Six All-New Episodes to Premiere in 2021
NEW YORK – June 17, 2020 – AMC and IFC announced today the renewal of the Critics’ Choice Awards-nominated variety series Sherman’s Showcase for a second season ahead of the show’s one-hour “Black History Month Spectacular” premiering this Friday, June 19th at 10PM ET/PT on AMC and 11PM ET/PT on IFC. Six all-new, 30-minute episodes are slated to air in 2021.
Created by and starring Bashir Salahuddin (Top Gun: Maverick, South Side) and Diallo Riddle (Marlon, South Side), and executive produced by Get Lifted Film Co. (Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered, Rhythm + Flow), and RadicalMedia (What Happened, Miss Simone?, GRANT), the witty, irreverent and wholly original Sherman’s Showcase features sketches, cultural nostalgia, A-list guest stars, and original award-winning songs that, all together, earned the series a 100% Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes and inclusion on ‘Best of 2019’ lists.
“Sherman McDaniels has been a staple in American culture for almost 50 years and shows no signs of slowing down…or aging at all,” said creators and stars Salahuddin and Riddle. “We’re thrilled to return to the uniquely nerdy, quirky, silkily soulful and musical world of Sherman’s Showcase. It’s all our favorite things and now it’s on AMC and IFC. Season 2’s so big, it needs two networks.”
Said Sarah Barnett, President of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, “It’s rare today for a show to develop a highly passionate fanbase, get raves from critics and infiltrate popular culture. Sherman’s Showcase has done all three and we’re thrilled to put it in front of AMC audiences alongside IFC’s devoted fans. Bashir and Diallo are fantastically talented, we are all waiting with baited breath to collectively witness the continued evolution of Sherman McDaniels, American icon.”
Sherman’s Showcase will roll out its “Black History Month Spectacular” this Friday, by honoring historic African-American icons both past and present, alongside superheroes, period dramas, vampires, and a very special re-imagining of the cult film The Last Dragon. The New York Times says: “It’s one of the rare comedies capable of surprising its viewers.”
Guest stars in the “Black History Month Spectacular” include (in alphabetical order) rapper Phonte Coleman, Michael Ealy (Stumptown, Westworld), journalist Jemele Hill, Lil Rel Howery (Get Out, Rel), actor and TV host Terrence J, series executive producer and Emmy®-, GRAMMY®-, Oscar®– and Tony®-winner John Legend, rapper and activist Vic Mensa, Vanderpump Rules’ Tom Sandoval and Tom Schwartz, GRAMMY® winner Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, GRAMMY® winner Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter, Tyrin Turner (Menace II Society), Mario Van Peebles (Heartbreak Ridge), Bresha Webb (Marlon, The Last O.G.) and more.
Sherman’s Showcase has been called “the best variety series of the summer” says Complex, “side-splitting” says Salon, “a glittering heap of invention” says Vulture and “a trippy, chill satire of a ‘Soul Train’-ish variety show that doubles as a love letter to black pop culture, a science-fiction experiment, and a good party,” says The New Yorker. Season one is currently available to watch on Hulu, iTunes, Google Play, Amazon and XBOX.
Full-length versions of the songs from the series are available via digital release and vinyl from Mad Decent, the Los Angeles-based record label founded by Thomas Wesley Pentz, better known as Diplo. The “Black History Month Spectacular” album was released this week and is available here.
Creators and stars Diallo Riddle and Bashir Salahuddin serve as executive producers on the series, along with John Legend, Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorious through their Get Lifted Film Co. (La La Land, Underground, Jesus Christ Superstar). Pete Aronson serves as executive producer, and Frank Scherma and Jim Bouvet of RadicalMedia also executive produce.
AMC Studios Content Distribution is managing worldwide sales of the show.
