Colter brings the pain as indestructible Luke Cage

What’s next for Roseanne’s spinoff

ATLANTA, June 23, (Agencies): “Black Panther” broke box office records, but “Luke Cage” once crashed Netflix.

The streaming service suffered a massive outage for more than two hours in 2016, one day after the premiere of “Luke Cage,” a drama-action series starring Mike Colter who plays the show’s superhero with indestructible and bulletproof skin.

Heading into its first season in 2016, the show was highly anticipated as the only television series with a black superhero as the lead character at the time.

With season two of “Luke Cage” premiered Friday on Netflix, Colter hopes the series can keep the momentum going. Especially after the success of other black-leading superhero characters, like CW’s “Black Lightning” and the film “Black Panther,” which had a recordsetting $192 million debut in US and Canada theaters and nearly $700 million overall this year.

“Luke Cage” received high marks from most reviewers for the show’s politically and socially conscious story angles, strong writing and Colter’s performance. The deep-voiced actor said society — not only in the AfricanAmerican community — was ready to see a black superhero as a lead character.

Colter said he spoke with many people across the world telling him they related to Cage’s character. The original character first appeared in comic books in 1972.

“For people of color, it inspires them to believe they can be a superhero in their own way, too,” said the 6-foot-3 Colter, who bulked up 30 pounds for the role.

“There’s a certain portion of the population that needs to see someone that represents them,” he added. “Sometimes that’s not just physically. It’s a point of view. I get a lot of fans who are white, Asian, Brazilian. They relate to the character because of their approach to the world. Ultimately, they feel like this guy is blue collared and he is striving to do something with his life with all his limitations financially. He’s not feeling sorry for himself or having a pity party. He’s just trying to keep on, keepin’ on. That’s what people relate to.”

Cage is an ex-convict wrongly imprisoned for a crime he didn’t commit, developing his superpowers after a botched experimental procedure. After clearing his name, he becomes a Harlem celebrity for his heroic efforts to protect the community. The character has appeared in other Marvel Cinematic Universe shows, including Netflix’s “Jessica Jones” and “The Defenders.”

In season two, Cage struggles to find a good paying job until he decides to cash in on his abilities as a hero-for-hire.

Colter’s fellow cast members called him a “perfect fit” for the Cage role.

“No matter how tired Luke Cage is, he has to protect Harlem. Mike leads our show in the same way,” said Simone Missick, who reprises the role of Misty Knight. “He fits the bill physically. He approaches his character with a vulnerability you don’t often see in characters like that. It’s endearing to people. I think with Mike being the leader of this new school of superheros, he does an amazing job.”

Theo Rossi, who plays the villain Shades, said he likens Colter’s real-life persona to Cage. “If you’ve ever been around Mike, talked or hung out with Mike, he is Luke Cage,” Rossi said. “I mean, he’s massive. But at the same time, he’s got a swagger and a personality that’s so incredible. He’s so big and could be intimidating, but he’s not because he has this incredible presence about him.”

Not bad for Colter, who called himself a loner in high school. During his career, he made guest TV appearances on several shows including “ER” and “Law & Order,” until he got his big break to play a boxer in “Million Dollar Baby,” which won an Oscar for best film in 2005.

Colter’s performance in “Luke Cage” has opened doors for other acting opportunities. He’s expected to appear in the faith-based drama “The Impossible” and co-star in “Skin,” a true story about a former neo-Nazi.

With “Luke Cage,” Colter hopes his show can continue to open doors and break down barriers for others of color.

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With its deal Thursday for a “Roseanne” spinoff, ABC made lemonade from Roseanne Barr’s racist lemons. But producers are now under pressure to restart a show-making process that was derailed three weeks ago. ABC announced that it plans to premiere “The Conners” this fall — a tall order, given that pre-production on most fall series is already well underway, but not an impossible one.

The same day that ABC canceled “Roseanne” in May following Barr’s racist tweet about former Obama White House adviser Valerie Jarrett, writers were scheduled to assemble to begin work on the premiere of the show’s new season. Sources tell Variety that the writers’ room for “The Conners” will be nearly identical to that assembled for what would have been the second season of the revived “Roseanne.” The biggest change will be the departure of Wanda Sykes, who served as a consulting producer last season and had been scheduled to return, but publicly split from the show within hours of Barr’s tweet.

Sykes is not on board for the spinoff. But the writers’ room for “The Conners” is expected to finally open next week under showrunner Bruce Helford — who, with fellow executive producers Tom Werner and Sara Gilbert, led discussions with ABC about a possible spinoff. The three met with ABC entertainment president Channing Dungey just days after the cancellation to pitch a spinoff that would feature the show’s core cast sans Barr. Creatively, ABC was enthusiastic about the pitch. But the network insisted that Barr not have any creative input in nor receive any financial gain from the new show.

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The BBC has landed one of the buzziest German dramas of recent times, “54 Hours.” The limited series is based on a 1988 hostage crisis that turned into a human tragedy and a police and media fiasco. The show won German pubcaster ARD big ratings and received widespread critical acclaim, but also stoked controversy.

The Gladbeck crisis was one of the biggest crime cases in postwar German history. The series dramatizes the events following a bank raid gone wrong. The robbers took several hostages and, while being pursued by police and tracked by the media over several days, traveled across several West German state lines. The ensuing murder and carnage unfolded in a media circus that saw reporters interview hostages while they were still being held at gunpoint. The debacle ultimately led to new rules governing media coverage, and the police were accused of bungling their handling of the case.

The ARD broadcast earlier this year was considered controversial because of its timing, which coincided with the release of one of the hostage takers. The four-hour limited series was made by Ziegler Film (“Weissensee”) and went out on ARD earlier this year in two installments.

Germany has recently become a drama hot spot. Local reviews of “54 Hours” were strong, with Der Spiegel calling it one of the TV highlights of the year and Bild hailing it as a “masterpiece.”