Face it \u2014 your weekly dose of Cookie Lyon is gone.<\/p>\n
The smash show Empire<\/em> rolled into our lives like a wrecking ball. It came, it saw, it conquered primetime audiences. But now that the season finale has aired, Wednesday nights are feeling a little empty.<\/p>\n How should you cope? By diving headfirst into another round of pop culture. Whether by digging into the show’s music, or catching up with hit shows like Scandal<\/em>, here are 7 ways to tide yourself over until Empire<\/em> returns.<\/p>\n 1. Watch Dynasty<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The show has been endlessly compared to the classic ’80s soap opera. Lee Daniels has even jokingly referred to Empire<\/em> as a “black Dynasty<\/em>” (though showrunner Ilene Chalken, who worked for Dynasty<\/em> producer Aaron Spelling for many years, wants fans to know Empire<\/em> has more grit, truth and authenticity than your average soap opera).<\/p>\n The soapy series is available on Amazon Instant Video.<\/p>\n 2. Have a Lee Daniels movie marathon<\/strong><\/p>\n The show creator has a pretty impressive directorial filmography. Nominated for two Oscars, Daniels made a name for himself in Hollywood before ever heading to TV land. He directed the heart-wrenching flick Precious<\/em>, the controversial The Paperboy<\/em> and the decades-spanning biopicThe Butler<\/em>. He also produced Monster’s Ball<\/em>, the gritty 2001 flick that won Halle Berry a Best Actress Oscar, making her the first African-American actress in history to do so.<\/p>\n The Paperboy<\/em> is available to stream on Netflix, while the latter are available for purchase on Amazon Instant Video.<\/p>\n 3. Listen to the official Empire<\/em> soundtrack<\/strong><\/p>\n The show is all about a music mogul and his family, so why not reminisce with the recently-released soundtrack? Not only does it feature the musically-talented cast, it features major players like Mary J. Blige, Jennifer Hudson and Courtney Love.<\/p>\n The album is streaming on Spotify and is available for purchase on iTunes.<\/p>\n 4. Catch up on the blessings of Shonda Rhimes<\/strong><\/p>\n Shonda Rhimes changed the game for people of color on television. The mastermind behindGrey’s Anatomy<\/em> and Scandal<\/em>, and the executive producer of How to Get Away with Murder<\/em> led a diversity breakthrough that hasn’t been seen in decades, paving the way for shows like Empire<\/em>. Plus, she’s a huge Empire<\/em> fan herself.<\/p>\n Previous seasons of Grey’s Anatomy<\/em> and Scandal<\/em> are available on Netflix, though both are still airing their current season on ABC. You’ll have to catch up with How to Get Away with Murder<\/em> on Hulu, though only the last five episodes from the first season are there.<\/p>\n 5. Watch Hustle and Flow<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n This is for everyone who just wants to see Cookie and Lucious, a.k.a Taraji P. Henson and Terrence Howard together onscreen again. The 2005 flick starred Howard as a pimp in Memphis trying to get his rap career off the ground. Henson plays a hooker named Shug who sings backup for him. The film garnered Howard an Oscar nomination and is also notable for winning the members of Three 6 Mafia an Oscar for Best Original Song.<\/p>\n 6. Watch The Lion in Winter<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The classic 1968 film starring Katherine Hepburn and Peter O’Toole won three Oscars and was one of the inspirations for Empire<\/em>, according to an interview with producer and writer Danny Strong.<\/p>\n The film follows the story of King Henry II as his wife and sons plot against him.<\/p>\n 7. Read Shakespeare’s King Lear<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The Shakespearean tragedy was another conceptual inspiration for the show, Strong says. It follows the drama Lear faces as he splits his kingdom between two of his three daughters.<\/p>\n The play was also adapted into a TV movie starring Ian McKellan, which is free to stream on Amazon Instant Video.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source:\u00a0mashable.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Face it \u2014 your weekly dose of Cookie Lyon is gone. The smash show Empire rolled into our lives like a wrecking ball. It came, it saw, it conquered primetime audiences. But now that the season finale has aired, Wednesday nights are feeling a little empty. How should you cope? By diving headfirst into another […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":103743,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[34,6],"class_list":["post-103740","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-ghana-standards-authority","tag-togbe-afede"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103740","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=103740"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103740\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/103743"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=103740"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=103740"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=103740"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}