fall
tv pre
view
2019
Steven Canals
Visibility is everything when it comes to social progress—
and Steven Canals, who co-created Pose alongside Ryan
Murphy and Brad Falchuk, knows that. “Pose bore out of
a need for LGBTQ people of color to be positively seen and
centered in mainstream media,” the 39-year-old says
of the Emmy-nominated FX series, which features one of
TV’s largest LGBTQ casts. “I can’t complain about the lack
of visibility or opportunities if I’m not actively working
to elevate those who, historically, haven’t had a seat at the
table. I’m building my own inclusive table.” —TIM STACK
LILLY SiNGH
NBC MAY BE HUNGRY FOR A PIONEER LIKE LILLY SINGH
to take over Carson Daly’s 1:35 a.m. slot, but Lilly Singh doesn’t
exactly need a network show to become megafamous: The proudly
bisexual star, who has amassed 3.1 billion views on YouTube, has
been doing quite nicely on her own, thank you very much. Fortu-
nately for NBC, Singh doesn’t see any difference between
performing skits like her popular “If Game of Thrones Were Indian”
for broadcast versus her YT channel. Not that A Little Late With
Lilly Singh hasn’t been an adjustment. “I haven’t had a job like this
in 10 years,” says the Canadian daughter of Indian immigrants, 31,
who got her start making videos in her childhood bedroom. “I’ve
been doing my own thing according to the schedule I make.” With
support from the likes of Dwayne Johnson and Trevor Noah, Singh
is eager to share her—and her diverse writing staff ’s—unique take
on life, but she promises to include one late-night mainstay: a desk.
“I don’t like sitting pretty,” Singh explains. “Most women are in
situations where their pants ride high and their crotch bunches
up —just trying to be truthful!” —LYNETTE RICE
LENA WAITHE
Two years after breaking
out with a deeply personal
Master of None episode—
and becoming the first
black woman to win
an Emmy for Outstanding
Writing for a Comedy
Series—Lena Waithe is
now one of TV’s busiest
multihyphenates. Among
her titles are creator
of Showtime’s The Chi,
EP of BET’s Boomerang,
and actor on season 3
of HBO’s Westworld. But
no matter how varied
her résumé (the Ready
Player One star wrote
Queen & Slim, a thriller
due out in November),
Waithe, 35, knows her true
calling: “I was born a TV
writer, I’ll die a TV writer.”
—DEREK LAWRENCE
SAM LEVINSON
It’s not clear whether
Sam Levinson, 34, always
aspired to make a show
that causes parents
of Gen-Z kids to blush
in enlightened horror, but
that is exactly what the
first-time series creator
did with HBO’s summer
smash Euphoria. Of
course, this astute knack
for delving into intricate
interpersonal relationships
should come as no sur-
prise, given that he has
the 2011 indie gem Another
Happy Day in his filmo g-
raphy. And thanks to
Euphoria’s season 2
pick up (less than a month
into its first season), it
looks like Levinson will
have us blushing well into
- —CLARKISHA KENT
EW ● COM OCTOBER 2019 37
CANALS: ZACK DEZON/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES; LEVINSON: LEON BENNETT/WIREIMAGE; WAITHE: FRAZER HARRISON/GETTY IMAGES
