CBC and BET+ NEW SERIES ABOUT THE PORTERS LAUNCHES DURING BHM

  

 The Porter - Fictional But True

There was no better day for the CBC to sit down and talk to Caribbean Camera about their new TV series The Porter than last Tuesday – the start of Black History Month in Canada. When the new Series goes to air on February 21 The Porter will have the distinction of being the country’s largest Black-led TV series.

The Social Media Astroturfing had already begun when the Caribbean Camera snagged a cross-North America Zoom sit-down interview with the principal actors, producers, and writers. 

Dance. Drama. Action. This high-quality series celebrates the lives, untold stories and achievements of the Black train porters and their families in Canada.

The Camera has agreed to embargo those interviews for the next two weeks so as to not steal the thunder of the opening night launch of CBC TV and Gem TV.  The Porter will also be airing in the US on BET+ TV but that premier date has not been announced by the American Black TV network. 

“The series aims to use the power of TV to reframe Black Canadian history by featuring the fullness and diversity of the Black diaspora -- including those who immigrated to Canada from the small island nations in the Caribbean and ended up making a big impact in Canada and beyond -- in an effort to inspire and empower,” explains the CBC press team.

Set in the early 1920s, THE Porter follows train porters Junior Massey and Zeke Garrett, Junior’s wife Marlene, and club dancer and performer Lucy, as a tragedy in the community sets them on different paths to a better life. 

Junior pursues money and power in gambling and bootlegging, Zeke fights the railway to change the system from within by unionizing the Black porters. Marlene works as a Black Cross nurse while Lucy takes her success into her own hands – whatever the cost. 

Scene from The Porter  (R)

The Porter stars Canada and the US’s top Black television actors including Aml Ameen (I May Destroy You, Yardie); and the one and only Alfre Woodard.(Grey’s Atomy).  Canadian actors include Olunike Adeliyi (Titans, American Gods) Ronnie Rowe Jr. (Star Trek: Discovery, Pretty Hard Cases), Mouna Traoré (Self Made, The Umbrella Academy); Loren Lott (American Idol, Tag),) Rowe and Traore were both born and raised here in Toronto. Traore’s mother is from Haiti and her father is from Mali. Rowe just wrapped his fourth season on the hit sci-fi series Star Trek Discovery.

The  new series will be broadcast on CBC TV and streamed on GEM  CBC's digital video  service. Season 1 of The Porter premieres Monday, February 21 at 9 p.m. on CBC and CBC Gem.  

Front Page Article by Stephen Weir