Despite the ongoing success of Starz’ long-running hit Power and the positive response to its two recent spinoffs, Power Book II: Ghost, and Power Book III: Raising Kanan, it appears that mainstream TV media isn’t paying much attention to the shows that are looping in millions of Black viewers every Sunday night.
Sacha Penn, executive producer and showrunner of Raising Kanan recently called out the mainstream entertainment media for their lack of attention to his show. Despite being one of the Network’s most-viewed programs, just behind Outlander and its predecessor Ghost, very few entertainment-focused publications have included episode reviews in their content.
“As Raising Kanan‘s first season ends and BMF’s season begins, I feel compelled to point out that, other than the NY Post and New York Magazine, not a single mainstream media publication has reviewed either series,” he wrote on a September 26 Instagram post. “Not the New York Times, The Washington Post, The L.A. Times…across the country. Not even trade publications like The Hollywood Reporter and Variety.”
Without blatantly stating the obvious, Penn indicated that the move from these publications is a blatant disregard of its Black cast, Black production staff, culturally Black subject matter, and Black audience.
“And to be clear, I’m not asking for positive reviews. If you don’t like the show, shit all over it. That’s fine. But to ignore them altogether is to say that these stories, this work, these actors, THIS AUDIENCE doesn’t matter. And that’s… We all know what that is.”
Penn’s post garnered retweets and cosigns from Gabrielle Union-Wade and Raising Kanan star Patina Miller. As Miller wrote on Twitter:
“Imma just leave this right here…from our fearless leader @saschapenn I could not be more proud of the work we’ve done and will continue to do on #RaisingKanan this shit is so special..thank y’all for being along for the ride…more thoughts later this evening…”