'Platinum' Gets Cancelled
By Charlie Remsburg
Date: 5/16/2003 2:22 pm
The hip-hop drama “Platinum” has not been renewed for the fall season, representatives for UPN confirmed with AllHipHop.com. After starting with near record-breaking ratings, the show’s Nielson status plummeted.
“Its not coming back next year,” a rep for UPN said, “The ratings were the same as ‘Haunted’ was when we cancelled it last year.”
"Platinum" was a hip-hop family saga based on two brothers, Jackson and Grady Ellis (Jason George and rapper Sticky Fingaz of Onyx), who ran an independent record company.
The Sophia Coppola-produced show was a huge success initially, garnering it extremely high reviews and generated significant controversy for its content. Even mogul Russell Simmons spoke out in support of the realism of the plot.
The show delved primarily into the seedy underbelly of the music industry, something that Naji Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. said was the curse of the show.
“If they were true to making a real hip-hop show, they wouldn’t have focused on the negative,” Ali told AllHipHop.com. “We are vindicated.” When the show debuted Ali and his organization proposed a boycott of the show if the creators didn’t attempt to change the content.
While the boycott never happened, Ali said he followed the Nielson ratings closely and watched the show’s viewership decline steadily. But, he maintains that he isn’t pleased ‘Platinum’ is off the air.
“Hip-Hop loses. We had a chance to have a national voice with ‘Platinum,’” he said. “I am disappointed but we are vindicated.”
While many may not be aware of “Platinum’s” passing, there are some fans of the show that are saddened at the cancellation.
“They just left us hanging with the ending. The should have pushed it like they did in the beginning instead of leaving it out there,” one fan said. “It needs to get put on cable anyway. It was too raw for primetime. I still watched it every week.”
Rapper Eve will pop up next season with her sitcom “Opposite Sex,” but the Ruff Ryder isn’t a replacement for ‘Platinum,’ the rep stated.
By Charlie Remsburg
Date: 5/16/2003 2:22 pm
The hip-hop drama “Platinum” has not been renewed for the fall season, representatives for UPN confirmed with AllHipHop.com. After starting with near record-breaking ratings, the show’s Nielson status plummeted.
“Its not coming back next year,” a rep for UPN said, “The ratings were the same as ‘Haunted’ was when we cancelled it last year.”
"Platinum" was a hip-hop family saga based on two brothers, Jackson and Grady Ellis (Jason George and rapper Sticky Fingaz of Onyx), who ran an independent record company.
The Sophia Coppola-produced show was a huge success initially, garnering it extremely high reviews and generated significant controversy for its content. Even mogul Russell Simmons spoke out in support of the realism of the plot.
The show delved primarily into the seedy underbelly of the music industry, something that Naji Ali of Project Islamic H.O.P.E. said was the curse of the show.
“If they were true to making a real hip-hop show, they wouldn’t have focused on the negative,” Ali told AllHipHop.com. “We are vindicated.” When the show debuted Ali and his organization proposed a boycott of the show if the creators didn’t attempt to change the content.
While the boycott never happened, Ali said he followed the Nielson ratings closely and watched the show’s viewership decline steadily. But, he maintains that he isn’t pleased ‘Platinum’ is off the air.
“Hip-Hop loses. We had a chance to have a national voice with ‘Platinum,’” he said. “I am disappointed but we are vindicated.”
While many may not be aware of “Platinum’s” passing, there are some fans of the show that are saddened at the cancellation.
“They just left us hanging with the ending. The should have pushed it like they did in the beginning instead of leaving it out there,” one fan said. “It needs to get put on cable anyway. It was too raw for primetime. I still watched it every week.”
Rapper Eve will pop up next season with her sitcom “Opposite Sex,” but the Ruff Ryder isn’t a replacement for ‘Platinum,’ the rep stated.
