In 1951, a 31-year-old woman named Henrietta Lacks died of cervical cancer not long after cells were taken out and harvested by doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital without her knowledge or any compensation.
Lacks’ cancerous cells led to medical breakthroughs in the medical community that allowed doctors to save thousands of lives. In tonight’s film adaptation of Rebecca Skloot’s critically-acclaimed novel, Henrietta Lacks’ daughter, Deborah, takes off on an adventure to learn more about her mother and how her harvested cells led to unprecedented medical breakthroughs.
In a New York Times review of the film, Neil Genzlinger writes, “You might think it would be impossible at this point for Ms. Winfrey to escape her own fame and play a movie role, but she is, remember, an Oscar-nominated actress. She makes it easy to forget the rest and buy into her performance, so much so that scenes with Deborah and Rebecca are a bit of a mismatch.”
Read on for details on when and where to watch the show tonight.
DATE: Saturday, April 22, 2017
TIME: 8pm ET/PT
DURATION: 1hr35min
TV CHANNEL: HBO – Check with your local TV provider (ie. FIOS, Optimum, Time Warner) to find out what channel HBO is in your area.
DIRECTOR/WRITER: George C. Wolfe
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS:
Alan Ball
Carla Gardini
Peter Macdissi
Lydia Dean Pilcher
Oprah Winfrey
CAST:
Oprah Winfrey
Rose Byrne
Renée Elise Goldsberry
Courtney B. Vance
Reg E. Cathey
Ruben Santiago-Hudson
Leslie Uggams