Author: Stacey Wilson

Netflix

To mark the debut of House of Cards season three, THR will be breaking down the biggest moments from each episode every day through March 11. Read the breakdown of the premiere here.

[Warning: spoiler ahead for the House of Cards season-three premiere, “Chapter 28”]

Season three is off to a juicy start, with episode two solidifying that the series is still super hot (and quite steamy, it turns out, in one particular scene.) Here’s the three major developments the second chapter leaves off at:

See more ‘House of Cards’: Frank Underwood’s Most Ruthless Moments

—Claire (Robin Wright) appears before Senate judiciary committee to seek their nomination for the position of UN ambassador and gets raked over the coals by Senator Mendoza (Benito Martinez). Her admittedly rushed words under the hot lights, “The U.S. military is irrelevant” get twisted by Mendoza, resulting in him calling her a “hot-head” with “no experience.” Despite her pleading with various senators via phone later that day to give her a chance, she finds out she’s lost the nomination 52-48 – ruining a perfectly good afternoon spent selecting colored commemorative eggs for the White House’s annual Easter Egg Roll. (She chooses the red one by the way.) Undaunted, Claire pushes Frank to approve her for the UN position during the Senate Recess. He agrees do it with a simple, “OK, I’ll do it.”

— Yikes. Frank’s (Kevin Spacey) team tell him they don’t want him to run for President in 2016 citing low approval ratings. Frank goes into fight mode. “Polls go up and down; we can’t let ourselves be held hostage by public opinion.” In another closed-door meeting, he assures them he won’t merely be a “placeholder” for 18 months and that he “intends to govern,” using America Works as his strongest currency. He announces to the nation that the program will be put into action effectively immediately. And knowing Frank, that whole not-running thing is most likely not off the table.

—Doug (Michael Kelly), now nursing a nasty broken arm from that shower slip, is still recovering at home from his brain injury and developing an interesting habit for coping with the pain (a little whiskey squirt via syringe anyone?). Hard to blame him considering that Remy (Mahershala Ali) and Seth (Derek Cecil) are encroaching on his territory as Frank’s most trusted adviser.

Read more ‘House of Cards’ Creator on Season 3 Obstacles, Netflix Leak and Killing Characters

—And the scene that will likely have everyone gabbing at the virtual water cooler is when, for the first time, viewers see Claire and Frank share an intimate moment — by themselves. (Remember that impromptu three-person party from last season?) After Claire returns from a run and finds Frank in tears, on the floor, and needing a bit of stress relief, she climbs on top of him (still in her sweat-drenched running clothes) and allows Frank to enjoy a rare moment of total submission. Awww, who said they weren’t match made in heaven?

FOX

Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels has added another line to his growing résumé: TV show creator.

Fox announced Tuesday that The Butler director’s hip-hop drama Empire received a series order for the 2014-2015 season. A collaboration with Butler writer Danny Strong, Empire is a family drama set in the world of a hip-hop empire starring Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon, the ex-wife of Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), the head of a record label at the center of the drama. The series also reunites Daniels with his Oscar-nominated Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe, who’s most recently appeared on FX’s American Horror Story: Coven.

STORY: TV Pilots 2014: The Complete Guide

THR spoke with (an elated) Daniels just moments after the announcement about transitioning from film to TV, which of his famous friends said she didn’t think he could ever do a series and whether he will maintain the tradition of wearing pajamas to work.

Congrats on your series order for Empire. How does it feel?

I’m trying to adjust! I’m just so thankful for Fox. This is really some cutting-edge stuff, it’s really out there. They understood my and Danny [Strong’s] vision and they embraced it. They encouraged us to create these incredible characters who are based on real people; family members of mine. I think people will be surprised by the subject matter. They won’t know what to make of some of our situations.

But why do TV now after having such a huge hit last year in The Butler?

Every time you think you have it, there’s another medium. I want to learn. I want to stretch my muscles as a director and work under diff circumstances. When it was pitched to me- Danny pitched it as a movie, like King Lear- I said, “Danny we should be doing TV. We’ve had a film career, let’s switch up the game a little bit.” So it’s stuck. Who would have thunk it?

STORY: Complete Network Scorecard

Are you prepared for the rigor of doing TV? It’s fair to say that you’re a pretty emotional guy.

