Basketball Hall of Fame member Charles Barkley will host “The Race Card,” a six-episode series on TNT on the divided nation set to premiere in early 2017, the cable network announced today.
“We as Americans never discuss the issue of race in this country and how it impacts everything in our lives until something bad happens,” said Barkley, an analyst on the network’s “Inside the NBA” halftime and postgame show. “I see this project as a way to talk about race, class and cultural differences and challenge everyone’s status quo.”
According to TNT, Barkley “wants to bust up the echo chamber mentality that so often has people retreating to corners of the like-minded, where views are reinforced and ideas are distorted into angry, unexamined groupthink conclusions.”
In each episode, Barkley will seek out the sharpest and most varied viewpoints from today’s cultural leaders and tastemakers on today’s hot-button topics, then will challenge and probe those ideas, even trying them out on himself, according to TNT.
TNT also announced it has ordered a fourth season of its drama “The Last Ship,” which will air next summer.
The announcements were made in connection with Turner’s portion of the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour which is being held in Beverly Hills.
