Source: ABC

ABC’s has definitely hit a goldmine with its smash success Scandal, Shonda Rhimes’ drama about a very married president of the United States and his mistress. ABC seems to be running with a theme here, with the debut of its new show “Mistresses” coming this summer. For some, this begs the question: are mistresses having the best season ever? Are shows like these glorifying the side chick?

“Scandal”’s success is undeniable. Throughout the season, it routinely crushed its competitors in viewership (save for CBS’s ”The Big Bang Theory”/”Two and a Half Men” hour), and it has absolutely captivated Twitter audiences. It has been estimated that each new episode of “Scandal” had viewers sending out 2,000 tweets per minute. The season finale won 571,353 tweets, and the entire season saw 4.3 million. There is unquestionable appeal — but what is it? Why do people love “Scandal”? How can anyone champion a show that revolves around someone immoral enough to sleep with a married man?

If, in considering this show, all you focus on is the extra-marital relationship, then of course it will seem that that is all the appeal. But there’s so much more at work. For starters, it’s safe to say that people like “Scandal” because, as NPR’s new Codeswitch blog points out, people really like Kerry Washington. She’s a dynamo in her role as the fast-talking, impossibly intuitive problem solver with killer peacoat game and a furious gait. Everyone loves a no-nonsense character, and Olivia is definitely having none of your mess. …Unless, of course, that mess is coming from her married boyfriend. We’ll talk about that more later.

It’s rare to see a hit show with a powerful, headstrong, intelligent black woman as its central character who is not also dripping with some sort of historical stereotype, and that, too, makes it easy to tune in and find yourself rooting for someone your grandmother would label a homewrecker. The show is multicultural without being about race, which is also refreshing, and it’s a completely ridiculous-over-the-top show that is easy to get lost in. These factors, I’d argue, weigh heavier than wanting to see a man divorce his wife to marry his mistress.

Back to that whole married boyfriend thing, though — it would be crazy not to think that the troubled relationship between Olivia and President Fitz isn’t a reason that people get enrapt in the show, because it totally is. But not, necessarily because people are universally rooting for their relationship. Some are, sure, but it’s a really screwed up relationship. Fitz is controlling, borderline abusive and manipulative; Olivia is delusional and on a fast track to star on an episode of “Iyanla Fix My Life.” Her affair is not a glamorous one. She is not a kept woman, continuously adored, showered with gifts, and eventually rewarded for her patience with the man of her dreams. There is nothing glorious about her affair. If anything, it’s a cautionary tale against being the side chick. This show is messy, honey, and people love a train wreck.

“Life is not a romance novel,” Cyrus growls to Olivia in the season finale. And that’s exactly it. This story is compelling because it is uncomfortable and dramatic, not just because there’s a woman sleeping with a married man. Pointing to ABC’s upcoming show “Mistresses” as proof that mistresses are indeed being glorified is folly, too; with Scandal’s success, it’s no wonder that they’d try to keep the momentum going.

Shows about infidelity are nothing new; from your grandmother’s soap operas to “Desperate Housewives,” people have been cheating on primetime TV for decades. This is just the current flavor of the month. Watching shows like “Scandal” and “Mistresses” are not immoral; going out and cheating is what’s immoral. Television is an escape, a realm we enter to watch people do outlandish things that we would not or could not do. For one hour once a week, we walk on the wild side and do all the things our parents told us never to do — and it’s fun.

Source(s): ABC, WENN

It’s always interesting to find out which actors and actresses auditioned for popular television and film roles. Last month we told you that Lance Gross was up for the coveted role as Harrison on ABC’s popular series Scandal, but did you know that Gabrielle Union also auditioned for a role in the Shonda Rhimes-produced tele-drama? During a recent interview with CocoaFab, the 40-year-old Being Mary Jane star revealed that she was also up for a leading role in the series.

“There’s the whole group of us who auditioned for ‘Scandal’ that, not just fell in love with that project and Shonda (Rhimes), but the process, the level of respect that we were given even in the audition process and the world that Shonda created even for us trying. It was like, is there ever gonna be another situation for you like that?” Union revealed.

Although she didn’t get the part, Gabby went on to say that it’s all love and gushed about how successful her fellow “sister actresses” have been within the past couple of years.

“Luckily they’re my friends so thank God if I ever needed a loan I’d be like, ‘Well, I saw you last night on ‘Deception,’ Megan, and I know you have money!’ ‘Person of Interest’ is one of the top rated shows internationally, so my girl Taraji (P. Henson) is doing so well. And then all of the films that have come from the great work that she’s done, and Kerry (Washington) with ‘Scandal’ and ‘Django’ and the whole world is like, Gladiator! And Thandie (Newton)’s show. I’ve big got shoes to fill, but it’s dope.”

She also expressed that she hopes Black men in Hollywood will have their time to shine as well.

“Now you hope that the time of the black man is coming. You want them to have their ‘Scandal’ and their ‘Deception’ and their ‘Being Mary Jane’ and you can see black love and black dysfunction.”

Well it appears that their time may be coming sooner than later. Earlier today we reported that NBC has added a new series titled Crisis, starring Lance Gross to their 2013 fall lineup.

Love it!

Could you see Gabby playing Olivia Pope on Scandal?

Source: ABC

I know you were not disappointed last night. The season finale managed to close just enough doors to provide closure but open up one very big one to get us ready for the next season. It’s going to be a long wait until September but after last night’s episode, we’re sure folks will be more than willing to tune in.

Source: WENN

If I saw Tony Goldwyn on the street I probably wouldn’t pay him any mind, but I swear every time I see this man as Fitz with Olivia on “Scandal,” Beyonce’s “Party” comes in my head and I hum, “I told my girls he can get it.”

Matter of fact, every time Tony and Kerry are even seen together — on-screen, in a magazine, on a red carpet — their chemistry is crazy. And let’s not forget how steamy their love scenes have gotten this season. Y’all saw him use his “super powers” last night right?

As soon as I drop out of Shondaland into my own lala land, I’m quickly brought back to earth from my musings about Kerry and Tony hooking up in real life, thinking “how can his wife watch this??” Well, Tony gave that answer during an appearance on Andy Cohen’s ‘Watch What Happens Live” Wednesday night — apparently his wife doesn’t watch the show.

When a fan asked Tony what his real-life wife, Jane Musky, who he’s been married to since 1989 thinks of the flaming hot chemistry he shares with his co-star, he replied:

“It’s a problem.”

We bet it is! We’ve seen chemistry on-set before, but these two have chem-is-try! Something about their onscreen interactions looks more natural than the average co-stars, which I guess makes them damn good at their jobs. But I know if I was at home counting the hours my husband spends on-site with this woman I’d be done tore my hair out. I imagine that’s why Jane doesn’t even do that to herself. Tony added:

“The honest answer is, my wife doesn’t watch [Scandal]. She watched the pilot and thought it was great, but yeah…I don’t encourage it.”

Smart move, Jane. Smart move.

Tony said his daughters have taken quite the opposite approach to their mother, sending him all sorts of hilarious texts, like “Excuse me?!?!” when they catch one of his steamy scenes on the tube. When asked how he himself feels about rolling around in the hay with Miss Washington, he says it’s just apart of the job — although not the most comfortable part of it.

“The most embarrassing one for me was when I had to direct my own sex scene,” he said, describing how he had to talk Kerry through the positions. When asked whether he got too excited, he said, ”Well, if you think about doing a sex scene with 30 overweight men staring at you, it’s hot.”

Well just so he knows it does look pretty darn hot from home.

via ABC

From StyleBlazer

It’s no secret that we have “Scandal” fever along with the rest of the world! In honor of this Thursday’s season finale we decided to take a little trip down memory lane and spotlight the fabulous Olivia Pope’s best looks.

Take a look at the 15 choices for Ms. Pope’s finest looks from Season 2 on StyleBlazer.com

Source: WENN

One thing that I believe most Scandal fans can agree on is that no matter how much we love and root for her, Olivia Pope is a mistress. Regardless of how it’s affectionately phrased or sugar-coated, Olivia is in a relationship with a married man. Scandal actress Kerry Washington, however, doesn’t appear to see things that way. Well, either that or she enjoys arguing both sides. During a recent interview with Wendy Williams, the 36-year-old Bronx bombshell expressed that she doesn’t like to refer to Olivia as a “side piece” because she feels that the term objectifies women, which we can agree on. But, she also questioned whether or not Olivia qualifies to be called a “side piece” at all because Fitz has offered to leave his wife for her. Check out some of what she had to say below.

On “partnering” with Vera Wang on her gown for the Met Gala:

“[Sometimes when I wear a designer's dress,] for me it’s usually a little bit of a partnership. You’re really lucky to get partnered with a designer. For me it was Vera Wang. You can imagine being a girl and getting a call like, ‘Vera Wang is going to make a gown for you.’ So then I got to do a conference call and Vera and I got on the phone. I told her that I was really feeling purple and she got really inspired and we looked at images from her show and we kind of talked together and came up with the idea. She came back to me with these sketches that just took my breath away. It was really exciting.”

On how much fun the Met Gala is: 

“It is kind of fun because you get to see people from all different walks of life. You get to see everyone from Mayor Bloomberg to Alicia Keys to LaLa. There’s endless champagne, some people are trashed before dinner. I don’t drink because I want to keep the dress in tact and keep my attitude in tact, so no drinking for me. The food is good and then you’re at the Met after hours, so to be in the museum when it’s and to walk around and look at the exhibits…”

On Olivia’s Pope’s professional life vs. her personal life:

“I feel like we all can relate to that. We have a job identity where we have to be in control and we know what we’re doing. Even sometimes with our family, we have to act like we’re okay, but then behind closed doors we’re human. I love that about her.”