Actually, everybody said I couldn’t do a TV show.

Who said that? Why?

I can’t say. Someone very famous said it when I was directing her in The Butler. Her name starts with “O.” (Laughs) She said, you can’t do TV! It’s because she knows me so well. Fox doesn’t know me and that’s why that gave me a TV show. No, it’s really wonderful. I’m a filmmaker. I’m always searching for the truth in everything I do. I demand it from my writer partner and my crew, actors and so hopefully we’re making people think. We’re making statements about sexuality, the African-American experience, what happens when you come from extreme poverty and hit it big and you’re a billionaire? What is jail really like?

But why broadcast? Cable would have afforded you more freedom to make the content edgier.

It would have been easy for me to go to HBO, Showtime, Starz … But it was almost like The Butler — it was so hard for me to be PG-13 in that. It was so hard that I was scratching my skin off while I was directing. My shit is R. It’s out there. It sometimes even X. I was uncomfortable doing PG-13. So how do I push myself further? Let’s do this PG! Also now working with notes? That concept is incomprehensible to me. I only get notes from actors. But Fox and the studio have been like, “What do you guys want? Let’s make it happen.” We didn’t get everything. I asked for everything because I’m a pig. A couple things were cut, but for the most part we got what we wanted. We have great team of writers. But here’s the thing. It’s all done through the music. Timbaland has done some music that is off of the chain. So we experience it in a very honest way. It’s not staged. We are Glee without the G. (Laughs). I came up with that two nights ago.

How will music be integrated into the narrative of the show? Similarly to Glee?

Actually, it’s more like Nashville. And The Sopranos, because there is no much violence. And Dynasty. I wanted to make a black Dynasty. You sit there and go, “No, this bitch didn’t! Oh my f–king God!”

There are few shows currently on TV, hardly any on broadcast, populated and created by and black people. Is America ready for a hip-hop series?

(Yelling) Honey, we are here! We are here! And we’re here with here with social issues. And we do it through humor. If you know my movies, you know that. I’m winking at the camera saying, “Gotcha!”  We’re not hammering it over your head.  I’ve never been so humbled. There’s always something else that God has planned.

PHOTOS: Faces of Pilot Season 2014

How will social media figure into your show-creator duties?

I’m on Instagram. I have to call my cousin and he will tell me. I’m not illiterate when it comes to that. I’m so f–king backwards. But my kids tell me to Instagram, so I do that. I gave a few thousand followers. But I think, when my cousin and kids saw the pilot, dad, everyone is going to be Tweeting about this! What does that all mean? Oprah knows. I have to talk to her.

Are you ready for the critical onslaught that is social media?

Well, even my 18-year-old daughter said I couldn’t do TV too. She said, “Dad, you don’t know this world. This isn’t Precious in the ’80s! This is now.” So I had to go out and bring some soul into the process. What’s happening now in music: There’s no Michael Jackson or James Brown. There’s no sweat. There’s no imperfection. All that truth is gone in this overproduced business. I mean, I watched the Grammys and didn’t like anything. For me it’s about being new school with an element of old-school. I think Amy Winehouse was the last truth in music. My daughter saw the show and I sad, I can’t believe you did it! And I said, “Go over there with Oprah!”

Will you wear your signature pajamas on set or choose something more traditionally suitable for making television?

I’m going to show up in my pastel very expensive pajamas and change into my underwear for bed. Why would things be different just because it’s TV? There you go!

FOX

Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels has added another line to his growing résumé: TV show creator.

Fox announced Tuesday that The Butler director’s hip-hop drama Empire received a series order for the 2014-2015 season. A collaboration with Butler writer Danny Strong, Empire is a family drama set in the world of a hip-hop empire starring Taraji P. Henson as Cookie Lyon, the ex-wife of Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), the head of a record label at the center of the drama. The series also reunites Daniels with his Oscar-nominated Precious actress Gabourey Sidibe, who’s most recently appeared on FX’s American Horror Story: Coven.

STORY: TV Pilots 2014: The Complete Guide

THR spoke with (an elated) Daniels just moments after the announcement about transitioning from film to TV, which of his famous friends said she didn’t think he could ever do a series and whether he will maintain the tradition of wearing pajamas to work.

Congrats on your series order for Empire. How does it feel?

