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(Photo Credit: Justin Jackson/truTV)

Writer and producer Prentice Penny stars in the new lifestyle series Upscale with Prentice Penny, which premieres on truTV. Known for his work behind the scenes on award-winning comedy series such as Insecure, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Happy Endings, The Hustle, and Scrubs, the Hollywood showrunner is the creator and host of his latest venture.

The genesis of Upscale with Prentice Penny happened organically. Penny initially had no desire to be in front of the camera. But when Penny and his manager, who share a love for bourbon and barbecue, flew to Kansas City, rented an RV, and went on a two-week road adventure to tour various bourbon distilleries and barbecue eateries, the idea came up to film their expedition to create a YouTube series of fun-filled experiences.

Over the two-year period after their excursion, the idea snowballed into further creative discussions about forming a wide platform for what turned into a series of digital vignettes. Penny’s desire to share this project, coupled with the lifestyle shifts he was experiencing, grew into a discussion to create a broadcast series. One day, he said to his manager, “You never see people of color talk about champagne and wine and suits and cigars and travel bags on television.”

During a trip to Paris, Penny was further inspired by the many black people he saw there. “I never see anyone who looks like us or anyone who reflects our lifestyle on these programs,” he recalls telling his manager. “I only see Chef’s Table or Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown. It’s always some middle-aged white guy who’s the decider of what you should learn and experience culturally.”

Although Penny aspired to live an upscale lifestyle, he admits that there was a time when he lacked the sophistication and simply was not exposed to some of the finer things in life. Penny also had many preconceived ideas and often placed limits on himself. He recalls the many times he went to a wine and spirits shop; whenever a staff person asked if he needed help, he would say, “no,” because like many other people in his position, he was afraid to ask questions and didn’t want to feel stupid.

On Upscale with Prentice Penny, he wants his audience to know that they don’t have to be an athlete, singer, rapper, or celebrity to upgrade the quality and condition of their lives. “We [black people] used to go to the tailor; we used to go to the butcher instead of buying our meats from the supermarket; we used to go to a shoe cobbler and get our shoes resoled,” he says. “We use to go to the local sandwich shops for cold cuts, instead of the franchise establishments that exist today.”

Penny says one of the best parts of taping the show is going out to the different communities and meeting with shop owners and experts to get a sense of the old-school way of doing things and the many benefits they offer in enriching the lives of his viewers.

Born and raised as an only child in the Windsor Hills section of Los Angeles, Penny’s parents divorced when he was a young child. After the divorce, his mother, Brenda Penny, went on to law school and his father kept long hours on the job. After school, Penny spent a great deal of time with his grandparents on both sides of his family. It was during that time in the ‘80s that Penny developed his love for television.

Penny says he comes from a family of natural-born comedians. “My family is a lot of fun, from my dad, my mom, my grandparents, my aunts, and uncles,” he says. “Comedy was always around the house. You had to be quick. Otherwise, you would get your feelings hurt.”

In his grandparents’ household, they routinely watched Jeopardy, Wheel of Fortune and various local news stations. Not interested in their selection of programs, Penny entertained himself by writing stories. But during the networks’ primetime comedy boom of the ‘70s and ‘80s, he would tune in to such shows as The Jeffersons, Diff’rent Strokes, The Cosby Show, A Different World, Family Ties, Facts of Life, and, like many kids his age, he would sneak off and watch Eddie Murphy’s concert film Delirious. “My dad is a big Richard Pryor fan,” he confesses. “He is an old-school dad. If he was watching it on television, I had to watch it or get out. So, he didn’t care about the language; he just knew that I better not and I knew better not to repeat it.”

Penny’s first gig in television was as a writer on Mara Brock Akil’s groundbreaking sitcom Girlfriends. A lot has changed in television since that time, and even more since the days of The Jeffersons and The Cosby Show, but Penny remains cautiously optimistic about opportunities for people of color in television. “I’ve been around long enough to witness the trends in television,” he explains. “I hope the reign of black shows continues. We now have more platforms in the broadcast and digital space to tell our stories.”

This month, Penny begins filming the second season of Issa Rae and Larry Wilmore’s critically acclaimed HBO hit comedy series Insecure. Looking ahead, Penny has a few more projects in development under his production company, A Penny for Your Thoughts, including a family movie he describes as a dramedy. He also has a deal with HBO.

As a new face on the small screen, Penny doesn’t know exactly what to expect or how Upscale with Prentice Penny will potentially change his life. Feeling grateful and blessed, he plans to continue riding this wave of success and explore the new possibilities that come with it.

Gwendolyn Quinn is an award-winning media consultant with a career spanning more than 25 years. She is a contributor to BlackEnterprise.com and BE Pulse (via Medium.com), Huffington Post and EURWEB.com. Quinn is also a contributor to Souls Revealed and Handle Your Entertainment Business.

With the ever-growing list of whitewashed and white savior films and television series — including the recent release of the live-action anime film Ghost in the Shell starring Scarlett Johansson as Major Motoko Kusanagi — it’s no wonder many people are upset. However, a comedy troupe from UCB Los Angeles called Asian AF has decided a smart way to shed light on the whitewashing problem.

They created a shirt using just four words.

Scarlett. Emma. Tilda. Matt.

The shirt references the four actors in films who have been accused of whitewashing (as well as being a white savior) — Johansson in Ghost in the Shell, Emma Stone in Aloha, Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange, and Matt Damon in The Great Wall.

Actor Will S. Choi recently wore the shirt at his sold-out comedy show Scarlett Johansson Presents: The Opening Night of Ghost in the Shell. This prompted many of the audience to quickly purchase one, including myself.

Most recently, the shirt has been getting a lot of buzz from Netflix’s 13 Reasons Why star Michele Selene Ang wearing the shirt in an Instagram post.

