American television network, Showtime have given Chicago based drama The Chi a series order, the show is executive produced by Lena Waithe and rapper, Common.
The Chi is a coming of age story as they follow the lives of characters growing up in the south side of Chicago. The show has a power team behind it, writer Waithe is young but she was a writer for the TV series Bones and produced Dear white people. Director Clark Johnson who directed Homeland and The Wire and Aaron Kaplan of Secrets of lies joins her. Actor Jason Mitchell of Straight Outta Compton has also just joined the cast. With all these strong contributors this show is looking good already. The producers are both native to Chicago so the story should be one of truth, not built on stereotypes.
After the release of new shows Atlanta and Insecure last year, it is amazing to see that this isn’t just a phase. The success of these shows is proving that diverse stories are important and can be of the same quality; hopefully this is a turning point in television. We really hope that this will soon translate in to British television as well.
By Ike Denloye
