Ten years after the historic police shooting of Michael Brown, Jr., CBS is taking a hard look at the Ferguson unrest with “13 Days in Ferguson.”
The primetime special will premiere on Aug. 9 at 10 p.m. ET on CBS and will also be able to stream on Paramount+. Subscribers of Paramount+ with Showtime will be able to watch the special live and on demand, while Paramount+ essential subscribers will be able to watch it the day after the special airs.
On Aug. 9, 2014, 18-year-old Michael Brown was killed by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. What started as a series of protests in the wake of the killing quickly evolved into riots that led to tear gas being used and curfews being implemented by officers. This death lit the already tense powder keg between St. Louis law enforcement and the Black community.
CBS’ upcoming special will tell this story through two central figures: St. Louis native Cedric the Entertainer and Capt. Ron Johnson, a now retired Black state police officer with close ties to the community. Together these two longtime friends will walk the streets of Ferguson and remember the events that took place a decade ago. The special also includes the first sit-down conversation between Johnson and the victim’s father, Michael Brown, Sr.
“The story of Ferguson is the story of America,” Cedric the Entertainer said in a statement to press. “It’s important to tell this story now with my friend Ron Johnson because, with the benefit of 10 years, we can see the lessons learned, the progress made and the road ahead with more clarity. This is Ron’s elegy.”
“If I was going to step up to be a leader, then I had to accept whatever came, the good and the bad,” Capt. Johnson said in a press release. “Leadership is an honor. People are critical of leadership and a leader has to take whatever comes with that, because he or she has been honored to be in that position. And so, whatever came with it, it was a part of it.”
“13 Days in Ferguson” is produced by See It Now Studios and Bungalow Media + Entertainment in association with A Bird and a Bear Entertainment. Executive producers include Robert Friedman and Deborah Riley Draper for Bungalow Media + Entertainment, Cedric the Entertainer and Eric C. Rhone for A Bird and a Bear Entertainment, JD DeWitt for Fear Not Productions and Susan Zirinsky and Terence Wrong for See It Now Studios. Draper also serves as director.