On why she doesn’t like to call Olivia a “side-piece:”

“Well, I think that [calling her a side piece] is debatable. I don’t like the expression ‘side piece’ because I think when you call a woman a ‘piece,’ it sort of objectifies her. But I think also, the President has said to her, ‘I will leave my wife for you,’ and she said, ‘No.’ So it sort of a question of if she’s choosing to not be with him because she doesn’t feel she deserves it or because she doesn’t really think he’ll leave his wife, but he has said, ‘I’ll give up all of this for you.’ So is she a side piece or is she just afraid to be all in?”

We love you, Kerry, but you may be in denial just a little bit.

Check out footage from Kerry’s interview on the next page. What are your thoughts on this?

Source: ABC

Gladiators across the nation can release a hefty sigh of relief. Last week ABC began to announce which shows would be picked up for another season and thankfully, the popular Shonda Rhimes’ political thriller Scandal is among the renewed!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, ABC has expressed “an early vote of confidence” regarding the popular series, which was at one point, only expected to be a short-runs series. Scandal is currently a 2.4 in the coveted 18-49 demographic with 7.4 million total viewers. It sounds like a slam dunk for executive producer Shonda Rhimes, who says that writing for the new season has already begun.

Scandal star Kerry Washington also took to her Twitter page to celebrate the renewal of the hit series and thank viewers for their support.

Source: ABC

After last night’s episode of “Scandal,” there was nothing left to do but lay out. The episode seemed to be relatively calm until the last 3 minutes when all the ish hit the fan. Absolutely bananas. As always, there will be spoilers in this episode including the reveal of the mole. It’s a doozy. Let’s jump in.

(Photo by Brad Barket/Invision for The Hollywood Reporter/AP Images)

While the rest of America is on pins and needles waiting for the season finale of Scandal, the folks over at Disney, the series’ network, are just happy Shonda Rhimes is on their team. The show has been a runaway hit for the network.

But as Forbes reports, it had been a journey for “the hottest woman in American television.” Not only does she put in an average 13-hour workday, but she multitasks like crazy. On the day of the magazine interview she was “having a dress-fitting for the White House Correspondents’ Dinner; picking songs and approving script edits for two of the most watched programs in prime time; taking her 1-year-old daughter to the doctor to investigate a mysterious bump.”

And she was writing the season finale to ABC’s hit Scandal, which has an enormous viewership of 8.3 million viewers each week and brought in an estimated $100 million in ad revenue this season.

If that weren’t enough multitasking, Rhimes has even got another magazine feature coming this week in the New York Times Magazine, that you can check out now online.

Rhimes is also the creator of ABC’s other hit show Grey’s Anatomy, making her literally the network’s savior from poor ratings. This 43-year-old single mother of two has become, as Forbes notes, “the Walt Disney Co.’s indispensable creator of an increasingly dispensable product: network television.”

Her two ABC shows are among the most valuable properties in television, pulling in more than $13 million in advertising for each week, just shy of $300 million a season, or about five percent of the network’s total revenue. Add to this tens of millions more for Grey’s syndication and licensing in other countries, which Disney shares with Rhimes’ production company, ShondaLand. Rhimes is pulling in a pretty penny as well. Forbes estimates she earned $12 million this year.

To offer some additional perspective —  broadcast TV audience ratings since 2002 have dropped by half while Rhimes continues to pull them in. “Each week more than 90% of Grey’s viewers stay tuned for Scandal, which follows at 10 p.m., a time slot it has owned in the ratings since its debut,” reports Forbes. Scandal watchers generate a stunning 3,000 tweets a minute during broadcasts.

Besides money and ratings, Rhimes has made network history in more ways than one. She is the only African American show creator to have consecutive hit series. In fact, Scandal is the first network drama written and produced by an African-American woman with an African-American woman in the lead role. And black viewers have responded to this. It is the highest-rated scripted drama among African Americans, with 10.1 percent of black households, or an average of 1.8 million viewers, tuning in.

“What Shonda Rhimes possesses is this extraordinary instinct and compass for what our audience needs,” Paul Lee, the president of ABC Entertainment Group, told the magazine.

But Rhimes remains cautious and aware of television’s fleeting fame. “It’s not like I’ve got this power so I’m going to stomp around doing whatever I want,” she explains to Forbes. “The power is that the network trusts me.”

Click through on those two links to read more about the woman who is ruling network television. Scandal is on tonight. What do you think is going to happen? Make sure to come back to the homepage tomorrow for our recap.

Since the glamour of black and white TV, fashion on-screen has always been a major visual element for viewers, sometimes with audiences tuning in just to see the clothes. Whether you love the fashion, the characters, or both, you are not alone. Not wanting to spoil the entire list for anyone, here are a few of the most fashionable black women to ever grace the small screen — and a few non-brown honorable mentions.