‘Unprisoned’ Showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser Says TV “Absolutely Making Progress” With Black Stories
deadline.comYvette Lee Bowser points to Unprisoned — Onyx’s first scripted comedy that stars Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo — as a key example of how far TV has come when it comes to telling contemporary Black stories. “We are absolutely making progress,” said Bowser, whose numerous credits include A Different World, Living Single, black-ish andnow serving as showrunner on Unprisoned. “I’ve been in the business 35 years.
It’s beginning to change. It’s incredibly cathartic and incredibly rewarding to be here to shepherd such a beautiful, fresh story … we as Black writers have been fighting to tell a story.
Now we find ourselves in a period of time that we can go deeper, much deeper, why we struggle to love.” Inspired by the life of author Tracy McMillan, Unprisoned is a half-hour about “a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom whose life is turned right-side-up when her dad gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.” The eight-episode series from ABC Signature premieres March 10 on Hulu.
Washington (Scandal) plays Paige Alexander, a marriage and family therapist and mom to 16-year-old Finn. Her formerly incarcerated father Edwin — whom Bowser describes as a “Black Ted Lasso” — is played by Delroy Lindo.
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