What's Up - Your guide to what's happening in Fayetteville, AR this week!
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T2 WHATS UP! October 4 - 10, 2020 BY KYLA BREWER TV Media A s protests and demon- strations across the U.S. and the world shine a light on sys- temic racism, a new miniseries brings TV viewers back in time to the era of slavery in the weeks before the eruption of the Civil War. Given its context and the content, the production is poised to spark further conver- sation on the state of race rela- tions today. Ethan Hawke ("Dead Poets Society," 1989) stars as famous abolitionist John Brown in "The Good Lord Bird," premiering Sunday, Oct. 4, on Showtime. The seven-part series is based on the novel of the same name by James McBride and, although inspired by actual events, fea- tures fictional characters as it explores Brown's story. Joshua Caleb Johnson ("Black-ish") stars alongside Hawke as fic- tional young slave Henry Shack- leford, whom Brown "frees" and nicknames "Onion" after mis- taking him for a girl and giving him a dress to wear. He soon joins the ranks of Brown's rag- tag army, and the story unfolds through his eyes. McBride's novel was released in 2013 and quickly drew com- parisons to Mark Twain's classic "The Adventures of Huckleber- ry Finn." It was touted for its "wonderfully bizarre images" by Héctor Tobar in the Los Angeles Times and went on to win the National Book Award for Fic- tion. Hawke not only stars in the television adaptation of the book but also adapted the story for the small screen alongside fellow executive producer Jason Blum ("Sharp Objects"). "The genius of the novel, for me, is how it deals with gender and race, and how we deal with the blind spots that we see," Hawke said at the winter Televi- sion Critics Association media tour. Much like the book, the mini- series explores racial, religious and gender roles in America and, according to an official Showtime release, "weaves a hu- morous, dramatic and historical tapestry of Antebellum Ameri- ca." Showtime's "The Good Lord Bird" opens in Kansas in 1856, Joshua Caleb Jackson and Ethan Hawke star in "The Good Lord Bird" Freedom fighters continued on page T10 TV FEATURE