I watched both parts of the reunion after gawking in horror at the entire fourth season. Why watch a show that you absolutely don't like? You've already heard the car crash analogy, but mine was a little different. I just couldn't believe the entire season could be this ridiculous and kept hoping for positive moments. I didn't think VH1 could sink this low to have a show this dreadful on every single episode. Royce tried to make the show more positive. Jennifer did plenty to try to make the show more positive. Kesha had a few opinions about the singer's (forgot her name) business ethic but neither of them did much that phased me. But I just couldn't get past all the fighting, jumping, throwing and slapping. I hate to say it's exploiting black women because this show is not representative of every black woman. It's representative of the jokers on that particular show.
Meeka, from the previous season, wrote a blog asking viewers why wasn't there an uproar for her the way there was for Kesha. I'd responded to her blog but I'll say it again here. Although I felt that Tami was getting on Meeka's nerve, at no point in time did I think she couldn't "take" her. She still went on the trip. She still kept talking. She still seemed to want to hang out. Tami acted exactly like she does on every episode; she talked about people when they weren't around, she started fights when they were, she hallucinated beef completely out of nowhere and this season she hid behind an anger management course she's dreadfully failing at. The hug between Evelyn and Jennifer was nice and my eyes did get a little watery. Evelyn genuinely seemed apologetic about her actions. I don't know whether she's a great actress or sincere, but if she's not sincere, she's missing her calling as an actress because she has me fooled. Tami, on the other hand, not so much.
Meeka, from the previous season, wrote a blog asking viewers why wasn't there an uproar for her the way there was for Kesha. I'd responded to her blog but I'll say it again here. Although I felt that Tami was getting on Meeka's nerve, at no point in time did I think she couldn't "take" her. She still went on the trip. She still kept talking. She still seemed to want to hang out. Tami acted exactly like she does on every episode; she talked about people when they weren't around, she started fights when they were, she hallucinated beef completely out of nowhere and this season she hid behind an anger management course she's dreadfully failing at. The hug between Evelyn and Jennifer was nice and my eyes did get a little watery. Evelyn genuinely seemed apologetic about her actions. I don't know whether she's a great actress or sincere, but if she's not sincere, she's missing her calling as an actress because she has me fooled. Tami, on the other hand, not so much.
I don't have to say what you all already know about showing your ass in public, bullying, holding purses hostage and complaining about someone doing the same thing you're doing. That's Tami. She seems to be content acting like that. I know some Tami's in real life. I can't stomach any of them either but every last one of them was a teenager. By the time they got to adulthood, even they would talk about how bad they were as kids. What worries me is the people in real life who seem to think fighting is okay. I was blown away by the amount of times Shaunie gave Jennifer a speech but never once called Tami out on hers. I respected Royce for coming to Tami to tell her why she was wrong.
A true friend will let you know when you're wrong. She doesn't need to co-sign with you at all times. She doesn't slap you. She doesn't embarrass you in public. She also doesn't say anything behind your back that she wouldn't say to your face. (Oddly enough that last line was co-signing with Evelyn over the "blog." I was totally with her on that, just not the jumping on tables or hitting with purses in restaurants.)
This show gives me a headache. While watching a video of Phylicia Rashad on Chicago Live!, I smiled at a very positive African-American entertainer talk about the state of today's television. When I was growing up, I was watching shows like "Living Single," "A Different World," "The Cosby Show," "Sister Sister," "Family Matters" and "Moesha." These positive African-American shows were in addition to other favs like "Blossom," "Wonder Years," "Saved by the Bell," "Ready or Not," "Chris Cross" and "Small Wonder." I miss shows like that that incorporated everyday life, applauded school days (no matter how difficult they were) and were positive. Yeah, I was watching drama on "Dallas," "Melrose Place" and "90210," but that was acting. Folks put down the scripts and went home. Hell, I'm not even convinced that Carroll O'Connor was anything like Archie Bunker. Reality show stars can say we only see "snippets" of their lives but even if it's small doses, you still did that.
The reality shows that are being fed into the minds of today's children (and some goofy adults) and making them think it's okay to be mean as hell is beyond me. You can't feed the monster (read: Shaunie O'Neal) and then get mad when it acts monstrous. I'm done with not only "Basketball Wives" but VH1 period for never taking the time to air their own faults. Instead of pointing out, "yeah, we fucked up by letting these women go on like this," their PR team went into the breast cancer snippet and the Mindless Behavior surprise. Then they reached way back a few seasons to a verbal altercation between Jennifer and a cast member I don't even remember. Up until that hugging moment in part 2 of the reunion, John Salley was clowning Jennifer as hard as her supposed friends. Never mind that viewers may have seen a good half n' hour of positive moments on the entire season and that was not being promoted during the previews for next week's episode. It was fight-fight-fight-talk-about-fight-then-fight again.