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ABOUT AMC
AMC is home to some of the most popular and acclaimed programs on television. AMC was the first basic cable network to ever win the Emmy® Award for Outstanding Drama Series with Mad Men in 2008, which then went on to win the coveted award four years in a row, before Breaking Bad won it in 2013 and 2014. The network’s series The Walking Dead is the highest-rated series in cable history. AMC’s current original drama series are Better Call Saul, Dispatches from Elsewhere, Fear the Walking Dead, NOS4A2, Quiz, Soulmates, The Terror, The Walking Dead, The Walking Dead: World Beyondand the recently greenlit 61st Street, Kevin Can F**k Himself, Pantheon and National Anthem. AMC also explores authentic worlds and discussion with original shows like Talking Dead, AMC Visionaries and Ride with Norman Reedus. AMC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc. and its sister networks include IFC, SundanceTV, BBC America and WE tv. AMC is available across all platforms, including on-air, online, on demand and mobile.
ABOUT IFC
IFC is the home of offbeat, unexpected comedies. Acclaimed series Documentary Now!, Brockmire, Sherman’s Showcase Baroness von Sketch Show, and Year of the Rabbit air alongside fan-favorite movies and comedic cult TV shows. IFC is owned and operated by AMC Networks Inc., and available across multiple platforms. IFC is Always On, Slightly Off.
ABOUT RADICALMEDIA
RadicalMedia is a global media and communications company that produces award-winning content across all platforms of media including Oscar®, Emmy®, Grammy® Golden Globe Award®-winning titles. Originally renowned for its commercial and advertising success, founders Jon Kamen and Frank Scherma have grown the company to be a top producer of premium content creation including television, feature films, live events and interactive design. The independent global production company has created a unique culture and creative ecosystem that continues to embrace the future and push innovation by collaborating with a community of legendary artists, directors, producers, editors, coders, thinkers, makers and doers. RadicalMedia’s Academy Award win and nominations include The Fog of War, Paradise Lost and What Happened, Miss Simone? Recently announced Film and TV titles include David Byrne’s American Utopia, directed by Spike Lee, coming to HBO this fall; Black Woodstock, directed by Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson; Jeffrey Epstein: Filthy Rich for Netflix; GRANT miniseries for History Channel; and Hamilton the movie, coming to Disney + July 3. More information on recent projects and credits can be found at www.radicalmedia.com and on Instagram.
ABOUT GET LIFTED FILM CO.
Get Lifted Film Co., a Los Angeles based production company, was launched by Emmy and Tony Award-winning producer Mike Jackson, founder and CEO of the entertainment management and social-impact company Friends At Work, Ty Stiklorius, and EGOT recipient and award-winning producer John Legend. Get Lifted has developed television projects with major networks including ABC, NBC, FOX, HBO, Showtime, Netflix and MTV. The company executive produced Damien Chazelle’s Oscar®-winning musical La La Land, as well as NBC’s 2018 Jesus Christ Superstar Live In Concert. The NBC special won both a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Variety Special Live and a Broadcast Critics Choice Award. Their film All Rise premiered in the Dramatic Competition at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and their documentary United Skates won the 2018 Audience Award at Tribeca Film Festival.
Get Lifted also executive produced Richard Tanne’s Obama romance, Southside With You, WGN America’s critically acclaimed drama, Underground, Pop Network’s docu-series Sing It On, HBO’s 2015 documentary Southern Rites and Can You Dig This, which won the LA Film Festival’s Jury Award that same year. Their acclaimed Broadway productions include “Jitney,” the 2017 Tony Award-winning revival of August Wilson’s play. Most recently, Get Lifted produced the IFC comedy series Sherman’s Showcase, Rhythm + Flow for Netflix, which won the 2020 NAACP Image Award, Atlanta’s Missing and Murdered: The Lost Children, a five-part documentary series for HBO, and ABC’s “John Legend and Family: A Bigger Love Father’s Day,” special premiering on June 21, 2020.
Their forthcoming projects include David E. Talbert’s holiday film Jingle Jangle for Netflix, the documentary Giving Voice, which premiered at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, and sports drama Signing Day in partnership with Steph Curry’s Unanimous Media for Sony Pictures, a female-fronted film written by Adam Hoff about a modern-day Jerry Maguire.
Get Lifted is represented by WME and Nina Shaw of Del, Shaw, Moonves, Tanaka, Finklestein and Lezcano.