BET Ready ‘The Bobby Brown Story’ For 2018 / Woody McClain Reprises ‘New Edition’ Role

Published: Monday 6th Nov 2017 by Sam

After achieving ratings gold with ‘The New Edition Story’ earlier this year, BET are revisiting the movie arena – and this time it’s the life of group member Bobby Brown that’ll be under the spotlight.

Full story below…

According to Deadline, the network are officially pressing ahead with ‘The Bobby Brown Story’ – a project that’ll see actor Woody McClain reprise his role as R&B’s original “bad boy.”

Per the report, the two-part film will also reunite the key creative figures from the ‘New Edition’ venture. Most notable being writer Abdul Williams and executive producer Jesse Collins. 

The flick promises to not shy away from Brown’s much publisized problems. However, it’s overarching theme will be about redemption and how he – by way of sobriety and new love – got his life back on track.

Covering a 30-year-span, the mini-movie will chronicle Brown’s rough beginnings, New Edition success, solo years, his “romance” with Janet Jackson, and his ill-fated marriage to the late Whitney Houston. 

Set to air in Fall 2018, casting is reportedly under way for the other key figures in Brown’s personal and professional life – including Houston, Bobbi Kristina, Jackson, Teddy Riley, L.A. Reid, and Babyface.

**************

Hmm. We’re torn.

On the one hand, ‘The New Edition Story’ was executed so well that we’d gladly revisit that “world” – especially as it’s being pieced together by the team behind this year’s mini-movie.

We’re also elated for Woody, as he’s a great talent.

That said, is “Bobby Brown” (the man, the music, and the mayhem) as enticing or as revered as his group was? Because that was a huge part of the appeal of ‘The New Edition Story.’

For yours truly, there was always the hope that the same qualitative template would be applied to the narratives of other unrelated artists. Like, imagine a Mary J. Blige biopic – for example, in the same vein as New Edition’s.

Still, we’re willing to give this a chance. Who knows, perhaps there’s much more to the Bobby story than the masses know. We just hope that folk tune so as to facilitate the production of more of such projects.

 Your thoughts?

[Photo credit: BET]

Posted under:

Comments 15

Please Post Your Comments & Reviews

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  1. ??? November 6, 2017

    lol ill pass on this mess. 2 hours of him lying about not doing drugs until he met whitney? lmao chile bye. bet needs to put their money on a mary J. biopic, not this clown lmao.

  2. Jasmine November 6, 2017

    It’s too soon for a Bobby Brown story. We just got that long New Edition miniseries already so that covered his most of his life in his prime. Bobby post-new Edition was a downward self-absorbed mess with a declining career. If he truly cared about Bobbi Kristina he would have intervened as a father years before she died instead of just making a new family. The same thing he did with Kristina and Whitney (not being there for his children pre-Whitney) he did to Kristina. I think I’ll pass.

  3. juni November 6, 2017

    Naw, not interested in a drung up Bobby bown movie!

  4. Anne November 6, 2017

    There’s no doubt that Bobby surpassed N.E. as far as notoriety on a crossover level. N.E. had mainly R&B hits while Bobby had a lot of crossover success with the Don’t Be Cruel album and Ghostbusters soundtrack. He is also the only artist from the group with a Grammy. On top of that, he married Whitney Houston. I felt like the N.E. movie glossed over his success which was okay because it wasn’t supposed to be about his solo career or love life. It touched on the fact that he and other members had success outside of the group but didn’t want to fully portray the fact that the group wasn’t really well known to that crossover audience that Bobby was able to reach. While N.E. deserved the type of recognition that other boy bands who followed them received, they never really achieved success outside of the black audience. Anyway, the Lifetime glossed over many aspects of his relationship with Whitney Houston so this could be the first movie that fully delves into his career, his relationship with Whitney, and his tragic loss of his daughter. I do fear though that it will be too one sided with only his version left to tell. Still, I think it will be worth watching.

    • Geni November 6, 2017

      I agree!

  5. Fancy BISH November 6, 2017

    Well, I’m here for it! Bobby Brown is an ICON, point blank period…people always point to Michael Jackson, but Bobby Brown definitely showed black male artists how to be super successful by absolutely being themselves! Michael obviously inspired Bobby, but Bobby’s Don’t Be Cruel (and Rhythm Nation) influenced Michael’s Dangerous album! How many artists can say THAT? And Bobby is in an elite group of black entertainers that had the biggest selling albums overall on Billboard in their respective years! Yaaaaaaas *Plays On Our Own*

  6. MissMaam November 6, 2017

    Wrong direction!! The next biopic in the works should be The Story of En Vogue

    • Jeans November 6, 2017

      Yesss, En Vogue should be next. BET take note!

    • RoyalKev November 7, 2017

      Omg, that would be awesome!

      • edna hicks page November 7, 2017

        Yes it would !!!!

  7. Not Diddy November 6, 2017

    BET need to do The Debarge story. They were next inline to be like The Jacksons. Now that’s a story worth doing. Drugs, jail and Janet Jackson marrying James Debarge.

  8. NoLies November 6, 2017

    The guy with one successful album (still very far from the most successful albums of that time) would not get a biopic if he had not been married to an actual superstar.

  9. eric November 6, 2017

    Very unnecessary. The NE movie was pretty much already centered around Bobby, and we saw the Lifetime movie. There’s been enough about Bobby. It’s time to look somewhere else. I agree with the person who said En Vogue would make a good story if they just have to do another music biopic.

  10. BOOMKACK123 November 7, 2017

    How many movie Bobby Brown’s do we need? There are like 3-4 already. Give it a rest. Being that I also like Woody, I don’t want to see him box himself into this Bobby Brown box that could possibly be hard to escape and get other roles. But I also know as a young actor, this is a big opportunity for him, so nothing but love and well wishes to him.

  11. Renee Brooks November 7, 2017

    The New Edition Story was excellently made and Woody really became Bobby. I am so looking forward to seeing Bobby Brown’s Story in that same excellence. LET’S DO THIS !!!

Recommended Posts
..**