Rich Black History Month on TV schedule

© St. Petersburg Times
published February 4, 2002

Usually, TV efforts to celebrate Black History Month are blunted by the all-important February sweeps ratings period, pushing broadcasters into focusing on the latest Stephen King miniseries or relationship crisis on Friends.

But a funny thing happens during this month's sweeps: the Winter Olympics.

Starting Friday on NBC, the 2002 Games are expected to draw enormous interest from U.S. TV viewers -- both because they are in Salt Lake City and because they provide a post-Sept.11 America something to get patriotic about.

The unexpected benefit is that no one expects this sweeps to count for much ratingswise, since NBC's bound to win every night. That frees everyone else to take some chances.

Perhaps that's why we're seeing so many ambitious TV projects focused on black people this month, from St. Petersburg native Angela Bassett's turn as civil rights pioneer Rosa Parks in a CBS TV movie, to TV Land's three-part documentary series, African Americans in Television.

Here's a list of some notable shows to come:

Comedy Central offers five half-hour documentaries on Heroes of Black Comedy, airing at 10 p.m. Mondays, starting with tonight's show on Chris Rock. Whoopi Goldberg, Richard Pryor and the Original Kings of Comedy also are featured (a major weakness: no Bill Cosby, arguably the most popular black comic ever).

A&E's Biography manages three new programs centered on black celebrities: Gladys Knight Feb. 7, Johnnie Cochran Feb. 11 and Billie Holiday Feb. 25, all at 8 p.m.

Pay cable channel Showtime airs three original films centered on black people, including Gregory Hines (as star and director) in The Red Sneakers Feb. 10; a powerful biography of Adam Clayton Powell Jr., Keep the Faith, Baby, Feb. 17; and Andre Braugher as train porter and union organizer Asa Philip Randolph in 10,000 Black Men Named George Feb. 24. All movies air at 8 p.m.

HBO steps up with two highly anticipated films: The Middle Passage (an account of the inhuman transport of black slaves from Africa to America, with narration adapted by novelist Walter Mosley) at 10:05 p.m. Saturday, and Lumumba (an acclaimed Haitian film about Congolese leader Patrice Lumumba) at 10:05 p.m. Feb. 16.

The Hallmark Channel offers an array of black-centered movies and miniseries this month. Alex Haley's Queen (Halle Berry in a drama about Haley's family during the Civil War) airs from 6 p.m. to midnight Feb. 18; Roots: The Next Generation (Haley's family during Reconstruction) airs Feb. 18 from midnight to 2 a.m.; Roots: The Gift (Haley's ancestors help slaves escape) airs at 9 p.m. Feb. 25.

PBS airs its American Masters biography on the author of Invisible Man, Ralph Ellison: An American Journey, at 10 p.m. Feb. 19 on WEDU-Ch. 3.

Bassett and Cicely Tyson team up for the story of America's most famous bus passenger in CBS' TV movie The Rosa Parks Story at 9 p.m. Feb. 24.

Much of the rest of the country saw the first part of Inside TV Land: African Americans in Television on Friday. But since Time Warner Cable doesn't carry the TV Land channel locally, we'll have to wait until Nickelodeon airs the documentary in a three-hour marathon beginning at 9 p.m. Feb. 24. Keep the No-Doz handy, or set the VCR; it's worth it.

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