'Underground' Premiere Shatters Records As The Most-Watched Program In Nearly 18 Years On WGN America

Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Rosalee, Alano Miller as Cato and Renwick Scott as Henry (PRNewsFoto/WGN America)

On the heels of rave reviews, the premiere of WGN America's critically acclaimed hit series "Underground" shattered records as the most-watched program in nearly 18 years on the network, since the Cubs vs. Cardinals game on 9/8/1998 where Mark McGwire famously hit his 62nd home run beating Roger Maris's single season record.  

In Live + 3 delivery, "Underground" amassed 3.5 million Total Viewers (+43% vs. 2.5 million) and 1.5 Adults 25-54 (+51% vs. 983,000), last Wednesday night (premiere and three encores) to become the highest rated original scripted program ever in the network's history.  When adding digital platforms and encores, "Underground" continued its winning streak, outpacing all originals on the network with 4.9 million Total Viewers on premiere night and 5.7 million Total Viewers across the week.  

The 10 p.m. airing drew 2.3 million Total Viewers (+60% vs. 1,421,000) and 985,000 Adults 25-54 (+68% vs. 585,000), outperforming the network's prime average season-to-date by +948% in the demo. 

The Full-Length Trailer

"We couldn't be happier with the outstanding performance of 'Underground,' but the overwhelmingly positive response of the audience to this story about the unsung American heroes of the Underground Railroad is even more gratifying," said Matt Cherniss, president and general manager, WGN America and Tribune Studios.  "The talented creators Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, along with the producers and an amazing cast and crew, have created something truly special."

The commercial-free premiere of "Underground" aired Wednesday, March 9 at 10 p.m., and ranks an impressive #6 in Total Viewers among all scripted cable series premieres this broadcast season and #8 among Adults 25-54.

Lauded for its vivid and thrilling portrayal of the revolutionaries of the Underground Railroad, "Underground's" 3.5 million Total Viewers on the night improved on the premiere nights of the network's popular originals "Outsiders" by +25% (vs. 2.8 million) and "Salem" by +9% (vs. 3.2 million).

From creators and executive producers Misha Green and Joe Pokaski, and executive producer and Academy Award®-winner John Legend, the 10-episode, hour-long program tells the unflinching story of a group of courageous men and women who band together for the fight of their lives – for their families, their future and their freedom.  In all-new episode of "Underground," "War Chest," airing WEDNESDAY, March 16 (10:00 p.m. ET/PT), a plantation dance becomes the perfect distraction for a heist while John and Elizabeth step into a strange new world.

"Underground" has fast amassed a passionate fan base, and trended on Twitter in its premiere night as the second highest trending topic of the night, only after the Democratic debate.  The series was recently honored at the White House with a screening and panel discussion as part of the Office of Public Engagement's Black History Month program.  Additionally, "Underground" has been screened at a number of revered institutions, universities and events, including National Civil Rights Museum, 2016 Sundance Film Festival, NAACP, Schomburg Center, DuSable Museum of African American History, Howard University, New York Comic-Con, and more.

Cast of WGN America's "Underground" and Executive Producer John Legend (PRNewsFoto/WGN America)

The celebrated cast of "Underground" includes: 

• Jurnee Smollett-Bell ("True Blood," "Friday Night Lights") 
• Aldis Hodge ("Straight Outta Compton") 
• Christopher Meloni ("Sin City: A Dame to Kill For")
• Alano Miller ("Jane The Virgin") ‎
• Jessica de Gouw ("Arrow," "Dracula") 
• Marc Blucas ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer") ‎
• Adina Porter ("The 100") 
• Mykelti Williamson ("Justified," "24") ‎
• Amirah Vann ("Girls," "And So It Goes") 
• Johnny Ray Gill ("Rectify")
• Chris Chalk ("Gotham") 
• Reed Diamond ("Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.")
• Theodus Crane ("The Walking Dead") 
• James Lafferty ("One Tree Hill")
• Renwick Scott ("Treme")
• Jussie Smollett ("Empire")

WGN America Logo (PRNewsFoto/WGN America)

Hailing from Sony Pictures Television and Tribune Studios, "Underground" is created by Misha Green ("Sons Of Anarchy," "Heroes") and Joe Pokaski ("Daredevil," "Heroes,") who executive produce alongside Academy Award-winner Akiva Goldsman ("A Beautiful Mind," "I Am Legend") of Weed Road Pictures; and Joby Harold ("King Arthur," "Edge of Tomorrow") and Tory Tunnell ("King Arthur," "Holy Rollers") of Safehouse Pictures.  Visionary artist and producer John Legend, an Academy Award, Golden Globe® and multi-Grammy Award winner, and his Get Lifted partners Mike Jackson and Ty Stiklorius executive produce.  Additionally, Get Lifted oversees all elements of the show's music.  Anthony Hemingway ("The Wire," "Treme") directs and serves as executive producer for the first four episodes. 

