A Busy Night of Premieres: Atlanta, StartUp, and Queen Sugar

The fall season is already ramping up.  Here are a few shows premiering tonight that you may want to check out.

- Atlanta on FX:  This new show combines two cousins in Atlanta and the music industry (here is the trailer).  Whereas Empire shows us the gold at the end of the rainbow, this series highlights the search for that rainbow. The New York Times provided it with an overall positive review, commenting:

The Atlanta of “Atlanta” is above all a layer cake of African-American life, bourgeois and street, hipster and old school. Even in a more diverse TV environment, it’s a statement for a marquee show to be this immersively black (including, unusually for television, the writing staff).

- StartUp on Crackle:  This new series seems to be a mix of Halt and Catch Fire, Mr. Robot, and a much darker Miami Vice.  And what is Bilbo Baggins doing here?  Actually, some great acting.  Here is the trailer and some background: 

Set in the steamy streets of Miami, what do a young banker from Brickell, a gorgeous Cuban hacker from Haileah, and a thug from Little Haiti have in common?‎ In Crackle's new scripted drama, “StartUp,", the answer is made abundantly clear during 10 hour-long episodes that explore the launch of GenCoin, a potentially revolutionary idea for an unregulated digital currency. Created, directed, written and executive produced by, Ben Ketai (“Chosen,” THE FOREST), the unexpected and fast-paced narrative focuses on the deadly tech war that ignites around the creation of this ingenious algorithm.

Untaxed, untraceable and a possible game changer in the world of finance, GenCoin is incubated on the wrong side of the tracks in the unconstrained and opportunistic streets of Miami by three unlikely allies who don’t necessarily fit the mold of tech entrepreneurs: Adam Brody (“CHiPS,” “The League”) as shrewd financier Nick Talman, Edi Gathegi (“The Blacklist,” “The Blacklist: Redemption”) as Haitian gang leader Ronald Dacey, and Otmara Marrero (“Graceland”) as tech entrepreneur Izzy Morales. Also starring is Martin Freeman (“Fargo,” “Sherlock”) as the brilliant, yet irrational FBI agent Phil Rask who is out to take them down.

Haitian narcotraffickers, sleazy bankers and crooked cops are all at the core of this gritty and provocative thriller which exposes how people corrupt money and examines what happens when high-tech erodes government control of society. Welcome to “StartUp” where even the good get dirty.

- Queen Sugar on OWN:  Oprah's Network has a new series about the tribulations of a sugar cane family in Louisiana.  This trailer shows you a pretty complex story that is only touched upon below: 

The contemporary drama “Queen Sugar” chronicles the lives and loves of the estranged Bordelon siblings in Saint Josephine, Louisiana: Nova (Rutina Wesley “True Blood”), a world-wide journalist and activist; Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner “Unforgettable”), the savvy wife and manager of an NBA star; and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe “Awkward”), a formerly incarcerated young father in search of redemption. 

 After a family tragedy, the Bordelons must navigate the triumphs and struggles of their complicated lives in order to run an ailing sugarcane farm in the Deep South. Led by acclaimed film director DuVernay, who directed the first two episodes, all episodes in the series’ debut season are directed by women.