Keeping Up With The Joneses
I don’t know about you but I think I’ve had enough of the Black affluent reality shows– Baldwin Hills, Harlem Heights, Real Housewives Of Atlanta. Seriously how many times do I need to see a sister buy a Gucci bag and some $800 Louboutins to understand (and celebrate) that Black folks are making loot too. I know it’s not just the Bronfmans anymore, but it’s the Johnsons and the Winfreys too. Got it. I thought Cosby made this clear in the 80’s with the Huxtables. Obviously not clear enough for the execs over at Centric TV who are joining the bandwagon to ride the wheels off of the successful rich Black “reality” model where NeNe, Sheree and dem just weren’t enough, thus their new “docu-soap”– Keeping Up With The Joneses. According to their site, Keeping Up With The Karadashians, oops I mean The Joneses is a series “that follows the high society, high stakes world of the crew behind Jones Magazine as they try to take their magazine to the next level.”
This past Tuesday I went to Centric’s executive offices in midtown Manhattan to preview the first episode and to meet Tracey Ferguson– the protagonist of this Houston-based reality show. And in classic southern gal style, Tracey greeted everyone with a smile, flawless make-up, hair styled tiz-zight, manicured nails and her gold watch was dazzlin darlings. The thing is, once Tracey, who is a widow and a mother of two, opened her mouth I really liked her. She’s charasmatic, but she’s honest, vulnerably so. Her scenes with the grief therapist talking about death and loving again resonated the most and will surely be what keeps this series from staying in the land of mall-shopping, society-ballin and other superficiality. I will surely watch it and see how things proceed. You can catch the premiere tonight @8pm and I’m sure there will be reruns this weekend. Hit me back with your thoughts!
I have to agree. Though I do love to watch the self made drama, that aaall reality shows entail, while watching commercials and sneak previews for it, it has me interested. I’ll definitely sneak in to take a peak!
Hmmm…no, I haven’t seen this. I watched The Real Housewives of Atlanta because it was here in Atlanta, but it made me ill. I couldn’t even watch the OC Housewives after the Atlanta series because my brain was so fried that it needed a rest from TV foolishness!
Being a jones, I felt it was my duty to respond. This show looks wack, and would more than likely buttress my disdain for the evergrowing buppy army
I guess these type of shows provide a nice balance for the negative images that we are bombarded with daily of Black life and Black culture. At best, they are aspirational for young people who are so wholly influenced by media. I will have to check out this new reality series, just so that I’m in the “know,” and also to support Black television.
But on a personal note, it urks me somewhat to see us flaunting our so-called “wealth.” My family was a poor one that, through a special housing program, was moved from the PJ’s to one of Chicago’s wealthiest suburbs in the 70’s. My classmates were so wealthy, they had elevators in their homes, while my sister and I remained the sole students eligible for free lunch tokens. I’ve seen, smelled and tasted real wealth– old money– vicariously, and trust me, as a community as a whole, we are not even scratching the surface.
It feels irresponsible in a way to not be using the few extra coins we have (believing we’re rich) to behave like fake socialites on tv, instead of championing better education for our children who are falling further and further behind. They are fast becoming virtually useless to society, and what a tragedy, because we are a talented people.
We need community centers, more black teachers, principles, young politicians, entrepreneurs, brothers who make it cool to wear your pants above your a$$. Why can’t we film reality shows around black folks who are out there in the trenches, passionate about uplifting their community? That’s the sort of television I’d like to see. And what an example it would be for our youth.
ok my views on these matters are very pedestrian. i thought that the chick from xscape on the real housewives of atlanta was hot. i liked the fact that she was always smiling and her smile was genuine and she was very ordinary and practical. i have not seen these other shows but i must say that i am generally drawn to them when i just happen upon them on my computer or in somebody’s house in the states. i can’t follow them, but i admire them in the same kinds of ways that c.l.r. james watched american soap operas–as a kind of portal into the things that matter for everyday people.
I hadn’t even heard of this, but if it offers insight into how black people of means run their businesses, raise their families, then I think it has a place on TV, if for no other reason than to try and create some semblance of balance amidst the foolishness that represents us on most channels. Thanks for the info, I’m definitely going to check it out and see.