SOURCE: WGN America

Vasco da Gama Shipwreck Discovered

Ship's bell dated 1498 (PRNewsFoto/Oman's Ministry of Heritage)

Portuguese ship wrecked on a remote island in the Sultanate of Oman in 1503 is the earliest ship of discovery to be found and scientifically investigated by archaeologists  

Oman's Ministry of Heritage & Culture (MHC) in cooperation with Blue Water Recoveries Ltd (BWR) of West Sussex, UK announce the discovery and archaeological excavation of a Portuguese East Indiaman that was part of Vasco da Gama's 1502-1503 Armada toIndia. The ship, which sank in a storm in May 1503 off the coast of Al Hallaniyah island in Oman's Dhofar region, is the earliest ship from Europe's Age of Discovery ever to be found and scientfically investigated by a team of archaeologists and other experts.

Divers excavating the wreck site (PRNewsFoto/Oman's Ministry of Heritage)

Details of the wreck site, published today in the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology reveal that the ship is believed to be thenau Esmeralda commanded by Vicente Sodré, who was the maternal uncle of Vasco da Gama and a descendent of the nobleman Frederick Sudley of Gloucestshire, UK. A website with high-resolution images and video of the excavation was also launched today: (esmeraldashipwreck.com)

The wreck site was initially discovered by BWR in 1998, on the 500th anniversary of Vasco da Gama's epic discovery of the direct sea route to India, but full-scale archaeological survey and excavation by the MHC didn't begin until 2013. Since then two more excavations have been conducted in 2014 and 2015, with more than 2,800 artefacts being recovered. The project has been jointly managed by the MHC and David L. Mearns of BWR and has been conducted in strict compliance with the UNESCO Convention for the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage of 2001.

Key artifacts that helped in identification of the wreck site as Vicente Sodré's nau Esmeralda include:

• an important copper-alloy disc marked with the Portuguese royal coat of arms and an esfera armilar (armillary sphere) - a personal emblem of Dom Manuel I.
• a bronze bell with an inscription that suggests the date of the ship was 1498.
• gold cruzado coins minted in Lisbon between 1495 and 1501.
• an extraordinarily rare silver coin, called the Indio, commissioned by Dom Manuel in 1499 specifically for trade with India.  The extreme rarity of the Indio (there is only one other known example in the world) is such that it has legendary status as the 'lost' or 'ghost' coin of Dom Manuel.

His Excellency Hassan Al Lawati the Adviser to the Minister For Heritage Affairs comments: "This project is regarded as the first that is conducted in Oman and the region in underwater archaeology. Therefore, the Ministry has taken a proactive approach to ensure that the project will be efficiently conducted. This was done by involving the expertise in underwater archaeology and by working under international regulations such as the UNESCO convention of 2001. We appreciate the joint efforts of the local and international entities and institutes that made this project a huge success."

"This project differs from the majority of maritime archaeology projects in that we set out to specifically find the wreck site of the Sodré ships, using a suvivor's and other historical accounts, because of their very early age and the potential they held for new discoveries. It is extremely gratifying therefore that this strategy has paid off with such interesting revelations even though we are still at a relatively early stage in the study of the artefact assemblage," said Project Director David L. Mearns.

SOURCE: Oman’s Ministry of Heritage & Culture (MHC) and Blue Water Recoveries Ltd

A Play Inspired By The "Ground Zero Mosque" Controversy

Poster art for the stage play, "Mosque Alert." (PRNewsFoto/Silk Road Rising)

Jamil Khoury's "Mosque Alert" Taps Into Fears Fanned By Current Political Climate

"Mosque Alert," a bold new play by award winning playwright Jamil Khoury, will receive a professional world premiere production at Chicago's Silk Road Rising this Spring. Mosque Alert (www.mosquealert.org) tells the story of three fictional families living in Naperville, Illinois, whose lives are forever changed by a proposed Islamic Center on the site of a beloved local landmark. The play was inspired by the 2010 "Ground Zero Mosque" controversy in New York City.

"I should thank Donald Trump," says playwright Jamil Khoury. "If Mosque Alert was relevant when I first started, that relevance has since exploded. Today the play exists within a cultural zeitgeist animated by fears of immigrants, fears of Muslims, demographic anxiety attacks, and calls to erect walls and impose bans—a more optimistic read is that of one big messy America struggling to work it out for the better."

Unlike most plays, Mosque Alert was developed through an open and public workshop process. Originally conceived as an online video-based civic engagement project, over the last two years, Khoury has adapted the project into a stage play by working in communities with both Muslim and non-Muslim participants. Over 2,500 individuals have participated in the new play's development and have expressed their surprise at how closely the play reflects real life scenarios.

"When I launched Mosque Alert as a digital online initiative nearly five years ago," says Khoury, "how could I have guessed that my three fictional families in Naperville, Illinois, with intertwined lives and competing worldviews, would drive a story so reflective of actual mosque battles and presidential politics in 2016? Mosque Alert, I believe, not only responds to the current climate, but gives new spin to the adage 'life imitates art.'"

Mosque Alert explores the intersections of zoning and Islamophobia with humor, family drama, and refreshingly blunt honesty. The play provides no easy answers. Instead, it offers insights into conversations taking place within segments of the Muslim American community, the challenges faced by their allies, and the political beliefs that have contributed to a climate of fear. The play isn't one sided, either. Instead, it works to ascribe integrity to a wide spectrum of perspectives, even those we may find objectionable, and it presents characters that are complex, flawed, and ultimately relatable.

