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Season 1 – When We Rise

Play trailer Poster for Season 1 – When We Rise 2017 History Drama LGBTQ+ Play Trailer Watchlist
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82% Tomatometer 34 Reviews 79% Popcornmeter 50+ Ratings
Academy-Award winner Dustin Lance Black executive produces this miniseries chronicling the real-life personal and political struggles, setbacks, and triumphs of diverse LGBT activists who played integral roles in pioneering their leg of the U.S. civil rights movement from its infancy. The story focuses on AIDS and LGBT rights champion Cleve Jones, women's rights leader Roma Guy and her wife, Diane, African-American community organizer Ken Jones, and transgender activist Celia Chung, following them from the Stonewall riots in 1969 through the AIDS epidemic of the '80s and beyond.
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When We Rise — Season 1

When We Rise — Season 1

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Critics Consensus

When We Rise works as a well-meaning outreach project with a decent cast, even if the script's ambitious reach slightly exceeds its grasp.

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Critics Reviews

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Riese Bernard Autostraddle When We Rise summons powerful performances from a whip-smart cast. Oct 5, 2021 Full Review Lauren Carroll Harris Guardian In these adventurous moments, this often feel-good series hits its dramatic peaks. Jul 31, 2019 Full Review Richard Lawson Vanity Fair When We Rise admirably illustrates the virtue and necessity of activism, but it doesn't have enough muscle. There's a piousness, a politeness at root in the series that withers in the harsh glare of our political moment. Mar 2, 2017 Full Review Mark Dawidziak Cleveland Plain Dealer This four-night drama about the gay and lesbian rights movement in the United States is packed with wonderfully nuanced performances and splendidly resonant moments. Mar 6, 2017 Full Review Dana Villamagna Common Sense Media While the excellent acting and compelling storyline in this series will likely draw viewers attention, the often stilted messaging can dull the drama. Rated: 3/5 Feb 28, 2017 Full Review Roger Catlin rogercatlin.com When We Rise is a high minded and generally recommended history of the gay rights movement, a sincere effort by Dustin Lance Black, screenwriter of Milk to provide history and hope in an eight-hour project. Feb 27, 2017 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Audience Member This is the first comprehensive history lesson brought into everyone's home via network television. It is very hard to compress decades and decades of history and movement into an 8 hour mini-series, but the producers of this have done very well. Unfortunately, network television today doesn't have the same exposure, so it wouldn't have the same effect had this ran in the 90's or 80's, but the point is that it was time to finally see something that portrayed the real events that have happened in the past half century in the march toward equality. Bravo! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member It just a mini-series trying to take advantage of the anti-trump It over dramatize and irrelevant. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member A beautiful testament to the struggle for LGBTQ rights! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member This show is pure rubbish! Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member Piece of garbage show. Goes to show what happens when the sole reason for making a show is to lecture to "stupid, red state homophobes." I don't choose entertainment that is trying to teach me a lesson. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Audience Member absolutely stunning! Rated 5 out of 5 stars 01/09/23 Full Review Read all reviews
When We Rise — Season 1

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Cast & Crew

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Guy Pearce

Cleve Jones

Mary-Louise Parker

Roma Guy

Rachel Griffiths

Diane Guy

Michael Kenneth Williams

Ken Jones

Austin P. McKenzie

Younger Cleve Jones

Jonathan Majors

Younger Ken Jones

Episodes

Episode 1 Aired Feb 27, 2017 Ostracized after coming out -- or being outed -- Cleve Jones, Ken Jones, Roma Guy and Diane leave everything they know to seek safe harbor in San Francisco, where they join the burgeoning LGBTQ movement. Details Episode 2 Aired Feb 27, 2017 Night I Part II Roma, active in the women's movement, struggles with her sexuality; she relocates to San Francisco; there, Roma works to establish the country's first women's center run by and for women. Details Episode 3 Aired Mar 1, 2017 Cleve, Ken and Roma band together to fight Proposition 6, which would ban homosexuals and their allies from working in public schools; Roma's ex announces she is going to have a baby; Cleve works on Harvey Milk's campaign. Details Episode 4 Aired Mar 1, 2017 Cleve, Ken and Roma band together to fight Proposition 6, which would ban homosexuals and their allies from working in public schools; Roma's ex announces she is going to have a baby; Cleve works on Harvey Milk's campaign. Details Episode 5 Aired Mar 2, 2017 Cleve, Ken and Richard each contract AIDS, which is ravaging the gay community; Diane and Roma look for the father of Diane's daughter. Details Episode 6 Aired Mar 2, 2017 Night III Part II Cleve relocates to Palm Springs for health reasons; he finds fulfillment caring for his drug-addicted neighbor's baby; Diane's daughter grapples with her identity as a child of lesbian parents and a gay father. Details Episode 7 Aired Mar 3, 2017 Cleve organizes a march on Washington D.C. to protest California's Proposition Eight; Roma uses her experiences to fight for health care in San Francisco; Ken seeks Cecilia Chung's help in getting the city to fund a meal program for a church. Details Episode 8 Aired Mar 3, 2017 Night IV Part II Cleve works to overturn California's gay marriage ban; the case reaches the Supreme Court; Ken becomes a minister in an inclusive church; Cleve, Ken and Roma reunite at Roma's wedding to Diane. Details

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When We Rise — Season 1

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Season Info

Director
Gus Van Sant, Dustin Lance Black, Thomas Schlamme, Dee Rees
Executive Producer
Dustin Lance Black, Laurence Mark, Bruce Cohen, Gus Van Sant
Screenwriter
Dustin Lance Black, Lisa Zwerling, Peter Parnell, Derek Simonds, Dianne Houston
Network
ABC
Rating
TV-14
Genre
History, Drama, LGBTQ+
Original Language
English
Release Date
Feb 27, 2017