Morgan Beard
Staff Writer
After nine months of countless advertisements exhilarating viewers everywhere, “Atlanta” was finally released on television on Tuesday, Sept. 6, 2016. The comedy-drama television series was created by and stars Donald Glover. Paul Simms and Dianne McGunigle serve as executive producers.
Glover, a man of many talents, started work as a writer on “30 Rock” in 2006 before landing a starring role on “Community” from 2009 to 2014. He has been nominated for Grammys for his music as a hip-hop artist, releasing three albums under the alias Childish Gambino and he is also a stand-up comedian.
The show centers on Earnest “Earn” Marks (Donald Glover), a young Princeton dropout turned manager who tries to redeem himself in the eyes of his girlfriend Van (Zazie Beetz) and mother of his daughter, his parents and his cousin, Alfred “ Paper Boi” Miles (Brian Henry). Having dropped out of Princeton, Earn has no money and no home, and alternates between staying with his parents and his girlfriend.
Keith Stanfield stars as Darius, Alfred’s right-hand man and visionary. Once Earn realizes that his cousin is on the verge of becoming the hottest new rapper, he desperately seeks to reconnect in order to improve his life and the life of his daughter. The two cousins work through the Atlanta music scene in order to better their lives and the lives of their families.
Ramone Ward, a sophomore business administration major from Atlanta, Ga., said, “When I first heard about the show, I was a little bit stand-offish because I don’t really mess with Childish Gambino like that, but when I started watching the show, I immediately loved it. Everything portrayed in the show was just like how things are in the city.”
Earn’s immediate needs take precedence mainly, scraping together enough money to pay rent, preserve his relationship with Van and save what he can for his kid. His friends seem content to do the same.
Kwame Bowens, a senior criminal justice major from Atlanta, Ga., is a big fan of the show.
“The show reminds me of home while I’m away from home. Childish is my guy musically and comically, so I have to mess with it,” said Bowens.
According to indiewire.com, while not a problem from a strictly creative standpoint, this kind of storytelling has proven too trying for a generation of viewers accustomed to constant entertainment.
Based on the first five episodes, the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gives the first season an approval rating of 100%, based on 54 reviews, with an average rating of 8.9/10.
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