The courtroom drama “All Rise” was something rare for CBS when it made its debut in September: a prime-time drama with a Black woman as its protagonist. After bringing in an average of more than five million viewers per episode, it was renewed for a second season in May. But almost from the start of production last summer, many of the staff writers clashed with the show runner, Greg Spottiswood, over how the program handled race and gender. Now that work is underway for the second season of “All Rise,” which stars Simone Missick as an idealistic Los Angeles judge, five writers from the original staff of seven are gone. In an effort to make it of the moment, Mr. Spottiswood, a white writer-producer, changed the main character to a Black woman.

Source: New York Times August 20, 2020 06:56 UTC