There should've been some kind of taping to talk to young people about how you have to pay for your consequences. Jennifer filing a lawsuit (which she is legally able to do and is not wrong for doing) made far more sense than all of the fighting. Listening to Shaunie lecture on and on about friendship while never calling Tami out for her wrongdoings is beyond me. When Royce did it then Tami was mad at her real friend for telling the truth. Shaunie chose to hide behind it and go to a preacher instead. Shaunie, Jennifer's actions aren't preacher worthy. Tami's actions are! Evelyn's actions were! All of the energy put into beating Jennifer over the head should've been used for a public service announcement from VH1 about bullying. Walking away from an argument isn't something I usually do (I'm not a Tami but I'm definitely not a Kesha, I won't even try to act like I am), but it is something I think is best to do when dealing with people who don't know when to quit. At some point, somebody's got to give in. If two people are acting a clean fool then where does a resolution come in?
I hold VH1 as responsible as I do the antics of Tami on this season. I can give major respect to Evelyn for acknowledging she was wrong in full. She didn't get on the show saying "I don't like you" right after apologizing. She just apologized and called it a day. VH1 got it right with shows like "The Family Hustle." Although I could do without Lala constantly mooning people, "Full Court Life" is all right. But "Basketball Wives" left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I'm throwing up the deuces to the station and any project affiliated with it. I do hope stations like MTV and BET take advantage of these boycotts. More good shows. Less dumb ones that do nothing more than prove what Lupe Fiasco was saying in "Dumb It Down."
A true friend will let you know when you're wrong. She doesn't need to co-sign with you at all times. She doesn't slap you. She doesn't embarrass you in public. She also doesn't say anything behind your back that she wouldn't say to your face. (Oddly enough that last line was co-signing with Evelyn over the "blog." I was totally with her on that, just not the jumping on tables or hitting with purses in restaurants.)
This show gives me a headache. While watching a video of Phylicia Rashad on Chicago Live!, I smiled at a very positive African-American entertainer talk about the state of today's television. When I was growing up, I was watching shows like "Living Single," "A Different World," "The Cosby Show," "Sister Sister," "Family Matters" and "Moesha." These positive African-American shows were in addition to other favs like "Blossom," "Wonder Years," "Saved by the Bell," "Ready or Not," "Chris Cross" and "Small Wonder." I miss shows like that that incorporated everyday life, applauded school days (no matter how difficult they were) and were positive. Yeah, I was watching drama on "Dallas," "Melrose Place" and "90210," but that was acting. Folks put down the scripts and went home. Hell, I'm not even convinced that Carroll O'Connor was anything like Archie Bunker. Reality show stars can say we only see "snippets" of their lives but even if it's small doses, you still did that.
The reality shows that are being fed into the minds of today's children (and some goofy adults) and making them think it's okay to be mean as hell is beyond me. You can't feed the monster (read: Shaunie O'Neal) and then get mad when it acts monstrous. I'm done with not only "Basketball Wives" but VH1 period for never taking the time to air their own faults. Instead of pointing out, "yeah, we fucked up by letting these women go on like this," their PR team went into the breast cancer snippet and the Mindless Behavior surprise. Then they reached way back a few seasons to a verbal altercation between Jennifer and a cast member I don't even remember. Up until that hugging moment in part 2 of the reunion, John Salley was clowning Jennifer as hard as her supposed friends. Never mind that viewers may have seen a good half n' hour of positive moments on the entire season and that was not being promoted during the previews for next week's episode. It was fight-fight-fight-talk-about-fight-then-fight again.
There should've been some kind of taping to talk to young people about how you have to pay for your consequences. Jennifer filing a lawsuit (which she is legally able to do and is not wrong for doing) made far more sense than all of the fighting. Listening to Shaunie lecture on and on about friendship while never calling Tami out for her wrongdoings is beyond me. When Royce did it then Tami was mad at her real friend for telling the truth. Shaunie chose to hide behind it and go to a preacher instead. Shaunie, Jennifer's actions aren't preacher worthy. Tami's actions are! Evelyn's actions were! All of the energy put into beating Jennifer over the head should've been used for a public service announcement from VH1 about bullying. Walking away from an argument isn't something I usually do (I'm not a Tami but I'm definitely not a Kesha, I won't even try to act like I am), but it is something I think is best to do when dealing with people who don't know when to quit. At some point, somebody's got to give in. If two people are acting a clean fool then where does a resolution come in?
I hold VH1 as responsible as I do the antics of Tami on this season. I can give major respect to Evelyn for acknowledging she was wrong in full. She didn't get on the show saying "I don't like you" right after apologizing. She just apologized and called it a day. VH1 got it right with shows like "The Family Hustle." Although I could do without Lala constantly mooning people, "Full Court Life" is all right. But "Basketball Wives" left such a bitter taste in my mouth that I'm throwing up the deuces to the station and any project affiliated with it. I do hope stations like MTV and BET take advantage of these boycotts. More good shows. Less dumb ones that do nothing more than prove what Lupe Fiasco was saying in "Dumb It Down."
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