{"id":236865,"date":"2026-05-19T16:24:07","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236865\/"},"modified":"2026-05-19T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T16:24:07","slug":"oprah-winfrey-helps-turn-harlems-chicken-and-waffles-institution-into-apple-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/236865\/","title":{"rendered":"Oprah Winfrey Helps Turn Harlem\u2019s Chicken-and-Waffles Institution Into Apple+ Comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

Melba\u2019s<\/a>, the Harlem soul food institution, is headed for television: Apple TV+ is developing American Comfort<\/a>, a comedy series inspired by the life of restaurateur Melba Wilson, with Kenya Barris \u2014 creator of Black-ish \u2014 writing and executive producing. Danielle Brooks, who earned an Oscar nomination for the Color Purple, is set to star as Melba. Oprah Winfrey and her production company Harpo Entertainment are also executive producing.<\/p>\n

The idea came to Wilson during COVID. \u201cThere\u2019s a story here,\u201d she says, \u201ca story about people who come together through food. Food is a common denominator \u2014 it doesn\u2019t care how you look, who you love, how many degrees you have or you don\u2019t have. The only thing it cares about is that you sit down and enjoy.\u201d She told a friend, director Neema Barnette, who told producer Aaron Kaplan, who told Oprah. \u201cAnd the rest,\u201d Wilson says, \u201cis herstory.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson also serves as an executive producer on the series and is involved in the storylines. \u201cIt\u2019s not just about me, it\u2019s about we,\u201d she says. \u201cHarlem is a character.\u201d The series, she says, is \u201ca love letter to Harlem\u201d \u2014 about economic empowerment, community investment, and small businesses.<\/p>\n

No premiere date or episode count has been announced. \u201cThat information,\u201d Wilson says, \u201cis still in formation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilson opened Melba\u2019s nearly 20 years ago, drawing on what she\u2019d learned working at her aunt Sylvia Woods\u2019s legendary Sylvia\u2019s<\/a>, also in Harlem, as well as at Rosa Mexicano and Windows on the World. She brought along Southern dishes from her grandmother \u2014 fried catfish, fried shrimp, rice and peas, Lowcountry collards \u2014 but it was her chicken and waffles that made her famous. Made year-round with eggnog and served with strawberry butter and maple syrup, they earned national attention when Bobby Flay challenged her to a Throwdown on Food Network. She won.<\/p>\n

Melba\u2019s has expanded to locations at Grand Central Terminal, and Newark\u2019s Prudential Center, though the Harlem original remains the flagship.The restaurant has since earned James Beard Award<\/a> semifinalist nominations for Outstanding Hospitality in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Wilson sits on the board of God\u2019s Love We Deliver and Harlem Village Academy, where she recently taught four- and five-year-olds to make cornbread \u2014 having them measure, mix, and bake it themselves. \u201cIt\u2019s important to lead by example,\u201d she says. \u201cThat\u2019s how we change generations to come.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Melba\u2019s, the Harlem soul food institution, is headed for television: Apple TV+ is developing American Comfort, a comedy…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":236866,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[38],"tags":[128,2372,9,24,63,129,131,130],"class_list":["post-236865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-bronx","tag-bronx","tag-dining-out-in-ny","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-the-bronx","tag-the-bronx-headlines","tag-the-bronx-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}