Any Day Now (TV series)

Any Day Now focuses on the lives and interactions of two female protagonists: Mary Elizabeth "M.E." O'Brien Sims (Potts) and Rene Jackson (Toussaint). The two had grown up as close friends in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 1960s during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement. However, their friendship ended when M.E. became pregnant and chose, despite Rene's disapproval, to keep the child, drop out of college, and marry her boyfriend, Colliar Sims.

More than twenty years later, M.E. and her husband still live in Birmingham, where they struggle to make ends meet. Their oldest son, Bobby, died as a child; but they have two more children, daughter Kelly and son Davis. Rene moved to Washington, D.C., where she was a successful attorney for many years; but, after the death of her father, Rene decides to move back to Birmingham and establish a law practice there.[3] She reunites with M.E., and the two quickly resume their close friendship. In every episode, contemporary storylines are interwoven with a storyline from their shared past.

Each hour-long episode explores a theme contained alternating scenes from two different timelines. The 1960s timeline followed the young version of the girls, who were best friends in Birmingham in the 1960s.[1] Their friendship provides an inside look at the civil rights movement as it affects the residents of Birmingham. Their friendship blossoms despite the discomfort of M.E.'s naively bigoted parents and her openly racist Uncle Jimmy, an avowed member of the Ku Klux Klan. M.E. and Rene's friendship was fostered by Renee's activists parents along with M.E.'s loving grandmother and her older brother, Johnny, who was sent to Vietnam, while M.E.'s older sister, Teresa, often threatened to tell their parents that M.E.'s "little colored friend" had been in their house. Colliar Sims (Chris Mulkey), M.E.'s childhood sweetheart and eventual husband, played a large role in this timeline as well. Rene's family included her father, James (John Lafayette), who was a lawyer and an active member of the Civil Rights Movement; her mother, Sarah, also active in the movement; and her older brother Elston, who was the same age as M.E.'s brother Johnny but dodged the draft by fleeing to Canada.

The contemporary timeline showed M.E. and Rene as adults. M.E. is a homemaker with aspirations of becoming a writer, and Rene starts her own law firm in Birmingham.[4] Characters from the 1960s timeline appeared in the contemporary timeline as well, such as Rene's widowed mother, her brother Elston (openly gay, who has a son by a surrogate), who his partner adopts, M.E.'s oft-divorced sister Teresa (Delta Burke), and M.E.'s aging parents, whose views on race had mellowed somewhat over the years, quite in contrast to unrepentantly racist Uncle Jimmy, who still antagonized Rene if given the chance.

The show dealt with issues like modern-day racism, homosexuality, religion, women's rights, rape, natural disaster, alcohol, suicide, and death. During Season 3, M.E.'s daughter Kelly dated an African-American boy, Ajoni (Derrex Brady), and became pregnant by him at age 17, much to Colliar's dismay;[4] Kelly and Ajoni chose to marry and keep the baby, whom they named Emmett. Eventually, M.E. published a book and was invited to teach at the local college. Rene's over-all story arc dealt mainly with her law practice; although she enjoyed great success as a lawyer, eventually focusing her practice on civil rights law, she sometimes regretted that she had never married nor had a family. In the final episode of the show, Rene married Judge Clyde "Turk" Terhune (William Allen Young).

In most episodes there was either a common theme between the scenes presented from each timeline, or a direct connection between the events depicted in the past and how it affected those in the present. This relationship between past and present often explores the effect of past damage on the present day.[1]

The show included real-life topics such as police traffic stops that are unusually fatal for Black people, in the episode "It's a Good Thing I'm Not Black" in which Rene is forced to lie down on the sidewalk after being pulled over.[1]

In the fourth season, the actresses Mae Middleton (M.E.) and Shari Dyon Perry (Rene) were replaced by Olivia Hack and Maya Goodwin, respectively, as the producers wanted the girls to encounter more mature storylines. However, Dan Byrd kept the role of Colliar Sims.

Any Day Now ended after 88 episodes, with Rene's marriage, as well as M.E. and Rene's mothers finally putting an end to their decades-long animosity.

Any Day Now is currently being aired on Start TV daily at 8 AM/7 AM Central Time.

Nancy Miller, co-creator, executive producer and showrunner had spent summers during her childhood in Birmingham at a time when there were still segregated fountains. Miller used those past histories in creating the show. Valerie Woods, who started as first executive story editor and later became co-executive producer, was equally committed to creating a show that would examine difficult topics in a useful way.[1][2]

Miller started trying to get Any Day Now in to production starting in 1990, envisioning it as a combination of Wonder Years and Mississippi Burning. CBS agreed at one point, but then cancelled before production began.[2]

The writers' room of Any Day Now was diverse - at least 50 percent of the writers were people of color, almost all of whom were black.[1] The diverse cast members themselves also participate in the creative process. Donzaleigh Abernathy, who plays Rene's mother, is the daughter of Rev. Ralph Abernathy, who was a civil rights leader himself.[2] Lifetime was receptive to the show taking on difficult subject.[4]

• Birmingham Campaign
• Civil rights movement in popular culture

Notes

• Any Day Now at IMDb
• Any Day Now at epguides.com
• 2019 BlackFilm interview: Lorraine Toussaint on 'Any Day Now'