I’m trying to adjust! I’m just so thankful for Fox. This is really some cutting-edge stuff, it’s really out there. They understood my and Danny [Strong’s] vision and they embraced it. They encouraged us to create these incredible characters who are based on real people; family members of mine. I think people will be surprised by the subject matter. They won’t know what to make of some of our situations.

But why do TV now after having such a huge hit last year in The Butler?

Every time you think you have it, there’s another medium. I want to learn. I want to stretch my muscles as a director and work under diff circumstances. When it was pitched to me- Danny pitched it as a movie, like King Lear- I said, “Danny we should be doing TV. We’ve had a film career, let’s switch up the game a little bit.” So it’s stuck. Who would have thunk it?

STORY: Complete Network Scorecard

Are you prepared for the rigor of doing TV? It’s fair to say that you’re a pretty emotional guy.

Actually, everybody said I couldn’t do a TV show.

Who said that? Why?

I can’t say. Someone very famous said it when I was directing her in The Butler. Her name starts with “O.” (Laughs) She said, you can’t do TV! It’s because she knows me so well. Fox doesn’t know me and that’s why that gave me a TV show. No, it’s really wonderful. I’m a filmmaker. I’m always searching for the truth in everything I do. I demand it from my writer partner and my crew, actors and so hopefully we’re making people think. We’re making statements about sexuality, the African-American experience, what happens when you come from extreme poverty and hit it big and you’re a billionaire? What is jail really like?

But why broadcast? Cable would have afforded you more freedom to make the content edgier.

It would have been easy for me to go to HBO, Showtime, Starz … But it was almost like The Butler — it was so hard for me to be PG-13 in that. It was so hard that I was scratching my skin off while I was directing. My shit is R. It’s out there. It sometimes even X. I was uncomfortable doing PG-13. So how do I push myself further? Let’s do this PG! Also now working with notes? That concept is incomprehensible to me. I only get notes from actors. But Fox and the studio have been like, “What do you guys want? Let’s make it happen.” We didn’t get everything. I asked for everything because I’m a pig. A couple things were cut, but for the most part we got what we wanted. We have great team of writers. But here’s the thing. It’s all done through the music. Timbaland has done some music that is off of the chain. So we experience it in a very honest way. It’s not staged. We are Glee without the G. (Laughs). I came up with that two nights ago.

How will music be integrated into the narrative of the show? Similarly to Glee?

Actually, it’s more like Nashville. And The Sopranos, because there is no much violence. And Dynasty. I wanted to make a black Dynasty. You sit there and go, “No, this bitch didn’t! Oh my f–king God!”

There are few shows currently on TV, hardly any on broadcast, populated and created by and black people. Is America ready for a hip-hop series?

(Yelling) Honey, we are here! We are here! And we’re here with here with social issues. And we do it through humor. If you know my movies, you know that. I’m winking at the camera saying, “Gotcha!”  We’re not hammering it over your head.  I’ve never been so humbled. There’s always something else that God has planned.

PHOTOS: Faces of Pilot Season 2014

How will social media figure into your show-creator duties?

I’m on Instagram. I have to call my cousin and he will tell me. I’m not illiterate when it comes to that. I’m so f–king backwards. But my kids tell me to Instagram, so I do that. I gave a few thousand followers. But I think, when my cousin and kids saw the pilot, dad, everyone is going to be Tweeting about this! What does that all mean? Oprah knows. I have to talk to her.

Are you ready for the critical onslaught that is social media?

Well, even my 18-year-old daughter said I couldn’t do TV too. She said, “Dad, you don’t know this world. This isn’t Precious in the ’80s! This is now.” So I had to go out and bring some soul into the process. What’s happening now in music: There’s no Michael Jackson or James Brown. There’s no sweat. There’s no imperfection. All that truth is gone in this overproduced business. I mean, I watched the Grammys and didn’t like anything. For me it’s about being new school with an element of old-school. I think Amy Winehouse was the last truth in music. My daughter saw the show and I sad, I can’t believe you did it! And I said, “Go over there with Oprah!”

Will you wear your signature pajamas on set or choose something more traditionally suitable for making television?

I’m going to show up in my pastel very expensive pajamas and change into my underwear for bed. Why would things be different just because it’s TV? There you go!