‘Unprisoned’ Showrunner Yvette Lee Bowser Says TV “Absolutely Making Progress” With Black Stories

Yvette Lee Bowser points to Unprisoned — Onyx’s first scripted comedy that stars Kerry Washington and Delroy Lindo — as a key example of how far TV has come when it comes to telling contemporary Black stories.

“We are absolutely making progress,” said Bowser, whose numerous credits include A Different World, Living Single, black-ish and now serving as showrunner on Unprisoned. “I’ve been in the business 35 years. It’s beginning to change. It’s incredibly cathartic and incredibly rewarding to be here to shepherd such a beautiful, fresh story … we as Black writers have been fighting to tell a story. Now we find ourselves in a period of time that we can go deeper, much deeper, why we struggle to love.”

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Inspired by the life of author Tracy McMillan, Unprisoned is a half-hour about “a messy but perfectionist relationship therapist and single mom whose life is turned right-side-up when her dad gets out of prison and moves in with her and her teenage son.” The eight-episode series from ABC Signature premieres March 10 on Hulu.

Washington (Scandal) plays Paige Alexander, a marriage and family therapist and mom to 16-year-old Finn. Her formerly incarcerated father Edwin — whom Bowser describes as a “Black Ted Lasso” — is played by Delroy Lindo.

The star of The Good Fight echoed Bowser’s optimism about the evolution of the TV industry, which includes the launch of Onyx Collective in 2021 with the purpose of curating programming by creators of color.

“Things are different,” Lindo told reporters Saturday at the Television Critics Tour. “The fact that being here, listening to the intelligence and brilliance of my colleagues and the fact that their intelligence, that brilliance, that commitment, that vision can be brought together into a TV show is indicative of a significant difference. I would also say that in terms of my own personal arc of my career, just the projects I’ve done in last few years like The Harder They Fall, Da Five Bloods .. they were what I called historical correctives. This is, in its own way, is a present-day corrective. It’s looking at a family story through a different lens. We are very fortunate to have creators for whom this is not just a creative journey, but a personal journey.”

The goal of the comedy, says both McMillan and Washington, is to change hearts and minds around people who are impacted by mass incarceration.

“There are a number of people who go through that system. You think about the system and how it impacts personal lives,” Washington says. “[Here’s an] opportunity to take a lens and explore these racist institutions and they impact the everyday lie of families, but in a way that is fun and loving.”

McMillan (Mad Men) serves as executive producer, along with Bowser (Living Single). Other exec producers include Joy Gorman Wettels (13 Reasons Why) with Anonymous Content, Jen Braeden (Love, Victor) and Kevin Bray, who directed the first episode.

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