Cookies and Screams AKA The Empire Pilot

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Happy Wine Wednesday! As you'll hear in the intro, this week's episode is one that I've been wanting to do for a very long time. Special guest Candi returns this week to discuss the pilot episode of the messy, messy Fox drama/musical - Empire. We've got the main discussion about the pilot episode and a really fun spoiler segment in which we discuss the top 10 ridiculous Empire moments.
Empire is my current comfort show and having watched the entire series multiple times, unpacking this mess with Candi was like therapy. As for the pilot, we talk about the casting of Cookie and Lucious. Could you see Monique as Cookie or Wesley Snipes as Lucious? We also talk about our impressions of the newcomers to whom we were introduced, including Bryshere Gray, Trai Byers, and Jussie Smollett. If you're looking for commentary about Jussie outside of his role on Empire, you'll have to stick around for the spoiler segment.
You can't talk about Empire without touching on the show's amazing music, so we share our favorite songs from the pilot. We discuss our favorite characters from this introductory episode and share what we liked and what we didn't like overall. In our closing arguments, we share whether or not you should continue with Empire if you've only watched the pilot. And, as always, we get thirsty! Who is so hot you might do a 17-year bid in prison for them?
During the spoiler segment, we talk ridiculous moments, thoughts on the series finale, what Empire got right, and Empire's greatest crime against television writing. We get into the Jussie of it all and remind folks that he wasn't the only one with some off-screen messiness as the series wrapped. Say what you want about Empire, Lee Daniels leveraged his success to attract some serious heavy hitters to the series and we discuss which big name actor appearances we enjoyed. I also stand in my truth about my hatred of musicals, the very limited list of musicals that I actually enjoy, and Candi very kindly reminds me that Empire is in fact a musical show.
As always, we love you for listening. Find and follow Candi on Twitter here.
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Friendly reminder - we drink, we know things, and we use lots of adult language. Did you like this episode of the The Pilot Project series? Be sure to check out our prior episodes on Minx, Sons of Anarchy, Abbott Elementary, Grand Crew, Claws, True Blood, Orphan Black, The Walking Dead, Teen Wolf,

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