''Giants'' is an American

web series A web series (also known as a web show) is a series of scripted or non-scripted online videos, generally in episodic form, released on the Internet, which first emerged in the late 1990s and became more prominent in the early 2000s. A single i ...

created by James Bland and starring Bland, Sean Samuels, and Vanessa Baiden as the lead characters. The series premiered on

Issa Rae Jo-Issa Rae Diop (born January 12, 1985), credited professionally as Issa Rae, is an American actress, writer, producer, and comedian. Rae first garnered attention for her work on the YouTube web series ''Awkward Black Girl''. Since 2011, Rae h ...

YouTube channel YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second most v ...

on January 25, 2017. A second season premiered on the same channel in 2018. Both seasons were financed by crowdfunding campaigns on Indiegogo. It has since been acquired and released for streaming on

BET+ BET+ (pronounced "BET plus") is an over-the-top SVOD service operated by Tyler Perry Studios and the Paramount Streaming, a division of Paramount Global. The service was first announced on June 24, 2019 and launched on September 19, 2019. BET+ ...

. The series has won numerous accolades, including two

Daytime Emmy Award The Daytime Emmy Awards, or Daytime Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the American television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences ...

s, a

Streamy Award The YouTube Streamy Awards, also known as the Streamy Awards or Streamys, are presented annually by Dick Clark Productions and Tubefilter to recognize excellence in online video, including directing, acting, producing, and writing. The forma ...

, and multiple

Indie Series Awards The Indie Series Awards (formerly the Indie Soap Awards) is an annual event hosted by ''We Love Soaps'', based in Los Angeles, California, honoring the best in independently produced, scripted entertainment created for the Internet. The ceremony ...

. The series received praise from the media for its depiction of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

in the African American community.

Plot

''Giants'' chronicles the trials and tribulations of three

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

friends as they approach their thirties, each battling their own inner "giants" as they navigate adulthood.

Background

Bland worked on several other series before writing ''Giants'', and following the success of

's ''

Awkward Black Girl ''The Mis-Adventures of Awkward Black Girl'' (often simply referred to as ''Awkward Black Girl'') is an American comedy web series created by and starring Issa Rae. It premiered on a dedicated YouTube channel on February 3, 2011. The show follow ...

'', he felt inspired to make his own series. After writing the first season, Bland created an Indiegogo campaign to crowdfund the series. Rae and actor

Jussie Smollett Jussie Smollett (, born June 21, 1982) is an American actor and singer. He began his career as a child actor in 1991 debuting in ''The Mighty Ducks (film), The Mighty Ducks'' (1992). In 2015, Smollett portrayed musician Jamal Lyon in the Fox Bro ...

subsequently came on board as executive producers.

Release

The first season was released through Issa Rae's YouTube channel in 2017, followed by the second season in 2018. The series was then picked up and re-released by

Episodes

The first season, released on January 25, 2017, consists of six episodes, while the second, which consists of seven episodes, was released on February 21, 2018. Episodes were released once a week on a weekly basis.

Accolades

''Giants'' has won numerous accolades. In 2018, the series won the award for Best Drama Series at the 8th annual Streamy Awards. In 2019, the series received 11

nominations, winning two. At the 10th annual Indie Series Awards, ''Giants'' won a record-breaking seven awards, in addition to receiving the most nominations that year (19).

References

Notes

External links

{{IMDb title, 5571280 2017 web series debuts American LGBT-related web series YouTube original programming 2010s American LGBT-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBT-related drama television series