Unsolved (U.S. TV series)

Last updated
Unsolved
UnsolvedTitle.jpeg
GenreDrama
Created byKyle Long
Based onMurder Rap: The Untold Story of Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations by Greg Kading
Starring
Composer(s) Joseph Trapanese
Country of originUnited States
Original language(s)English
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes10 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)
  • Anthony Hemingway
  • Mark Taylor
  • Greg Kading
  • Kyle Long
Camera setupSingle-camera
Production company(s)HemingwayTaylor
Universal Cable Productions
Distributor NBCUniversal Television Distribution
Release
Original network USA Network
Original releaseFebruary 27, 2018 (2018-02-27) 
present
External links
Website

Unsolved is an American true crime anthology television series. The first season is based on the murders of rappers Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls in the late-1990s. It premiered February 27, 2018 on USA Network. The 10-episode season is titled The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G. and chronicles the dual police investigations of Detective Greg Kading (Josh Duhamel) and Detective Russell Poole (Jimmi Simpson) into the controversial murders of two of the rap industry's most legendary players, played by Marcc Rose (Tupac) and Wavyy Jonez (Biggie). [1] [2]

Murder of Tupac Shakur

Tupac Shakur, a highly successful American hip hop artist, was fatally shot on September 7th, 1996, in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was 25 years old. The shooting occurred at 11:15 p.m. Pacific Time when the car carrying Shakur was stopped at a red light at East Flamingo Road and Koval Lane. Shakur was struck by four .40 caliber rounds fired from a Glock: two in the chest, one in the arm, and one in the thigh. He died from his wounds six days later.

USA Network American pay television channel

USA Network is an American pay television channel that is owned by NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madison Square Garden Sports Network, one of the first national sports cable television channels, before being relaunched as USA Network in 1980. Once a minor player in basic-tier pay television, USA has steadily gained popularity due to its original programming; it is one of 4 major subscription-television networks that also broadcasts syndicated reruns of current and former "network television" series and theatrically-released feature films, as well as limited sports programming and WWE.

Greg Kading is an American author and former Los Angeles Police Department detective best known for working on a multi law-enforcement task force that investigated the murders of rap stars Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls.

Contents

Cast

The Notorious B.I.G. American rapper

Christopher George Latore Wallace, known professionally as The Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or Biggie, was an American rapper. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Tupac Shakur American rapper and actor

Tupac Amaru Shakur, also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper, writer, and actor. He is considered by many to be one of the greatest rappers of all time.

Josh Duhamel American actor and former fashion model

Joshua David Duhamel is an American actor and former fashion model. After various modeling work, he made his acting debut as Leo du Pres on the ABC daytime soap opera All My Children and later starred as Danny McCoy on NBC's Las Vegas.

Episodes

No.TitleDirected byWritten byOriginal air dateUS viewers
(millions)
1"Wherever It Leads" Anthony Hemingway Kyle LongFebruary 27, 2018 (2018-02-27)1.60 [7]
2"Nobody Talks"Anthony HemingwayKyle LongMarch 6, 2018 (2018-03-06)1.13 [8]
3"The Mack" Ernest Dickerson Denitria Harris-LawrenceMarch 13, 2018 (2018-03-13)1.01 [9]
4"Take Your Best Shot"Anthony Hemingway Chris Downey March 20, 2018 (2018-03-20)1.04 [10]
5"The Art of War" Kate Woods Jameal TurnerMarch 27, 2018 (2018-03-27)0.95 [11]
6"East Coast, West Coast"Erica WatsonTash GrayApril 3, 2018 (2018-04-03)0.84 [12]
7"Half the Job" Darren Grant Samir MehtaApril 10, 2018 (2018-04-10)0.81 [13]
8"Tupac Amaru Shakur"Anthony HemingwayDenitria Harris-Lawrence & Jameal TurnerApril 17, 2018 (2018-04-17)0.76 [14]
9"Christopher"Kate WoodsChris DowneyApril 24, 2018 (2018-04-24)0.77 [15]
10"Unsolved?"Anthony HemingwayKyle LongMay 1, 2018 (2018-05-01)0.71 [16]

Development

The series was ordered on May 12, 2017. Emmy winner Anthony Hemingway directed the pilot and will executive produce the series, along with Mark Taylor through their Hemingway-Taylor production company. Kyle Long wrote the pilot and will also executive produce. Greg Kading, who will also serve as co-executive producer, led multiple law-enforcement task forces investigating the murders and authored the book Murder Rap: The Untold Story of Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations. [2] [17]

Reception

Critical response

On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 73% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 5.93/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Unsolved's prestige aspirations don't always work in its procedural structure, but strong performances and an ambitious spirit to find truth in this real-world mystery create an engaging exploration of two of pop culture's most notorious influences." [18] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the series a score of 67 out of 100 based on 16 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews." [19]

Rotten Tomatoes American review aggregator for film and television, owned by Fandango

Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang. The name "Rotten Tomatoes" derives from the practice of audiences throwing rotten tomatoes when disapproving of a poor stage performance.

Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of media products: films, TV shows, music albums, video games, and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged. Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc Doyle, and Julie Doyle Roberts in 1999. The site provides an excerpt from each review and hyperlinks to its source. A color of green, yellow or red summarizes the critics' recommendations. It has been described as the video game industry's "premier" review aggregator.

Ratings

No.TitleAir date Rating
(18–49)
Viewers
(millions)
DVR
(18–49)
DVR viewers
(millions)
Total
(18–49)
Total viewers
(millions)
1"Wherever It Leads"February 27, 20180.71.60 [7] 0.40.741.12.35 [20]
2"Nobody Talks"March 6, 20180.41.13 [8] 0.3N/A0.7 [21] N/A
3"The Mack"March 13, 20180.41.01 [9] 0.3N/A0.7 [22] N/A
4"Take Your Best Shot"March 20, 20180.41.04 [10] 0.3N/A0.7 [23] N/A
5"The Art of War"March 27, 20180.40.95 [11] N/AN/AN/AN/A
6"East Coast, West Coast"April 3, 20180.30.84 [12] 0.3N/A0.6 [24] N/A
7"Half the Job"April 10, 20180.30.81 [13] 0.3N/A0.6 [25] N/A
8"Tupac Amaru Shakur"April 17, 20180.30.76 [14] N/AN/AN/AN/A
9"Christopher"April 24, 20180.30.77 [15] 0.3N/A0.6 [26] N/A
10"Unsolved?"May 1, 20180.30.71 [16] N/AN/AN/AN/A

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References

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  2. 1 2 "Cast & Info | Unsolved". USA Network. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
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  4. 1 2 3 Andreeva, Nellie (23 February 2017). "'Unsolved': Josh Duhamel, Jimmi Simpson & Bokeem Woodbine To Topline USA Pilot On Tupac Shakur & Biggie Smalls Murders".
  5. 1 2 Wagmeister, Elizabeth (12 May 2017). "Tupac-Biggie Smalls Series 'Unsolved' Greenlit at USA Network".
  6. 1 2 3 Petski, Denise (22 March 2017). "'Unsolved': Luke James, Aisha Hinds & Letoya Luckett Cast In USA's Tupac Shakur Biggie Smalls Pilot".
  7. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (February 28, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 2.27.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  8. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (March 7, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.6.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved March 7, 2018.
  9. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (March 14, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.13.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved March 14, 2018.
  10. 1 2 Metcalf, Mitch (March 21, 2018). "Updated: ShowBuzzDaily's Top 150 Tuesday Cable Originals & Network Finals: 3.20.2018". Showbuzz Daily. Retrieved March 21, 2018.
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  17. Andreeva, Nellie (2017-05-12). "'Unsolved' Drama About Tupac & Biggie's Murders Gets USA Network Series Order". Deadline. Retrieved 2018-02-06.
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IMDb is an online database of information related to films, television programs, home videos and video games, and internet streams, including cast, production crew and personnel biographies, plot summaries, trivia, and fan reviews and ratings. An additional fan feature, message boards, was abandoned in February 2017. Originally a fan-operated website, the database is owned and operated by IMDb.com, Inc., a subsidiary of Amazon.

Anthony Harold Hemingway is an American film and television director. He has worked extensively in television, directing numerous episodes of CSI: NY, Treme, True Blood and Shameless, among others. He has also directed one feature film, Red Tails in 2012. Before becoming a director he worked extensively as an assistant director in television and film.

Russell Wayne Poole was a Los Angeles Police Department detective most noted for investigating the murder of the rapper known as The Notorious B.I.G.. Poole also investigated the killing of LAPD Officer Kevin Gaines by LAPD Officer Frank Lyga on March 18, 1997. After retiring in 1999, he formed a private detective agency.