Shonda Rhimes Has Another Hit TV Show Starring Viola Davis

Shonda Rhimes is fast becoming the TV hitmaker in Hollywood. If you dont know who that is — where the heck have you been living? Shonda is the creator of television hits Grey's Anatomy and Scandal (The Fixer in SA). Now the creative genius has hit another bull's eye with Viola Davis in a new show.

Shonda Rhimes new drama 'How to Get Away with Murder' slays the ratings Thursday night in the US …

A whopping 14 million viewers tuned in to watch the premier episode of 'How to Get Away with Murder' on ABC, beating its lead in 'Scandal' by nearly 2 million viewers.

Oscar nominated actress Viola Davis gives a powerful performance as Professor Annalise Keating, a cut-throat lawyer and professor willing do anything to win her case.

Though Shonda, who is now compared to Aaron Spelling, for having numerous hit shows on television, is only getting attention now, she has been around for a while and has written some incredible films that won accolades. 

She wrote the critically acclaimed 1999 HBO movie Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. The film, which happens to be one of my favourites and I think if it were made for cinema it would have won Halle Berry her first Oscar, won numerous awards and a Golden Globe for Best Actress for Halle Berry. 

She has also written some films that were not critically acclaimed but were a box office hit such as Crossroads starring Britney Spears which grossed R600mil world wide. She also wrote Disney’s sequel to its popular 2001 movie The Princess Diaries.

Of course it was the success of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal that catapulted Rhimes to stardom and power.

And yes, she also hires Black actors and creates non-cliched characters for blacks. Unlike Tyler Perry she also does not rely on being preachy. She creates multi-layered strong and complex characters for her actors, whatever colour they are. 

TV critics  are calling Viola Davis' character; passionate, tough and sexy, with a penchant for giving a break to the underdog, the unpolished kid with the right stuff.

Kerry Washington's Olivia Pope introduced us to the world of political fixers — did we even know such people exist? juxtapose that to Viola's Annalise Keaton ...

She is ethically challenged, a woman with the muscles to cheat in marriage and in the courtroom. 

One critic wrote that from the moment Davis’s character appears, you know she’s used to bending the world to her will. In one moment Keating is shredding law students with her razor-like words, in another she’s shedding a tear about being childless. Except it leaves viewers wondering if that’s a boldfaced lie or the truth opportunistically revealed to explain an indiscretion. 

I am already green with envy that I have not seen the show. I can't wait. As for Shonda, I have nothing but respect for her creative brilliance.