"With Mosque Alert we're seizing the gray areas," says Khoury, "and inviting audiences to grapple with unsettling truths about our post-9/11 world: namely, the resistance to mosque-building in communities across the US, and what that resistance tells us about ourselves."

Director Edward Torres, who returned to his native Chicago fromNew York City where he recently directed Macbeth for the Public Theater, reflects on the themes of the play and says, "Mosque Alert gives voice to multiple American perspectives and exposes the fears at the heart of intolerance."

Playwright Jamil Khoury, author of "Mosque Alert." (PRNewsFoto/Silk Road Rising)

Mosque Alert performs from March 24 to May 1, 2016 at Silk Road Rising in The Historic Chicago Temple Building, 77 W. Washington St, Lower Level, Chicago, IL. For more information, including purchasing tickets online, visit www.mosquealert.org.

#RealmToTheRescue - Game Of Thrones Cast Stands Up To Support World's Refugees In New Cause Campaign

The International Rescue Committee, HBO and Omaze team up on RESCUE HAS NO BOUNDARIES #RealmtotheRescue to raise $1 million dollars in emergency aid for Syrian Refugee Crisis. Donate and win the ultimate Game of Thrones experiences including 2 tickets to the GoT Season 6 Premiere at Omaze.com/GameofThrones. L-R Game of Thrones cast members Maisie Williams, John Bradley, Sophie Turner, and Lena Headey. (PRNewsFoto/International Rescue Committee)

HBO and Game of Thrones Join with the International Rescue Committee to Launch 'RESCUE HAS NO BOUNDARIES'

Tomorrow, as the world marks the 5^th anniversary of the Syrian civil war, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) announces it is teaming up with HBO's Game of Thrones to launch the multi-platform RESCUE HAS NO BOUNDARIES campaign to bring attention to the global refugee crisis and raise emergency funds to help rescue the millions of people displaced by conflict and natural disaster. The RESCUE HAS NO BOUNDARIES campaign, led by Emmy-winning actress Lena Headey, along with other Game of Thrones cast members (past and present), includingSophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, Liam Cunningham, DeObia Oparei, John Bradley, Tom Wlaschiha, Eugene Simon and Oona Chaplin, urges that the time is now to rescue refugees no matter where they are in the world.

According to the most recent UN figures, there are currently more than 60 million refugees and displaced people throughout the world, and nearly 1 million people per month are on the move due to the fallout of the Syrian civil war alone. The IRC is currently providing support to Syrian refugees in Syria, Jordan,Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Serbia and Greece. Inside Syria, the organization has reached almost 2 million people with medical care, shelter, emergency supplies and cash assistance, and is also providing classrooms, child-friendly spaces and counseling services for survivors of violence.

"We are currently facing the worst humanitarian crisis since World War II," stated David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee. "Our partnership with HBO and Game of Thrones—which premiered around the same time the war in Syria began—hopes to galvanize the general public to take action and rise up for refugees."

IRC and HBO are encouraging people to visit www.rescue.org/GameOfThrones to learn about the needs of refugees and how they can help them through PSAs and exclusive behind-the-scenes content from the Game of Thrones cast. The campaign unites Westeros with special appearances by the cast who famously portray the Lannisters and Starks as they voice their commitment for the millions of refugees in need.

"Our longstanding support of the IRC comes from a deep respect for the humanitarian work they do and a fundamental understanding of their mission to get much needed relief to millions of refugees displaced throughout the world," explains Richard Plepler, chairman & CEO of HBO. "On behalf of the HBO employees and talent associated with Game of Thrones who graciously donated their time and resources to this effort, we are honored to join the IRC in this partnership at a time of great need around the world."

International Rescue Committee. (PRNewsFoto/International Rescue Committee)

Joining the IRC and HBO in this mission is Omaze, the experience-driven fundraising platform behind some of the biggest celebrity, influencer and brand experiences for fans, all in support of amazing causes. From March 13th - April 5th, for as little as a $10 donation, Game of Thrones fans from around the world can enter on the Omaze website for the chance to win their dream experience with the cast. One winner selected at random will attend the season six premiere and after party with the cast. All of the donations raised via the Omaze platform will benefit the IRC.

 The Video

Clean Energy Could Save Hundreds Of Billions In Health Costs Every Year

If the U.S. moved to electric vehicles, there would be a substantial cut in air pollution – and health benefits to go with it. septim/flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

By Drew Shindell, Duke University

In Paris late last year, the countries of the world pledged to reduce emissions to keep global warming “well below a 2 degree Celsius” rise in global average temperatures compared with preindustrial levels.

As an advanced economy, the U.S. is expected to lead in making the required emissions reductions, which would be roughly 80 percent by midcentury compared with 2005. This would entail moving a large portion of U.S. power generation off fossil fuels and shifting the majority of our vehicles to electric power. That’s a tall order.

Most existing energy policies focus on the nearer term, and as yet there is no roadmap to achieve this 2°C limit – or even less aggressive targets for emissions cuts in the next 15 years.