A Take on ‘The New Edition Story’

Johnny Gill, Ricardo Bell, Randolph Tresvant, Micheal Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe

I absolutely loved every moment of the ‘The New Edition Story’. I fell in love with New Edition in 2015 for two reasons: ‘The Best Man Holiday’ and research I did for a play in my third year acting class. We were meant to research Bobby Brown and his relationship with Whitney Houston but there is no Bobby without ‘New Edition’ first so one thing led to another.

Micheal Bivins, Randolph Tresvant, Ronnie Devoe, Robert Brown, Johnny Gill, Ricardo Bell

I of course had listened to “Cool it Down’ and ‘Poison’ when I was younger but I never really cared to know who sang it. The research made me delve deeper and the more I researched the more in love with the group I became. The songs they released where innocent and yet not, very groovy and easy to learn. Their ‘Boys to Men’ album gave them a depth that was and is very appreciated.

Ronnie DeVoe, Ricky Bell, Micheal Bivins, Bobby Brown, Johnny Gill, Ralph Tresvant

I’ll give some reasons why this series was really great for me and I’ll break the reasons into two on Sir Philip Sidney’s (1595) authority that a work should educate as well as entertain at the same time.

Educative Value

Jahi Winston (Ralph Tresvant) ,Caleb McLaughlin (Ricky Bell), Myles Truitt (Ronnie DeVoe), Tyler Williams (Bobby Brown) Dante Hoagland (Mike Bivins)

1. The biopic gave insight into the horrors that black artists faced in the past. That is, the fact that they worked, sang, danced, went on tours and got paid basically nothing. James Brown, Micheal Jackson and a host of others were victims of this.
2. It also exposed the viewers to the historical background or early days of the group which helped to clarify the reasons behind their actions over the years.
3. There are life lessons involved. The struggle with loyalty, the need for survival, sacrifice and so on are very poignant lessons to learn.

Entertainment Value

Woody McClain (Bobby Brown), Elijah Kelley (Ricky Bell), Algee Smith (Ralph Tresvant), Luke James (Johnny Gill) Kieth Powers (Ronnie Devoe), Bryshere Grey (Mike Bivins)

1. Every season (stage in their lives), character and episode provided enough action for the plot to thicken, develop and flourish. The sequence of events that a traditional plot should have was present in each episode.
2. The actors chosen to represent the characters did an excellent job. I was blown away by their live performances! I loved that they also used their own voices! The young boys were great the adult actors were really great as well!
3. The picture quality and the arrangement of songs, set, costumes and the general outlay of the mini series made me enthusiastic enough to go sleepless just to complete each episode.
4. I especially loved that I could watch and compare their actual performances with the performances that the actors present and that was mad fun for me.

Elijah, Bryshere, Woody, Kieth, Algee, Luke

I did notice that the BET Award show performance in the biopic was better than the actual performance in real life. I loved that that was allowed to happen that was a really dope performance.

I guess we de-emphasize brotherhood and friendship these days among people of the same sex and I loved that this was a central theme of the whole production. I love that the actual members of New Edition where part of this.

There is so much more to be said about this Biopic and thankfully I can add whatever is needed as time goes on. I loved this mini series and I love ‘NEW EDITION’. Please recommend, comment and subscribe!