Queen Latifah’s show The Equalizer set to air in high-profile spot after Super Bowl
Queen Latifah’s show The Equalizer will air in a high-profile spot after February’s Super Bowl LV for its debut.
‘The Super Bowl and the AFC Championship Game in primetime is the ultimate combination to promote and showcase an episode of a highly anticipated new series,’ CBS Entertainment President Kelly Kahl said in a statement.
The 50-year-old star on the show portrays a former CIA agent and single mom who comes in aid of those ‘with nowhere else to turn,’ according to the network.
The latest: Queen Latifah’s show The Equalizer will air in a high-profile spot after February’s Super Bowl LV for its debut
Another show in a high-profile spot on CBS is FBI, which will make its season premiere following the AFC championship game on January 24 before settling into its Tuesday 9/8c spot. The Late Late Show will air after FBI following the AFC game.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs after The Equalizer on Super Bowl Sunday, which will settle into its regular spot Sundays at 8/7c.
‘With these games and the Grammys, CBS will have the biggest audience events on television for three consecutive weeks in early 2021. I can’t think of a better way to start the new year or a better promotional environment for our mid-season schedule.’
CBS announced earlier this year it was rebooting the series, which initially ran from 1985 until 1989 – the same year Queen Latifah broke out as a musical artist with her debut album All Hail the Queen.
At work: The star was snapped on the set of the reboot last month in her native New Jersey
CBS announced earlier this year it was rebooting the series, which initially ran from 1985 until 1989
Andrew Marlowe & Terri Miller are showrunners on the crime drama, which puts Queen Latifah in the role played by Edward Woodward in the 1980s show, and Denzel Washington in the adapted 2014 film of the same name and its 2018 sequel, The Equalizer 2. Marlowe and Miller spoke with TV Insider in September about the series and why the timing was right for the reboot.
‘People have lost faith in the institutions that are supposed to protect them,’ said the showrunners. ‘When there’s no one else to turn to, who will help? It seemed like the perfect time to bring back The Equalizer.’
They said that the star’s past with riding motorcycles is an asset to her character Robyn McCall, who they described as ‘charming as hell and supercool.
‘Queen Latifah is an experienced rider, so putting her on a bike was one of the first badass images we imagined for her in the role.’
The series also features Chris Noth and Lorraine Toussaint.
Celebration: This year’s Super Bowl was won by the Kansas City Chiefs with quarterback Patrick Mahomes and safety Tyrann Mathieu celebrating the victory