The Basketball Wives Phenomenon: Any Excuse for VH1 to Show Angry Women Fighting

Like a lot of other people in the world, I am a reality show watcher.  I admit that the drama of watching seemingly real situations unfold on TV with the help of crafty editing and manipulation by producers is kind of sinful but in a good, I-can’t-resist-it kind of way.  But I was highly disappointed by this season of VH1’s Basketball Wives.  For some reason, the fights and the drama this last season was more about bullying rather than two women just getting into an argument or having a disagreement.  I’m not gonna get into who did what and who deserves blame because I think the past couple of weeks, people have been talking about that a lot. However, this morning, I saw a story about a new VH1 show called “Hollywood Exes” which features the ex-wives of famous men such as Will Smith, Eddie Murphy and R. Kelly and I realized VH1 is, yet again, trying to get us to believe that this will be another show about women trying to establish their own careers outside of their ex-husbands (although some of these women have been separated from their exes for YEARS) when really all, it’s going to be about is getting a group of women together and trying to see which ones will end up throwing bottles at each other or start a fight in a club.

I get it…I really do.  This is what people like to see; they want to see drama and fighting because it’s entertaining and television producers want to provide this kind of show because it makes for good television.  But after the backlash from Basketball Wives, I can’t help but feel like this whole type of, what they call, a “docu-series” is just putting a bad stigma against women.  I mean based on these shows, we’re all angry, catty and all we do is talk about each other behind our backs.  Where are the reality shows about a group of men who are “ex husbands” that fight with each other and cause drama?  Oh, those shows don’t exist. (Maybe I’m wrong?  Someone let me know if they do!).  

I think what bothers me the most is that when you read the description on VH1’s website of the show, they really are trying to put a positive spin on “Hollywood Exes” but I will bet any amount of money that at least two women are going to hate each other for whatever reason and end up in some big fight that will ultimately be the highlight of the show.  Well another thing I know for sure is that I will NOT be watching.  But I will keep my ear to the ground to see if my predictions turn out to be true.

What do you guys think?  Are you a fan of these VH1 shows like “Basketball Wives” and or “Love & Hip Hop”?  Do you think that the network is making these women or women everywhere look bad?  Will you watch the new show, “Hollywood Exes?”  Let me know in the comments below and as usual, Thanks for reading!

 

Related articles

• Royce, Kesha, & Jennifer Fired From ‘Basketball Wives’ (therussparrmorningshow.com)
• Love & Hip Hop Atlanta’s K Michelle values balance and Basketball Wives (examiner.com)
• Basketball Wives Kenya Bell Claim: “Jesus Stopped Me From Violence.” (praisecharlotte.com)
• Take Action Wednesday – Basketball Wives (peacemattershere.wordpress.com)

WHAT?! Tyra Banks fires ANTM Staples, Miss J. Jay Manuel and Nigel Barker!

I am so surprised and confused by Tyra Banks lately.  First she puts the kibosh on her talk  show that could have really taken her far then she fires half the cast of, what I consider to be her already failing show America’s Next Top Model.  I mean, who even watches that show anymore?  I know that for me personally, my viewing of it has dwindled down to completely not watching it at all.  And then to find this out?  I am so baffled!  If anything, Miss J is probably the most entertaining part of the show.  What’s keeping people watching now?  A dozen models giving each other attitudes and crying about getting their hair cut?  It’s getting old, Tyra!

Am I only one that thinks this?  Do you guys think that any good will come from this decision or do you wholeheartedly agree?  Let me know!

 

But Why You Mad, Racist Hunger Games Fans?

“Oh yea, I REALLY wanna see the movie now!” I say in my bestest sarcastic voice.

So the news about the racist controversy surrounding the “Hunger Games” movie just hit me and I was so compelled to write about it.  If you haven’t heard, let me give you the details.  After the premiere of the movie, fans were “disappointed” because two of the characters were played by African American actors.  But here’s the best part…one of the characters is described in the book as having dark skin so there shouldn’t have been any wonder that she’d be black and the other character played by Lenny Kravitz (who is half JEWISH!) is described in such an ambiguous way that he could actually be any race.

I mean, personally, I could care less about the movie or the books.  It never interested me at all.  I think I read like a few pages of the e-book sometime last year and got really bored so I  never took a stab at the series again.  But I’m so disappointed by this news and it’s things like this that really slap you in the face and make you realize that racism is still very present in this society.  It’s just wearing more clever disguises but it’s there!

Even though I never planned on seeing the movie, this still upset me for two reasons:  1. There is already a lack of African American representation in mainstream movies, television and multimedia period and for people to complain about a movie only containing two people of color is just unfathomable!  And 2. Even though I would like to see more black actresses and actors in mainstream media, I would NEVER boycott or express dislike for a movie simply because it had too many white people!  That’s ridiculous!

I’m sure these kids probably think their comments about the movie are not racist at all but they need a hard dose of reality!

Grey’s Anatomy “What If” episode: My Verdict

****spoiler alert: If you haven’t seen the latest episode of Grey’s Anatomy that aired on Feb 2nd, bookmark this page and read it after you’ve seen it! You’ve been warned!