Choi and the Asian AF team have begun selling their shirts online. All proceeds will go towards the logistics for their monthly variety show Asian AF at the UCB theater. If you live in the Los Angeles area, come by for one of their shows. It’s hilarious AF.

In my quest to title each Into the Badlands recap after lyrics from a Hamilton song, the writers did me a solid by letting Nathaniel Moon, played by veteran actor Sherman Augustus, say a line from the classic George Washington showstopper:

Oddly enough, “One Last Time” was an inspired choice to describe the episode “Silver Moon, Red Sun” because each of the main characters of the show needs to learn how to say goodbye, in more ways than one. M.K. is plotting to escape the monastery, Veil is scheming to escape Quinn’s bunker, and Widow is prepared to hand leadership of the Butterflies over to Tilda if the Baron Conclave goes south. Still, something keeps tethering each of these characters in place.

Let’s start with our hero Sunny who opens the episode offering up some free advice to his chatty companion Baije.

Seriously, these Badlands writers are starting to make the #IntoTheHamLands entries too easy. After encountering The Great Wall of Trumpistan last episode, Sunny and Baije have to find an alternate route back to the Badlands. Baije insists he knows a smuggler who can get them through the wall when they happen upon a bridge and its protector. Even though the previews made it seem like the showdown between Sunny and this mysterious warrior would take place here, the rivals team up to take down a gang of bounty hunters instead.

After dismembering all of their attackers, Sunny and Baije seek shelter with their newfound companion. During a moment alone in the shade, they learn that he is also a former Clipper after spotting a portion of his 999 kill tattoos. This will be significant later.

Meanwhile in K’un Lun, M.K.’s adventure in the Mirror Room hasn’t made him feel any better about his situation. In fact, he’s more determined than ever to leave and find his mother. The desire to reunite with loved ones seems to be another overarching theme to season two.

Unfortunately for M.K., The Master isn’t keen on letting him leave before his training is finished. Remember what happened to Luke when he left Dagobah too early? The Master is trying to impart the same kind of wisdom to M.K., though it falls on deaf ears. Guess they don’t have Empire Strikes Back in the future.

In the Butterfly sanctuary, Waldo and Widow are having a strategy session in preparation for the upcoming conclave. Tilda is ready to accompany her mother as Regent, but is informed that Waldo will be going in her stead. It may seem like Waldo is teaching Tilda a lesson on how to be a good regent, but it feels like a power play on his part. Tilda probably feels the same. We’ll see how that plays out. In the meantime, how gorgeous are the sets on the show this season?

When we last left Veil and baby Henry, Quinn was engaging in some weird ass naming ritual and basically adopting Sunny’s baby as his own heir. He’s even singing lullabies and reading fairy tales to the baby when Veil comes in to perform a cat scan on Quinn. In case you forgot, before Quinn was impaled on Sunny’s sword, the thing that was going to kill him last season was a massive brain tumor. Apparently, Veil didn’t only nurse him back from sword wounds, she miraculously cured his tumor too. Or so he thinks.

The truth is that Quinn’s tumor is actually spreading. Veil is somehow masking his symptoms, which is likely due to the “medicine” she has him drink, and hiding away any evidence to the contrary. We all know it’s only a matter of time before Quinn finds out and there will be hell to pay. Hopefully, that will be long after Veil and Henry have made their escape, preferably through a southbound tunnel.

Back in the outer territories, Sunny and Baije have taken up shelter under the ex-Clipper’s own vine and fig tree. After a shave and a haircut, Sunny learns more about his new friend. He’s not any ordinary Clipper, but a legend known as the Silver Moon, one of the deadliest killers in all of the Badlands. Then, after 45 years of his life dedicated to his Baron’s service with an upright zeal, he left and was never heard from again. Moon, like Sunny, was a killing machine who got tired of killing and found a family. Sadly, there is no happily ever after for a Clipper, and Moon’s family paid the ultimate price.

Moon warns Sunny that if he continues to reunite with Veil and his son, they will suffer a similar fate. This echoes the earlier scene between M.K. and The Master wherein the wiser, more experienced elder warns our heroes of the danger of seeking out their loved ones. They want to talk about what they have learned, the hard-won wisdom they have earned even if no one wants to listen. Speaking of not listening, M.K.’s stubbornness continues to get him in trouble as he snoops around the monastery and finds out what happens to kids who try to run away.

It seems that the monks also rely on old technology and bring the runaway — who we learn is M.K.’s hammock-mate Tate — into some sort of lab where they strap him to a gurney and proceed to, I don’t know exactly? Like, use hi-tech acupuncture to remove his abilities? Either way, Tate is definitely getting tortured, though Jordan Bolger’s bare chest gained him an awful lot of new fans on twitter.

Before M.K. gets caught, he, well, actually gets caught by fellow novice Ava. M.K. basically flirts his way out of it, asking her to escape with him. Let’s say she does. What do you all think Tilda is going to do to her when she finds them?

Finally, the episode ends with a beautifully choreographed sword fight between Sun and Moon. Sure, Nathaniel has been nice to Sunny and Baije and had promised he wasn’t after the bounty on their heads. Instead, what Moon wanted more than anything was to battle a worthy opponent. Though it’s clear Sunny doesn’t want to fight, the two take up swords. I’ll let this tweet thread by author Michi Trota explain what was so great about this scene:

Fortunately, both Sunny and Moon survive this encounter, but I was hoping Moon would emerge from the episode as a partner than as an adversary. We’ll see when Moon returns. Because Moon is definitely returning.

Football season is still a couple months away, but that doesn’t stop you from figuring out if you need to keep your cable subscription just to watch Thursday Night Football. If you have Amazon Prime, you can ditch cable and stream the games live for the upcoming season.

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