Soul Food (TV series)

Soul Food: The Series is a television drama that aired Wednesday nights on Showtime from June 28, 2000 to May 26, 2004. Created by George Tillman, Jr. and developed for television by Felicia D. Henderson, Soul Food is based upon Tillman's childhood experiences growing up in Wisconsin, and is a continuation of his 1997 film of the same name. Having aired for 74 episodes, it is the longest running drama with a predominantly black cast in the history of North American prime-time television.^[1][2]

Premise

Soul Food follows the triumphs, struggles, and rivalries of the Josephs, a tight-knit African American family living in Chicago, Illinois. The series picks up six months after the events in the 1997 film, as the family tries to hold together after the death of the Joseph sisters' mother Josephine (Irma P. Hall, reprising her role in flashback sequences), usually referred to as Mama, Mother Joe, or Big Mama.

Episodes

Cast

• Rockmond Dunbar as Kenny Chadway
• Darrin Dewitt Henson as Lem Van Adams
• Boris Kodjoe as Damon Carter (recurring in Seasons 1 and 5; regular cast in Seasons 2-4)
• Aaron Meeks as Ahmad Chadway
• Nicole Ari Parker as Teri Joseph
• Malinda Williams as Tracy "Bird" Joseph Van Adams
• Vanessa A. Williams^[3] as Maxine Joseph Chadway

Recurring cast members and notable guest stars

During the run of the series, only Irma P. Hall returned from the original film to appear in the series as her original character, albeit in flashback scenes as a guest star.

Tyra Ferrell - Frances Lester

Response

Soul Food was one of the first long-running and successful dramatic series on television to feature a predominantly African-American cast. Short-lived series such as Under One Roof and City of Angels featured predominantly black casts but never gained recognition due to lack of ratings and viewership. The show tackled topics of politics, homosexuality, racial discrimination, and certain forms of abuse (drug, domestic, and sexual). Because it aired on Showtime, there was use of mild profanity and partial nudity. Certain episodes even served as launching pads for up-and-coming new musical artists. Many known performers such as Gerald Levert, Montell Jordan, India.Arie, Sunshine Anderson and Common have made appearances as well.

Popularity

The show received five NAACP Image Awards nominations for Outstanding Drama Series and won three consecutive times in 2002, 2003, and 2004. Also, a three-book series was launched in 2002. The show received a record-breaking renewal of 40 episodes in 2001

The Soul Food cast was interviewed by comedian Mo'Nique about fan reaction to the series. The cast explained that fans of the show would approach them at various places, including the airport, and would talk to them about story lines that they enjoyed or disliked. Nicole Ari Parker commented on studio executives telling the cast and crew that they weren't marketable overseas, yet, after the show ended, the series gained a fan base in France.

Syndication

In 2004, Black Entertainment Television (BET) acquired the rights to air reruns of the series (in the United States). The episodes have been edited to allow for commercials, and to meet FCC content standards for basic cable networks. BET aired syndicated reruns of Soul Food for several years, until it shifted the series to its sister network, BET J (now known as Centric). On March 15, 2010, the principal cast members (excluding Rockmond Dunbar) appeared together on the BET late-night talk show The Mo'Nique Show. TV One began airing reruns of the series in January 2012. Syndication rights are currently held by Aspire, which began airing reruns of the series in January 2016.

DVD releases

On June 24, 2003, Paramount Home Entertainment released the first season of Soul Food on DVD, just two weeks after the series wrapped its fourth season. After a long delay, the remaining four seasons were released in 2007 and 2008 by Paramount and CBS Home Entertainment. While season one (billed as "the complete first season") runs in its unedited form, seasons two through four do not, primarily due to musical licensing issues.

International rights to the series are held by Fox, who have yet to release DVD sets in other territories.

• Seasons 3 and 4 that originally aired on Showtime are combined as the Season 3 DVD.^[5]

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Soul Food at the Internet Movie Database
• Soul Food at TV.com