Royce Reed: NBA Bad Girl?

It takes expert editing to manufacture a villain for reality TV. Footage has to be carefully spliced together, sound bites must be edited, and voiceovers added. Then came Royce Reed, the very obvious and deserving antagonist of VH1's new show, "Basketball Wives".
In the case of Reed, a former Miami Heat and Orlando Magic dancer, the show's title is a misnomer: Reed is not married to a basketball player, nor is she married at all. But that doesn't matter to VH1, just like it matters not to the farmer that shoots a wolf that killed one of his sheep. Any wolf will do.
And Reed, who has a baby, Braylon Joshua Robert Howard, by Magic center Dwight Howard, is a wolf in sheep's booty shorts.
To people in Florida, Reed is well known. But VH1 introduced her to the world.
The show, framed against the hedonistic flair of Miami Beach, features other non-basketball wives, such as Evelyn Lozada, the former fiancee of former Heat player Antoine Walker. But it's Reed who earns the Hatorade for her hot-in-the-pants antics and wild booty-shaking that made it to Youtube (Thanks Ms. Bar B).
Reed, who will be confronted by nearly all the wives on the show, is the NBA Bad Girl de jour but only for so long. Before it's over, Shaunie and all of them will drink the Hatorade juice.

Check out the trailer for "Basketball Wives"


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Tyra Loves Booty

Aaah, Tyra Banks must be a black man. Why? Because she seems to love a big booty just like one. Doesn't matter if it's hers, a man's or a womans.
Tyra is a grabber, too.
This revelation is not new to anyone who watches her top-rated show, but I don't watch it so I usually get my fill from "Talk Soup" or commercials.
But does Tyra want to promote big bootiness to all her fans? Do people want a donk or is a regular one quite okay?
Tyra promotes the donk. Despite the fact that 90% of her target audience shrieks in terror at the thought of owning a true glutus maximus.
And who better than Buffie "The Body," who has actually put in unknown manhours to achieve that back end, to appear to Tyra's show.
She says, and I quote: "The girls with the hips and the booty were the popular girls at school. ... I don't like being skinny." So she went to the booty doctor. "He gave me a list of foods that was high in calories .. i went from like 119 [lbs] to 170 now." Really? (Cue the wide-eyed excitement).
Does Buffie expect us to believe that she got all that from spinach?




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Will Lisa Raye's reality show be any good?

Just when you thought that there wasn't anybody else you'd sit in front of a TV screen for and watch their daily ramblings, up comes Lisa Raye McCoy.
"The Real McCoy" is TVOne's entry into the reality TV format after watching cable heavyweights BET and MTV (who brought the genre to the U.S. market) eat up ratings.
The thing is, some of these reality shows are boring. I mean, I love Monica, but watching her record an album? I'd rather watch a Starbucks barista whip up a white chocolate mocha.
And Terry Crews? First of all, he should call himself "the big guy" because that's what he's known as. But Lisa Raye has had her fair share of drama, most of it involving her former marriage to the head of state of the Turks and Caicos Islands, Michael Misick. The couple divorced in April 2009.
Will Lisa Raye's show be interesting and entertaining? What do you think?




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Is TV ready for 'Spartacus'?

British TV viewers are "bloody sick" of all the blood, sweat, and well, sex, that the new TV drama "Spartacus" promises to bring to TV this fall. If the previews are any indication, the show, about the Roman-Greek empire and it's erotically Pagan ways, will push the buttons on common decency in more ways than one. Images of orgies (you know how the Greeks did it) and the bloodlust of battle dictate the show's action scenes.

If recent history is any indication, the nudity and wildness of "Spartacus" will soon make its away to the United States, just like "Big Brother" and "American Idol" has.
Censorship debate aside, should nudity be featured on regular TV, let alone primetime? What do you think?

Watch the trailer below:



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J-Lo goes at Rihanna on SNL

Jenny from the Blockster Jennifer Lopez kind of went at Rihanna in a skit on this weekend's "Saturday Night Live". It was a hilarious dig at the "We Are the World 25" song and video put together by Lionel Ritchie and Quincy Jones.
J-Lo's imitation of Riri was crazy. See it below:




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The Family Deelishis

Admit it, you thought Deelishish, aka, London Charles was just going to be another reality TV skank with a Gucci charm bracelet for a moral compass.
VH1 viewers can't be wrong, can they?
Well, it seems Dee has tasted the real flavor of love, and his name is not William Drayton and he is not wear oversized clocks.
Her new husband, Orlando Gordon, is obviously good for her, and their new baby will be good for everyone. In addition to his child, a 10-year-old, and hers, they will have a little pride of Deelishises running around. And you know what? It's a good look.
But don't think Deelishis is content on being just a homemaker. She still wants to act, she still is working on an album. It's just that baby comes first.
Deelishis has done more with her reality TV fame than most women, that's for sure. In addition to a burgeoning modeling career, she's got a loyal following on radio, co-hosting on Detroit's 102.7, which has included some memorable barbs with other rappers. I say "other rappers," because, yes, Dee is trying to do the mic thing as well.
Who would have thought a Flavor of Love girl would become a renaissance woman?

New TV fail: 'I'm Hotter Than My Daughter'

From the apparent biles of lost footage from the "Jenny Jones" show comes a show so vile that Jerry Springer would close his blood-shot eyes.
Do you fight with your mother over guys? Apparently,  even outside the Appalachian Mountains, some people do.
Welcome to "I'm Hotter Than My Mother." The British show, which pits ADD-fueled young women against their flab-stomached mothers, has taken reality TV to new lows.
I mean, how low can we go if "Flavor of Love" starts looking more like Spielberg TV.
Peep the casting call:
Do you and your daughter share clothes? Do people often mistake you for sisters? Or are people amazed to discover your real age? If this sounds like you and you would like the opportunity to have a fun makeover, then please get in touch.
And you thought "Jenny" had gone the way of analog TV. (Word is "I'm Hotter Than my Granddaughter is in pre-production.)

