The Oprah Winfrey Network announced several upcoming projects today, including its first scripted TV movie. My Name Is Love: The Darlene Love Story will star Grammy winner Toni Braxton as the 1960s singer in a biopic described as “dishy and dramatic,” touching on stories such as Love’s affair with Righteous Brother Bill Medley, and a scene where Elvis hits on her backstage. It will also probably involve her music.
OWN also announced an upcoming miniseries titled Tulsa. Octavia Spencer will star in the two-night event as a journalist facing “the largest race riot in U.S. history, where over 300 people were believed to have been murdered in Tulsa, Oklahoma—a story that was largely covered up for decades.”
Oprah will also help her viewers find their own god next year with the “groundbreaking television event” Belief, a seven-part series that will scour the globe exploring unique faiths through various first-person accounts. According to the press release, it promises to “leave viewers asking themselves, ‘What do I believe?’” Spoiler: the answer is probably Tyler Perry, whose new show, Tyler Perry Presents Single Moms Club, will premiere this fall. Like Tyler Perry’s recent film of the same name, the title says it all: various women are faced with difficult circumstances, but they’ll be okay because they have kids and boyfriends. It will be Perry’s fourth show airing on the network, joining the ranks of Tyler Perry Presents The Haves And The Have Nots, Tyler Perry Presents For Better Or Worse, and Tyler Perry Presents Love Thy Neighbor.
In the midst of picking up this new series portraying women as struggling mothers and girlfriends, OWN also announced the cancellation of Our America With Lisa Ling, one of the original shows the network picked up with the intention of empowering women.