Hit or Miss: 'Queens'
The era of reboots, remakes, and remasters has become the new normal for the entertainment industry over the past twenty years as studios and executives get nervous and creatively bankrupt when taking risks on new IPs. This timidness results in seemingly everything from Star Wars, Bladerunner, to Jurassic Park, and many other classics that have long-term staying power and fanbases that prove to be safer bets, and rejuvenating something that has aged like milk after its moment in the sun can be proven to be quite challenging. This is the conflict at center stage in ABC’s newest drama Queens showing the rise and the fall of four middle-aged former hip-hop stars desperately attempting to cling to the ever-fading limelight of their former careers. One a daytime host, another a mother of 5 living in suburbia, they all come together again to regain their swagger and reignite the careers that made them hip-hop legends.
These powerful four will attempt to celebrate and revitalize their careers while putting their past behind them and rebuilding the burned bridges from their initial breakup, which was supposedly caused by Butter Pecan (though the details will have to wait for the premiere). The group will also find that the hip-hop industry they left behind almost 20 years ago is a very different landscape compared to that of today. The four encounter an up-and-coming competitor with a popular fan base to boot named Lil’ Muffin, played by Pepi Sonuga and must deal with new trends, few reliable connections, and a hostile climate during their return. The first look teaser showcases the beautiful outfits and fun set pieces that come along with being pop stars as the four-film music videos and performing at “the biggest black award show in the world.”
The strength of this show comes from the parallel between the characters and that of their actresses. Brandy as Xplicit Lyrics, Eve as Professor Sex, and Naturi Naughton play Jill a.k.a “Da Thrill” headlining the cast and providing the framework for the main characters as they themselves have had very similar trajectories. Eve was a popular rapper that had mainstream success in the early 2000s with hits such as Let Me Blow Ya Mind featuring Gwen Stefani, Satisfaction, Love is Blind, and more roles in television as a host on The Talk and in film in a starring role in the Barbershop film series. Brandy has also had a lot of mainstream success with her duet with Monica “The Boy Is Mine” becoming one of the greatest selling of all time. Additionally, all of her seven albums received critical and commercial success up to 2020, though there were large gaps between her releases after the mid-2000s with several number one hit singles and a Grammy Award win for Best New Artist for ‘Never Say Never’, her second album. They are joined also by Naturi Naughton of 3LW fame who also has had roles in television and film such as Notorious as Lil Kim, Fame, and the Starz drama Power and its spinoff. These three most notable members of the group in the show along with Nadine Vasquez as Valerie a.k.a Butter Pecan round out the group called the Nasty Bitches.
Queens is another new show to round out ABC fall season lineup with an incredibly impressive cast hopefully to stick around for a long time. The season is being produced by Zahir McGhee, Sabrina Wind, and Tim Story, with a pilot written by McGhee. Zahir McGhee has made a name for himself over the years as a fantastic storyteller for ABC, as he recently inked a new deal with them and has been a part of producing and story editing for Scandal, Private Practice, For the People, and Stumptown. This show features an all-star cast combined with quality producers and writers with past success at the same network. ABC has heavily invested in a fun and flashy new drama for viewers to tune in every week with the potential to last for a long time. Queens debuts this fall for ABC at 9|10c
