Black women and reality shows can be a bad mix, especially when the producers are urging them to act a fool if they want ratings and notoriety. These women claim to be successful, rich and the cream of the crop of Black society, when in actuality they are an embarrassment and a disgrace.
Scores of articles have been written on this type of programming that features Black women tearing each other down and displaying the most despicable image of Black womanhood ever seen in modern times, all in the name of money.
Now don’t get me wrong, there are some decent reality shows featuring Black women on TV, but that is not what this article is about.
For the most part, exploitive reality shows feature Black women doing a lot of eating and fighting in restaurants, drinking like fish, talking about each other, and pulling off their earrings and shoes in preparation for a fight. Oh, yes, I forgot. They love to throw drinks in each others’ faces.
And to add insult to injury, most of these women aren’t even married or even dating the men they were once linked with.
One of my least favorite reality shows is VH1’s “Love and Hip Hop.” And heaven help us, they are coming out with a “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta,” which promises to be even more “ignorance off the hook.”
“Love and Hip Hop,” two seasons in, explores love in the very volatile world of Hip Hop. The women have to be as tough as the men, in order to keep their man in line, or just to keep him period.
Honestly, I keep looking at “Love and Hip Hop,” hoping to see Chrissy Lampkin, rapper Jim Jones’ fiance after a six-year engagement, get a beat-down. Yeah, I said it, a beat-down. This chick has jumped on more sisters, kicking, hitting, and grabbing hair than I’ve ever seen one person do on TV, and some times it doesn’t have a darn thing to do with her. Yet she wears Jesus T-shirts and calls on the Lord when she feels it’s appropriate. Oh no, am I reflecting what I’m seeing?
Sister 2 Sister magazine recently reported, much to my disappointment that Chrissy Lampkin and Jim Jones may get their own spinoff show. But the couple hasn’t decided whether or not they’re going to sign. If Jim and Chrissy don’t sign on for a spinoff, they’ll be missing some paychecks because VH1 has put “Love and Hip Hop” on hiatus, but the series is continuing this spring with “Love and Hip Hop Atlanta.”
Go to http://www.vh1.com/video/misc/731014/chrissy-and-yandy-the-fallout.jhtml… to get an inside look at “Love and Hip Hop.”
Next on my list is VH1’s “Basketball Wives,” now in its fourth season. These women love to act a fool in public. They can go to the classiest of places and invariably the ‘b-word’ and drinks start flying. They have to be literally carried out of restaurants to keep them away from each other.
And “Basketball Wives LA” is no different. Both productions are produced by Shaunie O’Neal, who is the executive producer, and the ex-wife of basketball legend Shaquille O’Neal.
In a 2011 article written by O’Neal for CNN online she wrote, “Let’s face it, we all know women like the ones on ‘Basketball Wives’ and countless other reality shows: Women who are vocal if you cross them.” Really? These women are more than vocal, they are just downright ignorant and there truly is no justification for it. See for yourself at http://www.vh1.com/shows/basketball_wives/season_4/series.jhtml.
These shows may be bad for the Black woman’s image on TV, but they are good business for the networks and the producers who keep spitting them out. It’s not reality, it’s just the business of show business.
Gail can be reached at gail@hollywoodbychoice.com.
