Taraji P. Henson
Terrence Howard
Bryshere Y. Gray
Jussie Smollett
Trai Byers
Grace Gealey
Malik Yoba
Kaitlin Doubleday

Created by:
Lee Daniels
Danny Strong

2015-
Drama, Music
Fox
TV-14

“Empire,” a hip-hop crime soap opera, delivers on its promise to be a hot mess. It’s entertaining despite how offensive it is – that may be why it’s entertaining. During the first episode, I couldn’t help laughing at how ridiculous it is. I said to myself, “It’s on purpose. It has to be.”

Taraji P. Henson and Terence Howard can do this kind of thing in their sleep; they already did this kind of thing in “Hustle & Flow.” They carry the show and make it perversely watchable. Howard plays a character named Lucious Lyon (a play on “The Lion in Winter,” one of the inspirations for this series), who is a mix of his DJay character in “Hustle & Flow” and Curtis from “Dreamgirls” (or Berry Gordy). Here are some of his lines from the pilot, if you can believe it:

“Tell Barack that, yes; but this is the last one for the next few months.”

“I started selling drugs when I was nine years old in Philadelphia. I didn’t know how to feed myself. But it was the music that played in my head, that kept me alive when I thought I was going to get shot. And it was the melodies that I dreamt about, that kept me warm when I was sleeping in the streets. …”

Henson plays Lucious’s ex-wife, Cookie Lyon, who could have been DJay’s rival pimp or madam. She first appears when she is released from prison for dealing drugs; that’s how she both supported Lucious before he made it big and became the first investor in what is now his ultra-successful media company. Uplifting stuff, right?

The rest of the cast and the writing ranges from acceptable to embarrassing (“Lucious, NO!!” from Tasha Smith, for instance). The middle son, Jamal, a gay singer-songwriter who isn’t taken seriously by his father, even asks whether this is “King Lear” during the pilot. (This time it’s three sons instead of three daughters, and the king has a terminal illness – ALS – instead of madness.) The oldest son, Andre, played by Trai Byers who portrays James Forman in “Selma,” is Wharton-educated and married to one of his former classmates, a white female. The youngest son, Hakeem, is a rapper with an attitude. (His momma straightens that out!)

Look, this ain’t “The Wire,” which is supposed to be taken seriously, much to my chagrin. And it beats Starz’s “Power,” a middling show that takes itself too seriously, at its own game by going over-the-top. The music is well-produced by Timbaland, even though it’s intrusive at times. And the look is glossy and stereotypically lavish to convey a wealthy mainstream hip-hop lifestyle. (For example, the youngest son is shown being fed fruit by a scantily clad woman.)

Lee Daniels calls “Empire” his black “Dynasty”: He has succeeded. He knows how to throw everything AND the kitchen sink at his audience. He has casted the right leads. So all he needs to do is wind them up, and let them go.

Verdict: Good to Very Good

About: (Source: empire)

EMPIRE is a sexy and powerful new drama about the head of a music empire whose three sons and ex-wife all battle for his throne.