Empire, on FOX
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Caution: spoilers.

So... this is vaguely based on "King Lear." In this case, the "king" is Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), the CEO of Empire Entertainment (which began as a music label, and now includes numerous business ventures). Lucious began his career as a drug dealer, before becoming a hugely successful hip-hop artist and later a businessman. But his company wouldn't even exist if not for his ex-wife, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), who has recently gotten out of prison after seventeen years. She'd been his partner in drug dealing, and she took the rap for him all those years ago, as well as providing the startup capital for Empire. Now that she's back, she wants to claim half the company for herself, though Lucious isn't about to just hand it over. Meanwhile, he's been diagnosed with ALS, a fact which he keeps secret from almost everyone, for most of the first season. But knowing that he's likely going to die within a few years, he now must decide which of his three sons he wants to take over the Empire when he's gone. On top of all that, he's planning to take Empire public, so throughout the first season we continually hear of the impending IPO, and numerous threats that could potentially ruin that plan before it even happens. One of those threats is the possibility of the public learning of his medical condition, so even after he finally reveals the truth to his family, they must keep it a secret from everyone else. Most importantly, it must remain a secret from Billy Baretti, the head of Creedmoor Entertainment, Empire's chief competitor.

Anyway. Lucious and Cookie's oldest son is Andre, who is Empire's CFO. From a business standpoint, he seems like the most obvious choice to take over the company someday. But there are a few counts against him. For one, he isn't a musical artist, unlike Lucious's other two sons, and that makes it hard for his father to fully accept him. Also, he suffers from bipolar disorder. And he's married to a white woman, Rhonda, a fact which Lucious hates. The middle son is Jamal, a talented singer-songwriter (and I would say the most likable character on the show). But his relationship with his father is fiercely strained, because Lucious cannot accept the fact that Jamal is gay. The youngest son is Hakeem, an up-and-coming hip-hop artist. He's his father's favorite, but he's also very irresponsible, more interested in fun and fame than business. Meanwhile, Cookie begins managing a number of artists at Empire, including Jamal. She believes he's the one who should inherit the company. But Andre and Rhonda have plans of their own, and they receive help from Lucious's business partner, Vernon Turner, who believes Andre deserves to take over the company. The head of A&R at Empire is Anika Calhoun, who is also Lucious's girlfriend, and later his fiancée. However, she's keeping a secret of her own, which... I won't spoil just yet. And there are numerous other characters, whom I'll refrain from mentioning, for now.

Well, the show is basically a soap opera (though it's one of those shows I'm torn between labeling "soap opera" or "drama"), so it all gets pretty melodramatic. But it's an interesting story, with well-drawn characters, and there's plenty of good music. It quickly became a big success, both critically and ratings-wise, and the breakout character is Cookie. She's amusing, and I like how strong and determined she is, and her abrasiveness is a big part of her charm. She's also one of the few characters I don't find particularly unlikable. All the characters have their good points, and reasons to empathize with them, and the show itself occasionally has moments of real heart. But most of the time, there are plenty of reasons to dislike most of the major characters, because they can all (with the exception of Jamal) do some pretty bad things. Especially Lucious. Anyway, by the end of the season, there are some major plot developments, and it would be difficult to explain (or even remember) all the things that led to each development. But I need to reveal a few things. Early in the season, Lucious murdered his old friend (and Cookie's cousin), Marcus "Bunkie" Williams, who was trying to extort millions of dollars from him, and threatening to ruin the IPO. It looked for awhile like Lucious would be a suspect in the murder, but it didn't take too long for him and his allies to make that problem go away. But eventually, Anika left him (for unrelated reasons), and it turned out she was working with Baretti. Later, Lucious learns that he'd been misdiagnosed; he actually has a non-fatal disease called MG. He tries to make amends with each of his sons for the terrible things he's done throughout their lives, and names Jamal as the new Vice Chairman of Empire. However, just about everyone else will side with Anika in an attempted hostile takeover by Creedmoor. And on the day of the IPO, Lucious is arrested for Bunkie's murder.

There may be some important things I'm forgetting, and certainly lots I'm leaving out. It's pretty clear that Lucious has just begun to fight, and things are probably going to get even more intense next season. Unfortunately, I fell out of the habit of watching after season one. I'm not sure why.