Charles Barkley's show on 'American Race' gets TNT airdates
It's no longer called "The Race Card," but former Sixer Charles Barkley's look at race in America is coming to TV next month.
Former Sixer Charles Barkley's look at race in America is coming to TNT next month.
American Race, first announced last summer with the working title The Race Card, is billed as a two-night event that will get a late-night preview May 7 after TNT's NBA playoffs coverage.
According to TNT, "Charles Barkley is taking a journey across the country to explore the issue of race from different angles and engage in thoughtful but spirited dialogue with a diverse cross section of Americans. He brings with him a truly ambitious goal of building the kind of mutual understanding that can lead to productive solutions."
"I really love his ambition," TBS/TNT president Kevin Reilly told me in an interview last summer in Los Angeles. "First of all, Charles is one of the few guys who is not afraid to get in the middle of the very thorny, and unfortunately, all-too-real and complex issue of race relations...and just tension in our society in general. And to take a provocative position that's usually not necessarily predictable.
"But he feels really strongly that he's given an opportunity to get out there and actually bring this to the forefront, and create a dialogue, and he's going to bring a Who's Who [of people] with him to both dramatize it, to opine on it, to participate. And he hopes it's sort of a lightning rod, and a really constructive dialogue."
After its 11:30 p.m. preview on May 7, the four-episode show will officially premiere on May 11-12, with two episodes each night, and 9 and 10 p.m., the network said. For those who don't wish to wait, all four episodes will be available to subscribers through On Demand and on the TNT app.