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talkintv.buffalonews.com/2015/03/11/empire-breakout-hit-nationwide-breakout-star/"Empire" is a breakout hit here and nationwide with a breakout starBy Alan Pergament | News TV Critic
on Wednesday, March 11, 2015 9:53 AM, updated: 10:16 AM
It’s “Empire” night across the nation and Western New York.
The Wednesday series carried at 9 p.m. on Fox affiliate WUTV is getting a lot of attention for doing something very rare in network television.
Every week, the national rating for the series has grown.
Except for one week, that has happened in Western New York as well.
And with its compelling soap-opera story lines, rich music and an over-the-top performance by Taraji P. Henson as an outrageous ex-con and ex-wife, it is easy to see why the series has quickly become a talked-about midseason hit.
The soap opera revolving around a smart, scheming African-American music mogul , Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), who frequently is at odds with his ex-wife and company co-founder Cookie (Henson) and their three sons, has emerged as the most popular Fox series in WNY.
During the February sweeps, “Empire” had far exceeded the viewership of “American Idol” here and was within range of two of ABC’s hits, “Scandal” and “How to Get Away with Murder.”
It also has graced magazine covers and started a dialogue about how more dramas with predominately African-American casts can be successful.
According to TV Guide and several other news outlets, one of the cast members,
Jussie Smollett, also created some headlines this week by revealing his sexuality to talk show host Ellen DeGeneres backstage after appearing on her show. The stories note that he never used the words “I am gay” but his comments led to that conclusion.
His character, Jamal, came out much more dramatically in the series a few episodes ago when he changed the lyrics of one of his father’s iconic songs to reveal his sexuality to the world. That led to one of his brothers, Hakeem (Bryshere Gray), to praise him for his bravery.
Jamal had already come out to his family, which has led to a tense, unhealthy relationship with his angry, homophobic father.
The contentious relationship between Jamal and his father has helped Smollett’s character become by far the most likable and sympathetic of any in the series.
His likability also was the reason I decided to sit down and interview Smollett in January at a Fox party during the Television Critics Association press tour about his family history, his views of homophobia and why his character is so well-liked.
He’s 31, but not exactly an overnight success.
“I was in ‘The Mighty Ducks’ when I was a kid,” he explained. “I had a TV show with my six brothers and sisters on ABC, ‘On Our Own.’”
More recently, he had roles in “The Mindy Project” and “Revenge.”
“It’s been a long journey,” said Smollett. “To be sitting here, I’m no new cookie at the fair. I’ve been around. I’ve been roasting.”
Smollett said his mother, Janet, was a theatrical actress who directed her children to go into acting.
“My mom is a perfect combination of Cookie Lyon and Fraulein Maria of the ‘Sound of Music,’” said Smollett. “I swear to you. She would take us around when my dad was at work and we would sing all of these songs. It was for fun, it wasn’t for money. It became we wanted to do it after seeing certain shows and seeing Rudy Huxtable.”
He credits his love of music to his mother.
“I don’t remember not doing music,” said Smollett. “I’ve been singing my entire life. My mother is a singer and has a voice like Gladys Knight and she raised us on musicals and jazz. All that stuff has been a part of who we’ve always been.”
Smollett’s musical talent is frequently on display in “Empire.”
Four of his songs with his long-time producer David Ott have or will be played during the series.
“My producer is one of the best,” he said. “But at the same time, it is ironic that four weeks before I was in his home studio, and we’re just chilling and recording my album and then I’m in the studio with Timbaland, a Grammy Award-winning iconic producer that has worked with the top artists of our generation. The irony of that is fantastic.”
He said that his father, Joel, died on the January day that “Empire” premiered.
“He saw the pilot and he loved it,” said Smollett. “I was able to show him an article in the L.A. Times and my face on the L.A. Times calendar section. That was the last article he read. I lost my Lucious but we keep on. He is up there switching channels to Fox, pulling strings.”
Why does Smollett believe his character is so popular?
“He’s the underdog and people love the underdog,” he explained. “I’m always the champion of the underdog, as is Cookie. She is the champion for the underdog. ‘You say he can’t. I’m going to show that he can.’”
“It’s a triumphant story. It’s a story – not to get too deep – it’s a story of survival and finding out who you are. This world might try and beat you down and judge you and scrutinize you but (by) still standing tall and being okay with who you are, he’s a champion.”
Still, it can’t be easy for Smollett to hear some of the words that Jamal's unenlightened TV father throws at his character.
“The world is definitely enlightened,” agreed Smollett. “But the fact is those words are used. It’s horrible. It’s awful. And a man like Lucious Lyon would absolutely use those words. It is despicable the words that he using.”
Without addressing his own sexuality in January, Smollett said he has experienced homophobia.
“I feel that every human being if they are honest with themselves has experienced homophobia,” he said. “Whether you have experienced directly to you because you are a homosexual, whether you have experienced it as a straight man or a straight woman where someone assumed and called you a name or whether you have witnessed someone being taken advantage of because of their sexuality.”
Smollett acknowledged that “Empire” focuses on homophobia in the African-American community but added that he has friends with several ethnic backgrounds and they’ve all experienced it in their communities as well.
“I would be lying and in complete denial if I would say homophobia is not rampant in the black community,” said Smollett. “Guess what? It is rampant in the human community.”
“We’re telling a story about a family that just so happens to be black. So we are dealing with homophobia inside the black community because this is about the black community. It is not to let anyone else off the hook as if it doesn’t exist in other communities.”
“It’s 2015 and we can have people like Michael Sam, Frank Ocean and
Adam Lambert and somehow they are finally not looked at as freaks. That’s progress. Are we where we should be? No, of course. Are we getting there? This is a fight. It is always going to be a fight for freedom and equality. We’re fighting it because we’re getting there.”
apergament@buffnews.com