Twenty-six-year-old director and playwright Jordan Cooper has been itching to create a family sitcom that pushed modern boundaries. Today, he’s the executive producer of the new BET+ original “grown-ass comedy” Ms. Pat, based on the life of stand-up comedian and former convicted felon Patricia Williams.
“This is like the old school sitcoms that I love, except we get to cuss,” Cooper says. “We get to talk about real issues.”
Cooper caught the attention of film director and producer Lee Daniels in 2019, with his Off-Broadway play Ain’t No Mo. Daniels told Cooper that he had struck a content deal with Williams, but hadn’t solidified a concept. He asked Cooper to read Williams’ memoir Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat and come back to him with ideas.
“I was excited to get the book. I got the book and I read it. [I thought], ‘This is a sitcom,’” Cooper says. “The thing that I love about those shows is that the multi-cam sitcom is like a Trojan horse. You really get to talk about very socially relevant topics and things that people wouldn’t normally talk about in their living rooms.”
As a fan of old school sitcoms like The Jeffersons, The Golden Girls and All In The Family, Cooper wanted to create a character like Archie Bunker as a Black woman. Cooper’s grandfather was a big fan of All In The Family and Cooper didn’t realize until he was older what made the show and the characters popular to many people around the world. He realized how smart and satirical Archie was in making jokes that allowed the show to be seen in a different way.
“There’s something about the non-political correctness of that character but the heart of that character which was bigger than what that show allowed to be seen,” Cooper says. “There is something about Pat—that she has that same kind of gift. You may not agree with her but you love her. You may not agree with how she sees the world. The beautiful thing about her that Archie Bunker wasn’t. She’s willing to learn.”
Cooper also enjoyed getting to work with Debbie Allen, who is director of this series. This is the first time Allen has directed a pilot since The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and Cooper wanted another Black female voice behind the camera besides Williams. He remembers watching A Different World on Amazon Prime
“We called Lee and Lee knew her well. He sent her the script and as soon as she read the script, she was on board. I was shocked and honored. She is so brilliant. She really helped us start the show off right and film it off,” says Cooper.
Through The Ms. Pat Show, Cooper hopes his audience will see that your life doesn’t define your purpose. Before Pat Williams became the entertainer she is today, she was in an abusive relationship and went to prison for selling drugs.
“The show is about taking this woman who comes from this kind of toxic and multi-generation curse of a background, and trying her best to put the picture of a perfect family together in a new life. This is a show about breaking cycles, about learning something new,” Cooper says. “We talk about all topics from school shootings to depression in the Black community to non-gender conforming people. And the queer identify in general and how it relates to Blackness.”
The Ms. Pat Show premieres tomorrow, August 12, on BET+.
