TV One picks up 'Love That Girl'

TV One's first original sitcom is set to hit the air soon, according to Variety.
The show, titled "Love That Girl" is the brainchild of veteran director and former "Martin" and "The Jamie Foxx Show" writer Bentley Kyle Evans. Martin Lawrence also has signed on as executive producer.
Black comedies rarely make it out of pilot stage and when they do, it's because of a big name attached to it. This show is no different.
The show features Tatyana Ali, who also moonlights on BET) and a few other actors of note, but the big thing here is that BET turned it down (that usually means it's pretty good).
"BET was the first network I took it to because of a prior relationship," Evans told the Washington Post.
The show is being done for the insanely cheap cost of $1.2 million but will be owned entirely by Evans.
"If executed properly, this will represent a whole new model for producing and delivering quality scripted series to the television market, at a reasonable cost," Evans told Variety.
In other words, Evans is getting his Tyler Perry on!
Un-mad at cha.
Peep a clip of "Love That Girl"

Raphael Saadiq: Lonesome Soul Singer

Wow, it seemed like yesterday when the sweet sounds of Tony! Toni! Toné, the Oakland-based family trio, engulfed urban radio.
Raphael Saadiq, formerly, Raphael Wiggins, has always had a lonesome streak.
Hard to believe that Saadiq's "Ask of You," his biggest song to date, was released in 1995 (on the "Higher Learning" soundtrack no less).
Saadiq is content to carry his soulful tunes under the current bright lights and hardships that plague many artists. He's done the brotherly group thing, the Lucy Pearl thing and even the hip-hop producing thing, all to mixed results.
These days Saadiq is just doing Saadiq. His latest venture is as executive producer of a TV sitcom centered around Tatyana Ali. Still in development, the working title for the show is "Love That Girl."

BET Finally Ready to Premiere Tatyana Ali's 'Buppies'

Tatyana Ali will be getting BET's first exclusively online show this summer. The show, called "Buppies," is about the socialite daughter of a Hollywood celebrity father ("Baldwin Hills"?) who clings to her friends ("Harlem Heights"?) after his death. The show was announced last fall and has survived a torrid pace of revisings and is ready finally, BET says. It's a big move for Ali, best known for "Fresh Prince of Bel Air," but dangerous for actors that want to be considered for big-screen roles. The show premieres Sunday, June 28.
Check out some video for "Buppies," the new BET series.