‘Long Bright River’ series shines spotlight on Kensington

The new series Long Bright River premiers Thursday on Peacock. It’s a gritty crime drama based on Philadelphia author Liz Moore’s bestselling book by the same name. The story is set in Philadelphia’s Kensington neighborhood amidst the opioid epidemic and stars Amanda Seyfried as a beat cop searching for her sister and a killer. 

Liz Moore and Amanda Seyfried join us this hour to talk about bringing the book to life and doing right by the Kensington community, which has become a national stand-in for America’s drug crisis. Do you think Hollywood gets Philadelphia right? When did they get it really wrong? Email us at studio2@whyy.org.  

Plus, it’s been more than a year since Mayor Parker’s Kensington cleanup – homeless encampments were cleared out and more police officers deployed to the neighborhood streets. We’ll talk with two Kensington residents about how they think their community is doing.

Guests:

• Liz Moore, author, director of the MFA program at Temple University and co-creator and executive producer of the Peacock series “Long Bright River.”
• Amanda Seyfried, actress starring in the series “Long Bright River.”
• Rosalind “Roz” Pichardo, Kensington resident and founder of “Operation Save Our City.”
• Guillermo Garcia, Kensington resident