FX’s Dear Mama Scores the Most-Watched Premiere Episode For An Unscripted Series Ever

The docuseries Dear Mama on FX, which explores the lives and legacies of mother and son Afeni and Tupac Shakur, had the most watched unscripted series premiere in FX history at its premiere. The debut episode had a record-breaking performance because it debuted on FX and was made available to stream on Hulu the following day.

The critically acclaimed documentary received a score of 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes, and Billboard dubbed it “the best Tupac doc yet” and said that director Allen Hughes “paints a rich portrait of the singular, complex Shakur.”

“It’s only fitting that Allen Hughes’ definitive piece on Tupac and Afeni Shakur delivered a record performance for us and it speaks to Tupac’s enduring legacy,” said Nick Grad, President, of FX Entertainment.  “Allen’s examination of Tupac viewed through the prism of his mother Afeni is a fascinating take that really gets beneath the education and experience that shaped his life and inspired him to become one of the greatest artists ever.” 

The third episode, “So Many Tears,” of the revival of Dear Mama airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET/PT on FX. As Tupac’s legal issues worsen, he is eventually accused of sexual assault in New York after being arrested multiple times in various states. Afeni is the spokesperson for the New York Panther 21, defending her own case in court and shocking everyone with the decision. It ends differently for Tupac’s criminal trial. Hughes, Allen, is the director.

The fourth episode, “Ambitionz Az A Ridah,” will air on FX on May 5; the final episode, “Until the End of Time,” will air on May 12. The following day, Hulu will stream all of the episodes. Dear Mama will be accessible on Disney+ under the Star label in all other international markets as well as Star+ in Latin America.

FX’s Dear Mama, a deeply personal five-part series that defies the conventions of traditional documentary storytelling to share an illuminating saga of mother and son, Afeni and Tupac Shakur, comes from Allen Hughes, the award-winning director of the critically acclaimed The Defiant Ones.
 
Afeni Shakur was an intellectual, a revolutionary, and a voice for the masses. She rose to fame as a feminist icon of the 1970s and the Black Panther Party’s macho culture’s first female movement leader. Tupac is regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time. He was also a poet, political thinker, and philosopher. He would eventually emerge as the face of contemporary Black activism in addition to becoming a universal sex icon and media darling for his outspoken and occasionally outrageous antics. From a time of revolutionary fervor to the most ostentatious decade in Hip Hop culture, their story charts the possibilities and contradictions of the United States.

Dear Mama on FX is a visual and aural experience. As beats fade into soundscapes and Tupac’s lyrics are revealed to be political and passionate mantras, his timeless message is indisputable. It avoids using strict chronology in favor of a style that jumps back and forth in time, highlighting connections between mother and son, the 1970s and 1990s, Black activism, and Hip Hop to show how much the fight for human rights has changed and hasn’t. Through this method, the eras converse with one another and the passage of time is melted, transforming the two narratives into a single, definitive portrait of a global superstar and the woman who shaped him, who are inextricably bound by fate and love.

Along with executive producers Quincy Delight Jones III (QD3), Staci Robinson, Nelson George, Charles King, Peter Nelson, Adel “Future” Nur, Jamal Joseph, and Ted Skillman, Allen Hughes performs the roles of producer, writer, and director. Executive producer and writer Lasse Järvi also contributes to the project. Produced in collaboration with MACRO and DreamCrew Entertainment, the five-part docuseries is a joint effort between A Defiant Ones Media Group Production and An Amaru Entertainment Production.