So many of us Grey’s fans were so psyched about this “What If” episode (officially titled “If/Then”) that finally aired last night. Sure, it was kind of a creative and unexpected story line. And it actually took a break from the REAL story line and kept a few of us waiting for the answers we really need like whether Christina and Owen’s marriage is really over or when (and if)Teddy’s coming back.

None the less, the prospects for the show were very promising. Ultimately, I would say that the writers and Shonda Rhimes really came up with a creative alternative world but because it was all crammed into one episode, it kind of left me wanting more. I personally would have preferred if the show were a two-parter and if it expanded on some of these crazy plot twists and character changes. I wanted to see more of Owen and Callie’s marriage. What made these two get together in the first place? The Meredith-Alex pair up wasn’t too surprising considering in the real story line, they’re actually good friends but what baffled me was the Alex-Kepner affair! Like I said, some things should have really been expanded on.

Also in a perfect world, the show would have been crazy epic if George, Izzie and Preston Burke had returned to Seattle Grace. The back stories they gave to explain their absences sucked! Izzie went crazy and shot up the hospital?!? REALLY?? I wonder what Katherine Heigl thought of that decision!

What I did love, however, was the return of Kate Burton as Ellis Grey. Previously we only really got to hear about her notorious reputation as this brilliant surgeon but this time we got to see some of that characterization. I even loved the fact that her and Richard end up together because to be honest even though I love Adele and even though it was an affair, I love the Richard-Ellis romance. And lastly, what made the episode click more for me was the fact that towards the end, everything kind of went back to how it was supposed to be; Christina and Meredith having a moment, Bailey giving the pep talk, Meredith and Derek two seconds away from tearing their clothes off each other and even Addison being pregnant by Mark and not Derek (Mc Dreary!).

Okay, I’ve blabbed on enough so let me conclude this thing. Naturally, being a die hard Grey’s fan, I did love the “If/Then” episode. Was it the best episode of the series? No. But it was definitely an interesting attempt at shaking things up! Kudos to the actors and writers for trying something new!

Thursday T.V. Round Up!

Oh yes! Another Friday morning and that means I get to talk about what happened on prime time, Thursday night! Isn’t television just awesome!

Vampire Diaries

Is there any hope left for Elena and Stephan (Stelena, if you will) or should we start holding out for Elemon? (ok so I’m really bad at combining couple’s names…) On last nights’ episode, things got a little interesting with the addition of Persia White as Bonnie’s mom and Robert Ri’chard as her…pseudo step-brother? Potential love interest? It’s not quite clear yet… It was kind of strange for me when I heard Bonnie mention her mother because I could have sworn her mother was dead (I don’t really know where I got that from) Anyway in other Hybrid news, things are really heating up with the whole Klaus situation. Just when I thought he might have been getting the upper hand on Stephan, Elena and the gang by finally getting his family back Damon pulls through and not only hides the other coffin but removes the stake from Elijah who didn’t look very happy to see his brother Klaus! Ohhhh the possibilities! And is anybody else completely over Tyler and his Hybrid woes? Somebody needs to suck it up!

Grey’s Anatomy

Oh my God, how cute is baby Zola! I can’t get enough of, she steals all the attention whenever she’s on the screen! Zola had a birthday party on the latest episode or Grey’s and apparently it was the happening place to be that night but not everybody had a good time..but we’ll get back to that. So of course, there was another heart breaking story on last night that brought on the waterworks (at least for me). A boy with a life threatening tumor, his mother, with her heart broken, an impossible less than 5 percent chance of success surgery and to make it even more gut wrenching, the mother tries to keep her son in the dark about his condition but surprise, he already knows! Needless to say, it was an emotional story. But for those of us who live for the drama going on with our favorite doctors, we were concentrating on the ticking bomb that is Teddy and Owens friendship and Christina and Owens marriage. For once, I felt bad for Owen. He is the Chief of surgery and he has to make tough decisions and it doesn’t help that his own wife is (literally) laughing at his authority. As much as I rooted in the past for the Owen and Christina relationship, it looks as though it might truly be over…

Jersey Shore

Raise your hand if you miss Vinny! *Raises hand high and waves it around frantically!* Vinny definitely balances out the crazy in the house and without him, there’s no one to look to for a brief moment of sanity…I guess except for Pauly D…Maybe…The most surprising thing about last night’s episode was how bad I felt for Mike! The whole house basically ignored him on his own birthday! Ok, he mostly deserves it with how douche-y he can be, but even the most douche-y of douche bags should have a decent birthday, shouldn’t they? My sympathy for Mike will be very short lived if he continues with this whole “ruin Snookie’s relationship” plan he has going every time he hooks up with his friend Tool Unit. Why does everyone knowing the truth about his supposed hook up with Snookie matter so much? He’s clearly fixated with her and she’s clearly guilty about SOMETHING which is indicated by how far she strays whenever Unit and Mike get together…Hmmm….I guess we’ll see how it all unravels later in the season!

That concludes this Thursday’s tv roundup! Please folks, leave your comments, questions, thoughts concerns below! Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed!