UCP is developing a scripted limited series about the Little Rock Nine with Seth MacFarlane and Chadwick Boseman attached to executive produce, the studio announced Tuesday.
The untitled series is based on the memoir “A Mighty Long Way: My Journey to Justice at Little Rock Central High” by Carlotta Walls LaNier, the youngest member of The Little Rock Nine and the first African American woman to graduate from the integrated school. “She’s Gotta Have It” writer Eisa Davis will serve as writer and executive producer.
The project marks the first foray into television for Boseman’s X•ception Content. It is being developed at UCP — a division Universal Studio Group — under MacFarlane’s company Fuzzy Door’s overall television deal with NBCUniversal.
In 1957, after the landmark Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education, 14 year-old Carlotta Walls is among the first black students to attend the all-white Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas. She walks into an unexpectedly violent struggle against integration, which suddenly turns her and the other black students into civil rights icons. For Carlotta – a teenager at the center of a cataclysmic moment in American history – graduating with her diploma means risking her life. But Carlotta searches for a way to keep her humanity intact at school and beyond, losing then regaining her selfhood in a coming of age leavened by humor, family, friendship, and solidarity.
Walls LaNier will serve as a consultant on the project. Executive producers include Davis, MacFarlane and Huggins for Fuzzy Door, Boseman and Logan Coles for X•ception, as well as Nick Marell, Coby Greenberg and Joe Micucci.
7 TV Shows That Have Cracked Real Mysteries, From 'The Jinx' to 'Unsolved Mysteries' (Photos)
The debut of Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" reboot earlier this month has set off a clamoring for cold cases to be reopened and brought to justice. In that spirit, we've compiled a list of TV shows that have actually solved crimes, exonerated people, and found answers to the unknown, from "The Jinx" miniseries that lead to the arrest of Robert Durst, to "Extinct or Alive," which found a living animal thought to have died out over 100 years ago.
Robert Durst in HBO's "The Jinx"
"Unsolved Mysteries"
Back before the Netflix reboot, this classic series was on network television. Creator Terry Meurer told TheWrap that during its original 23-year run, the series helped to solve over 260 cold cases. She has high hopes that this new incarnation of the series will have the same luck.
Netflix
"Cold Justice"
This crime series from Dick Wolf and Magical Elves works with local law enforcement to solve cold cases. The resulted thus far: 45 arrests and 18 convictions, according to Oxygen.
Oxygen
"The Jinx"
This miniseries written by "All Good Things" director Andrew Jarecki led to Robert Durst's long-awaited arrest for the murder of Susan Berman just one day before the finale of "The Jinx" aired on TV. Durst had admired Jarecki's work on "All Good Things" and had offered to be interviewed for the miniseries.
HBO
"Extinct or Alive"
This one has more to do with animals than humans, but we have to give Animal Planet credit for discovering live members of a species that was believed to have been extinct. Last year, series host and biologist Forrest Galante found a female Fernandina Tortoise -- presumed extinct since 1906 -- on a remote volcanic island in the Galapagos.
Photo credit Mark Romanov and John Harrington
"Expedition Unknown"
Host Josh Gates took part in finding one of 12 treasure boxes that were buried in different American cities nearly 40 years ago by Bryon Preiss, whose 1982 book "The Secret" gave elaborate clues to the boxes whereabouts. In one episode, Gates meets a family who located the Boston box.
Discovery
"America's Most Wanted"
This long-running Fox series was successful in finding many fugitives wanted by the FBI, including Ricky Allen Bright, Steven Ray Stout, Robert Lee Jones and more, according to CBS News.
Fox
"Curb Your Enthusiasm"
This Larry David HBO series unknowingly captured the key to freeing Juan Catalan, a man who was on death row for a murder he did not commit. "Curb" had been filming at Dodger Stadium on the day of the murder, providing evidence that Catalan was watching the game with his 6-year-old daughter and could not have been at the crime scene. Catalan and David both later appeared in the 2017 Netflix documentary "Long Shot."
Netflix
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These shows have lead to both arrests and exonerations
The debut of Netflix's "Unsolved Mysteries" reboot earlier this month has set off a clamoring for cold cases to be reopened and brought to justice. In that spirit, we've compiled a list of TV shows that have actually solved crimes, exonerated people, and found answers to the unknown, from "The Jinx" miniseries that lead to the arrest of Robert Durst, to "Extinct or Alive," which found a living animal thought to have died out over 100 years ago.