WOW!!!! TV Guide is NOT including me on the cover with my cast memebers……..I am the female lead of a 3 member cast and I’m not included on the cover!!!!!! Do you see the shit I have to deal with in this business…..I cram to understand!!!!

Words from Ms Taraji P. Henson posted on her Facebook fanpage yesterday. She’s talking about the upcoming new CBS drama series Person Of Interest, created by wunderkind producer/director J.J. Abrams, starring James Caviezel, Michael Emerson’s, and of course Taraji.

Initially I was going to just ignore this and not post; but I couldn’t resist 🙂

Those who’ve been following our coverage of Person Of Interest since CBS began distributing marketing materials for it a few months ago, when networks started to unveil their new season lineups, will know that I’ve repeatedly wondered why Taraji’s image has been quite noticeably absent, even though, as she notes, she’s the lead female character (starring as a police detective) in the series cast of 3.

Except for 1 image in which she’s included, she’s been absent from just about everything else – maybe most importantly, the several trailers and video clips that have been been released for the series. She’s not in any of them. If anyone has seen any clips that she’s featured in, let me know, because I haven’t.

The implication here is that her role in this isn’t as important as we think; though she’s the lead female character, and her past comments about how involved she is, suggest otherwise. Not that I’m implying that there’s some kind of conspiracy against her here or anything like that, but I think CBS may not realize that even a quick glimpse of her at this point could actually help raise interest in the series, and attract an audience that may not at all be interested in watching, but might decide to tune in if only because they know Taraji co-stars in it.

On a number of occasions, folks have told me that they didn’t even know she was in the series. For many watching these things, especially if they don’t read sites like this, they likely wouldn’t know. And while she may not be what the industry would call an “A“-lister (and let’s face it, neither are the other 2 guys who are all over the trailers for this), featuring her in one or both of the previews, and the stills we’ve seen thus far, would draw some people who may not have paid any attention to this previously – specifically black folks who might otherwise not give a damn about this new series, but actually may mark it as a show to look out for in the fall, because they know Taraji P. Henson is in it!

She’s got almost 700,000 followers on Tweeter, and over 3 million fans on Facebook! So, there’s a fanbase there. Don’t make them feel ignored CBS.

But all this to say to Taraji, if I were talking to her directly right now: look, I don’t know if I’d come down on TV Guide for not including you on the cover with the other 2 leads. I’d instead look to CBS’ marketing/PR department first, because they’ve been omitting you from their own marketing materials from day 1. All you need to do is go to CBS’ website for Person Of Interest (HERE) and tell me what you see and don’t see. I’d start there; not with TV guide.

Keep in mind that this is a series that premieres tomorrow night.