Comedy, and lost to Jeffrey Tambor.
Alvina and Anthony have two children, Nathan, 15 and daughter Kyra, 19. Nathan was seen with his dad at the Emmys – the pair of them looking quite happy.
Alvina cited irreconcilable
Anthony and Alvina
differences in the divorce fil- ing.
CSI Franchise Owner Headed To Broadway To Stage ‘Soul Train The Musical’
Ahead of Sunday’s 2-hour CSI series finale, franchise cre- ator Anthony Zuiker told Deadline his next venture would be Broadway. Zuiker is re-teaming with Tony-nomi- nated producer Matthew Weaver with whom he worked with years ago on a Harlem Globetrotters movie script, to pen Soul Train The Musical. MediaWeaver Entertainment, who acquired the theatrical stage rights to the musical variety TV series
Soul Train last year, is produc-
ing.
Created in 1970 by Don
Cornelius, Soul Train is the longest running, first-run, na- tionally syndicated music pro- gram in television history. The project is personal for Zuiker, who grew up in the Soul Train era and found that the music from that period got him through some difficult times.
“I speak from the heart when I say that Soul Train touched me deeply.”
PAGE 16-A FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2015