Get ready for a huge blast of nostalgia when BET airs a miniseries dramatizing the rise and fall of popular 1980s boy band New Edition.
Consisting of Bobby Brown, Ricky Bell, Michael Bivins, Ronnie DeVoe and Ralph Tresvant, the group topped the charts in the early 1980s, and continued with new member Johnny Gill after Brown left the band to pursue a solo career in ’85.
In 1990, the group went on hiatus, with Bell, Bivins and DeVoe went on to form R&B group Bell Biv DeVoe, with a few tumultuous reunions in the subsequent years.
BET made the announcement today, with the biographical miniseries to be the first scripted project for the broadcaster.
“New Edition’s music is woven into the fabric of our culture,” executive producer Jesse Collins said in the announcement. “When I brought the idea to BET years ago, I wanted to create a film that would tell the story of how New Edition emerged into one of the most important groups of its generation.”
“It’s been a long time coming and that time is finally here!” said the group in a statement. “Now that we have signed the deal, New Edition’s journey will be captured in a three-night miniseries to tell our life story through our very own eyes… From our beginning in the Orchard Park Projects in Boston to Hollywood and everything in between, just like The Temptations and The Jackson Five — we are ready to retrace our footsteps and show everyone how we got here. For the fans all over the world, this one’s for you.”
“Everyone’s been waiting for the New Edition saga to be told in all its triumphs and heartbreaks,”; added BET Networks President of Programming Stephen Hill, “and we can’t wait to bring it to the screen.”;
BET’s New Edition miniseries is scheduled to premiere some time in 2016.
