The Campaign to Make Issa Rae the Star of Her New Show

Is Issa Rae The New Lena Dunham?

In recent Wonderful News, it was revealed that Shonda Rhimes, creator of "Grey's Anatomy" and "Scandal," just sold a comedy to ABC called "I Hate LA Dudes," which will be written and co-executive produced by Hollywood newcomer Issa Rae.

Rae, who earned a cult following for her award-winning web series "The Misadventures of Awkward Black Girl," created ABG to reflect the difficulties she had meeting people while living in New York City — and to counteract the absence of black female characters, particularly nerdy ones, on TV and movie screens. When networks reached out to Rae with offers to bring ABG to television, though, she was hesitant, fearing that she'd be forced to relinquish creative control. Now she has a network show. Will she have creative control? That Rae will co-executive produce "IHLAD" in addition to writing it seems promising, but for the show to have its best shot at success, Rae needs to be the star, too.

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