TALES: CHILDREN'S STORY (TV)

Summary

One in this dramatic anthology series, featuring stories inspired by popular hip-hop songs of the past and present. In this episode, based on the 1989 hit song by Slick Rick, teenager Ty worries as the bills pile up, aware that her ailing grandmother cannot afford to pay them. She receives a letter from her Uncle Ricky, who offers to tell her a meaningful story, while at the same time Ty and her close friend Deacon are disturbed to spot the police removing a dead body from their neighborhood. Deacon brings Ty to a local gun dealer and persuades her to make a purchase, assuring her that they will not actually have to use the weapons in order to commit robberies. He explains his plan to surprise older people as they use an isolated ATM, promising that they will make significant amounts of money from the encounters, though Ty seems uncertain. Realizing that she has a responsibility to support herself, however, she tells her grandmother that she has found a new "job" that may prove very lucrative.

That night, Ty and Deacon accost a man on the street and demand his money, and though the man observes their nervousness and tells them that they are not killers, they attack him violently and take his cash and his watch. Elated by the seemingly easy crime, the pair begin committing many more robberies and Ty pays off several important bills with her "earnings," and though her grandmother is proud of her for finding "a good job downtown," Ty is upset to find that she has still not amassed enough funds to get them out of trouble. At the bank, Ty runs into an old friend, Nikki, and she soon tells Deacon of her new moneymaking idea: robbing the bank and taking the deposit bag full of cash collected from ATMs. Deacon, though scared, agrees to the plan, and the two of them recruit Nikki and another "expert," Rico, who helps them to formulate a plan to take the bag when it is brought into the bank at 10:00 AM.

All four participants take their agreed-upon places as the delivery time approaches, but the employee is late in arriving, and matters are further complicated when an employee grows suspicious of Deacon's hovering, a policeman outside orders Nikki to move her car, and a garrulous older woman recognizes Rico and begins a conversation. Rico soon panics and fires his gun, and chaos breaks out in the bank as Ty and Deacon attempt to commit the robbery and end up killing a few bystanders. Ty, aware that she is unlikely to make a successful escape, asks Deacon to take care of her grandmother and then runs for it, firing at the cops as they pursue her. With no other options, she faces the police directly and is killed in a hail of gunfire, and Uncle Ricky notes that the tragic story "could be about any of us." The narrative reverts back to the beginning, and Ty, after witnessing "her own" body being removed from the street, walks away from Deacon and the gun seller, opting not to embrace a life of crime after all. Commercials deleted.

Details

NETWORK: BET
DATE: November 30, 1999 9:00 PM
RUNNING TIME: 0:39:54
COLOR/B&W: Color
CATALOG ID: 130614
GENRE: Drama
SUBJECT HEADING: African-American Collection - Drama; Drama; Hip Hop
SERIES RUN: BET - TV series, 2017-
COMMERCIALS: N/A

CREDITS

Billy Gabor … Executive Producer
Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo … Executive Producer, Created by, Music by
Debra Lee … Co-Executive Producer
Connie Orlando … Co-Executive Producer
Keith Neal … Producer
Joy Kecken … Producer
Ron Robinson … Producer
Darcell Lawrence … Co-Producer
John "B.J." Bryant … Co-Producer
Sonny Lorenzo … Co-Producer
Darien Baldwin … Associate Producer
James "Jimmy" Watson … Associate Producer
Paul Hall … Consulting Producer
Les Franck … Line Producer
Erik White … Director
Sherman Payne … Writer
Chink Santana … Music by
Slick Rick (see also: Richard Walters) … Based on the song by, Narrator
Bre-Z … Cast, Ty
Jharrel Jerome … Cast, Deacon
Maddie Jay … Cast, Nikki
Tonea Stewart … Cast, Grandma
Mahryah Shain … Cast, Bank Manager
Dominic 'Taz' Alexander … Cast, Rico
Keith Brooks … Cast, Dave
Andrea Frye … Cast, Old Lady
Diesel Madkins … Cast, Man