I am proud to report on yet another first as I have found about 6 new firsts in the past. She is the first writer and producer since Aaron Spelling to oversee three back to back prime time shows all on one network and all on the same night, Thursday night. Yes, Thursday night on ABC is Shonda’s night. Shonda Rhimes has been trusted by a network for all the prime time shows for one night. Who gets that kind of exposure ? Shonda Rimes does, and who the hell is she? You probably wouldn’t recognize her as a big time television producer, screen writer, creator from seeing her walking anywhere because she looks just like us.

Shonda is attractive in a motherly way. She has three children and is overweight and is black and sounds just like us, no artsy fartsy creative jargon of most writers who always seem to be lost in their own thoughts. Yet she happens to be one of the most powerful women in Hollywood. She created the Mc Dreamy sex lives of doctors in the TV series Grey’s Anatomy on TV since 2005 and is  known for the illicit presidential affair in another of her shows called Scandal. Her signature cliff hangers keep us watching season after season.

She is a busy woman who now adds to her successes a new ABC drama called How to Get Away With Murder. Her production company is called Shondaland.  She is successful not because she is a black woman but because she has a talent that crosses over all gender and racial lines. Her stories and emotions in her shows connect with all people. Last year a record 19 million people watched the Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal’s season finale. Maybe this incredible woman could go into politics and connect and convince millions of people to stop these stupid religious wars around the globe. Sorry, us men expect you women to just be able to do it all.

When Scandal premiered two years ago, viewers saw another first in a very long time. We saw actress Kerry Washington become the first Afro-American actress in nearly 40 year to star in a leading role in a network prime time show. It is significant but who knew? America sees all the inter racial romances on her shows as just people falling in love not along any racial or cultural lines. It is all natural and beautiful even though America has shied away from such relationships openly for decades. The last show that featured a black leading lady woman was called Get Christie Love in 1974 starring Theresa Graves and didn’t last long.

If you choose to sit in front of the TV and not change the channel for three hours, you will also see a first in that her newest show called How To Get Away With Murder features actress Viola Davis who is a nearly 50 year old black actress who gets the opportunity to play a sexy leading lady role on TV. Opportunities usually aren’t offered to actresses in Hollywood like that. For 9 years Shonda has been silently breaking all the rules on TV to our delight. On Thursday I’ll make the pop corn and maybe break the rules and sit and watch TV for three hours straight.