The Cult of ... Ray J?

It happened sometime a few years ago actually, but it's momentum has been speeding at a frightening pace: Ray j, who's singing career is akin to Tiger Wood's basketball game, is big. Let me repeat that: Ray J, who's acting career is akin to Diddy's rapping skills, is big.
Some can argue that it happened when he got all the publicity of a B-movie superstar when his sex tape with Kim Kardashian was leaked. Others will say his 'consistent, high-level artistry" in music and film have catapulted him to the successful sex symbol (gulp, I know, I know) that he is today.
Smash that, homie.
Ray J is big because he has a timely trifecta working in his favor: A hot VH1 reality show, infamy associated with B-list celebrity sex kittens (Kim K, Lil Kim, and yes, Whitney). Of course, his TV past on "Moesha" didn't hurt him any. Consider this though: Ray J is so hot right now that he is no longer "Brandy's little brother," instead Brandy is "Ray J's older sister."
Need further proof?
"Smashed the homie" is in the American lexicon now.
Thanks, Ray J. We owe you big time.

Faith Evans signs up for reality show

It's no biggie for Faith Evans, the mother of the Notorious one's kids. She just inked a deal for a new reality show on BET, called "It's All About Faith."
Evans, who is prepping a new album after a hiatus from music, said in a statement that the show will focus on her other exploits besides her pipes.
“To be in a place where I have grown from an entertainer to an entrepreneur is truly a blessing,” Faith said. “I am excited to share this incredible experience with my fans and the world."

Faith is just the latest in a number of Biggie-related projects to get their own reality show: Diddy has had a recurring deal with MTV (Making the Band, etc.), Lil Kim did her thing, and now Faith. Lil Cease, where you at?

BET Plans Channel for Grown Folks. Finally

Black entertainment channel BET, known for booty-shaking videos and chitlin circuit comedy, says it is finally going to cater to the long-neglected black middle class that it has claimed to worship but never reflected.
According to a report in the NY Times, Centric will make an October debut.
The report says Viacom is aiming at the 25- to 54-year-olds with Centric. The type of viewers they want? "A perfect example would be” Barack and Michelle Obama, said Scott Mills, the president of BET.
Yeah right, BET. TV1 must be pwning that booty.
I wish them well, but don't think they can appeal to their higher selves long enough to make a real dent in African American viewership.

OctoMom Trademarking 'OctoMom'

Nadya Suleman soooo wants to be on your TV screens. So much so that she is said to be working to trademark "OctoMom," which is not a name she even came up with.
The move is all a part of bringing her life with 8 babies to the small screen in a reality show.
People like TV shows. People look at TV shows.
But people don't like it if they think you had babies just to be in a TV show.
But I plead the fifth. But in this case, the eighth.
As in, eighth baby, which is the one they say they didn't know was coming.
So who knows.

Stan Lathan: The Hardest Working Man in Show Biz?

When we think about the greatest African-American contributor in cinema, people automatically jump to Spike Lee; more contemplative heads would opt for Melvin Van Peebles.
Both are impressive, but their resumes simply wilt under the force of one Stan Lathan, who's been in the business from a directorial perspective for nearly 40 years.
To ring out some of his titles is to exhaust the mind: "Hill Street Blues," "Miami Vice," "The Waltons," "Falcon Crest," "Remington Steele," "Fame," and "Roc," then the 1990s, "Martin," "Moesha," "The Parkers," "The Steve Harvey Show," "Amen," "Eve," and 'All of Us".. "Chapelle's Show", the list goes on.
He and Russell Simmons were responsible for "Def Comedy Jam" and are responsible for "Run's House."
And, yes, Sanaa is one of his five children.
These days Stan is busy molding the Simmons Lathan Media Group with mogul Russell Simmons.
Is Stan the hardest working black man in show business or what?

BET shows up pretty people in 'Harlem Heights'

On March 2, BET will bring Grown and Sexy to the TV screen with the debut of their long-buzzed about reality show "Harlem Heights". With a recession going on, BET is banking on its audience's penchant for voyeurism when things are falling down around us. Will the show be a hit? Depends on how much we really want to see pretty people talk about sex, cheating and other old subjects. The show is basically about a loose clique of friends that are all urban professionals. The word is one of them (Brooke Crittendon) used to date Kanye West, so of course she's looking for some shine on her own.

"Risky" from VH1's "Real Chance at Love" launches modeling career

Confident with a "Mad Max" meets "Baps" style about herself, Atlanta's very own Risky, from "Real Chance at Love" fame has begun modeling. The Mabelton, Ga. resident says that she is a "very independent, hard working, loyal, determined, smart, creative and unique person." Does she have what it takes to make it in the modeling world (more pics below)?








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The "Loves" That Flavor Flav Begat

No television channel owes more to a failed relationship than Vh1. The "adult" music channel, which targets an audience from 18 - 34 years old, is enjoying a historic run unlike any in cable (or network) TV history. And who's it all because of? A former revolutionary crackhead and a has-been Danish model. Never has a relationship been so influential to television programming as has William Drayton's love for Brigette Nielsen. That show has spawned 14 spin-offs (more than "Happy Days", "The Jeffersons", "Good Times" and "The Cosby Show" spin-offs combined, awakening in VH1 an almost Master P-like work ethic (and promotions to producers) to spit out shows that begat shows that begat shows. While Flav and Brigette have long parted ways, VH1 has just wrapped the hyper-corny (but laughable) "Real Chance at Love" with plans for a new installment of "I Love Money" series. Below is a look at the shows that Flavor Flav's love begat: