1. June 4: “Clipped” (FX)
Ed O’Neill is back on TV, and it’s a doozy. Based on the ESPN 30 for 30 podcast The Sterling Affairs, this limited series will tell the infamous 2014 story of Donald Sterling and the ensuing media and cultural shitstorm following a racist recording being made public.
Per a press release: “Famed coach Doc Rivers (Laurence Fishburne) arrives as coach of the LA Clippers in 2013. With a promising roster of big personalities, Rivers has the building blocks to win the franchise’s first championship. The team’s owner, Donald Sterling (Ed O’Neill), is a well-known problem: he’s cheap, he’s erratic, he’s a bully. But minimizing Sterling’s influence to win a title becomes a personal quest for Doc. Meanwhile, a courtside power struggle escalates between Sterling’s ambitious personal assistant V. Stiviano (Cleopatra Coleman) and his wife and business partner of 60 years, Shelly (Jacki Weaver). FX’s “Clipped” is an Obama-era story of racial reckoning delivered via meme, in which the Sterlings discover who really has the power in the internet age, and which leaves Rivers and his players wondering if the expulsion of one bad apple brings about the transformative change the media wants to celebrate.”
Also starring Kelly AuCoin, J. Alphonse Nicholson, Rich Sommers, and Corbin Bernsen, “Clipped” is created by Gina Welch. —ES