Tom Creo

Great fun last night. Loved the dinner scene. Laughed my ass off at Miss Cookie shaking her thang to Puma's cut.

I really like the Lucious/Jamal scene. I almost got a sense of longing from Lucious. Got me thinking he want's Jamal's approval/love. Pretty deep.

Frederic

Excellent! I'd say that they made the right decision in renewing this show so early.

Red Dog

That was great.

Matt925

I usually don't go for shows like this but it is really entertaining and well done. Great show.

PhantomStranger

It's simply been a very good show every episode. It will hold on to its ratings if this level of quality continues.

DJariya

Solid episode. The show is on fire. I loved Lucious beating the shit out of that manager behind closed doors.

at Andre and Rhonda re enacting him boning the Deputy Mayor. Those two are freaks.

I loved seeing steam coming out of Lucious' ears when Jamal was singing that song that Puma wrote for Cookie. And yes, Cookie was awesome again. Her rivalry with Anika is like Crystal and Alexis on Dynasty.

at Hakeem with Naomi Campbell and his Mommy issues.

Who am I to you? My Mama...

Can't wait for more next week.

flashburn

I keep getting douchechills whenever Jamal sings with autotune and he doesn't even have a mic. I know it's a minor thing, but it bugs the shit out of me. Entertaining but silly soap opera, I just wish it was a more serious show.

PhantomStranger

It's inevitable this show will only get soapier as it runs.

morriscroy

Wonder what is the likelihood of this show being released on bluray.

If Fox bothers at all, most likely the release strategy will be similar to their cable shows on bluray. (ie. A success like Homeland, or discontinued after the first season like The Americans, The Bridge, The Killing, etc ...).

DJariya

Episode 4 of 13

Frederic

This was not a good episode!

Jadzia

"What I want most of all is for you to put donkey kong in a barrel and get the hell out of my office."

Ash Ketchum

I watched it last night, the first time I've watched a contemporary network drama--as it aired--in about 20 years. In the morning I had read a piece in The New York Times about the series' use of music and I found it intriguing, so I watched last night's episode ("False Imposition"). It's a corny Hollywood melodrama set in a gritty, urban, black milieu. It gives us two very good actors as black people in positions of power at the center of the narrative. I don't think I've ever seen a primetime soap that did that. I enjoyed it in the same way I enjoy old Hollywood melodramas.

So I mentioned it to a younger black co-worker today, someone who follows contemporary TV dramas in a way that I don't and he had nothing good to say about the show. He didn't find any of it plausible and he mentioned, as examples, narrative incidents that happened in previous episodes that weren't even mentioned in this one.

So I guess this show is best enjoyed by old white farts like myself.

RichC2

Yeah, but it's also the most watched scripted drama currently airing in 18 - 49 year olds (4.3), of course Walking Dead is off the air right now. It's also one of the most watched shows in terms of overall audience (10.5 - 11.5m viewers live). It's a trashy soap in primetime.

My 75 year old (very white) father also enjoys it, and a lot of Dynasty/Dallas folks seem to be tuning in. To note the only other shows he watches are Gotham and Arrow, now that Korra is off the air.

Red Dog

at how the cops toss the place and just leave the kid sitting there (after he hid the gun).


Agree completely with Rich above.

Take out the old farts part. I'm not surprised that this would be more popular with whites than blacks. Like I said after the pilot, it has that Dynasty vibe except that it just happens to be set in the black hip hop universe.

MikahC

Kind of relating to some of the comments here, here's an article from a black columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times:

Mary Mitchell - Fox's 'Empire' revives 'blaxploitation' genre

lisadoris

That was hilarious! Though I'm not an old white fart, I enjoy the show. It's a telenovela with African Americans and it knows it's completely batpoop crazy so that helps. I think Mitchell's article missed one important factor: television in general is obsessed with antiheroes at the moment and the shows she listed are simply following that trend. For some reason folks have no problems with 24, The Shield, or Broadway Empire, but they get their underwear in a bunch over Scandal or Empire (and I don't think Cookie is a back stabber; she's been stabbed in the back and is doing what she has to do to navigate in shark infested waters).

Giantrobo

I love this show but I can see why some Blacks won't support it.

Jadzia

According to this article:

PhantomStranger

It is kind of funny they have token white characters.

clckworang

I agree. I've been enjoying this show in a guilty pleasure kind of way, but I thought this latest episode was just bad.

clckworang

Broadway Empire. Ha, ha. Now that would be an interesting show!

lisadoris

Oops, didn't notice that mistake. I'm quite sure that a series about the underhanded shenanigans of a Broadway show would be interesting and feature one or two antiheroes.

Defiant1

No it would not. It was called Smash, and it was baaaad.

As for Empire, it is truly a phenomenon in black households and is very popular overall. Twitter just lights up after every episode airs.

dex14