G-Magazine Now

Ivory Should Have Won "I Want To Work For Diddy 2"

  

Yes, I still watch the second season of "I Want To Work For Diddy."  I am just appalled how another contestant has been dismissed too early once again.  Ivory Tabb, the season's most confrontational contestant, got the axe as the second runner-up.  Get this.  She did not get fired because she was the weakest contestant on the challenges given to her.  She lost because she exuded child-like behavior on her first day in the competition over an object against her house mates.  They forgot that fellow contestant Ebony demonstrated similar behavior by yelling at her competition and threatening to fight.

As their final two, the competition is stuck with Ebony, who is all bark and no bite when it comes to leadership and multi-tasking, and Daniel, the flustered simpleton who freaks out under pressure, doesn't multitask and has no backbone when it comes to confrontation and deal making.

Good luck!  I could beat both of them put together on a team by myself on putting together a fashion they were so dumbstricken about.

Why Does Everybody Hate "Jersey Shore" So Much?

Who knew that a little reality-TV show called "Jersey Shore" on MTV would stir so much controversy?  If you are unfamiliar with the fracas that surrounds the show, here's a quick rundown.  "Jersey" comprises of eight young adults from the New York/New Jersey area spending this past summer at the Jersey Shore.  That sounds innocent and boring, right?  Well, it is not.  The castmates are of Italian-American heritage and proudly avow being so by calling themselves "guidos" and "guidettes."  Every cast member has overly-tanned skin with gel-caked dark hair as has the machismo and bitchy attitudes that might make the "Real World" has-beens seem like punks in the area of self-confidence.  Aside from that, their antics are the same as the cast members of the "Real World," "Road Rules" and "A Shot Of Love With Tila Tequila" franchises.

What makes the show different from the aforementioned is the ire that has been drawn from the Italian-American communities and Jersey Shore-area residents for playing up to demeaning stereotypes of Italians and making the popular touristic spot look bad.  The fuss and negative reviews caused three companies pulling their commercial spots from the show in disassociation.

Really?  "Jersey Shore" is, by far, not the first show where a bunch of attention-seeking, emotionally-disturbed, idiotic low-lifes gather for a season's worth of regrettable shenanigans that embarrasses families, generations, genders and ethnicities.  The companies who pull ads from "Shore" should feel like hypocrites as they keep ads in networks that promotes similar shows.  Why not pull all ads from MTV, VH-1, Oxygen and BET, among other shows that recruits childish, attention whores.

Check out this skit starring veteran actress Alyssa Milano depicting the ugly stereotypes of the show.  She is the first celebrity to speak out publicly against the show.  Unfortunately, her star power has not hurt "Shore's" ratings.  The show's viewership increased by more than 50% last week after the controversy peaked.

Enjoy!

Russell Simmons Debuts New Reality Show On Oxygen Network

 

Hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons has joined forced with the Oxygen network to debut a new reality show, "The Russell Simmons Project." The series will give a behind-the-scenes look at the women who assist Simmons with his professional and everyday life.

"Russell Simmons is a fascinating man and seeing his world through the eyes of his dream team, comprised of strong, passionate women, provides a unique experience for our viewers," said Amy Introcaso-Davis, Senior Vice President of Original Programming and Development for Oxygen Media. "We are excited to team up with Russell on this project and shine the spotlight on his core group that are living the dream alongside him."

While the show is being developed and produced by Simmons Lathan Media Group and Picture This Television, the Def Jam co-founder says his role on the show will be kept to a minimum. "Throughout my career I have surrounded myself with people smarter than me,' Simmons said. 'This show will let them shine and provide insight into how we build our empire from the inside out."

A premiere date for "The Russell Simmons Project" has not been released.

Monica's "Still Standing" TV Is A Must-See; Album Is A Must-Have

R&B starlet Monica gave cable network BET one of its best original programming shows ever.  Monica's reality-TV "Still Standing" chronicles the life of this one-time top-charting diva making a comeback in the R&B/pop game.  Along with her quest to return to urban music dominance, she juggles life as a mother and a partner to popular Atlanta rapper Rocko.  

What sets "Standing" against other BET reality shows such as [fellow singer] Keyshia Cole's "The Way It Is" and "College Hill" is that the other shows exploit the negative characteristics of the cast members rather than addressing and solving them as responsible adults who care about their reputations would.  As viewers see that Monica tackles health problems within her immediate family, relationship issues within her inner circle and the pressures of making a great comeback album, they notice a young woman who owns her life and handles her pressure with sophistication while keeping things real with her fans as she performs her hits and tells stories about her journeys.

Watch this recent episode below.  Monica adds the finishing touches to her upcoming album Still Standing.  Hopefully, the song "Betcha," which heavily samples Evelyn King's 1982 R&B classic "Betcha She Don't Love You," becomes the album's first single.  Produced by rapper Missy Elliott, the song has the potentially to become Monica's first crossover hit since 1998's "Angel Of Mine."  Other songs played in the episode, "One In A Lifetime" and "Stay Or Go," may suggest that Ms. Arnold may engage in one of the greatest comeback in R&B music history. 

Are you anticipating the Still Standing album?

Meet The Women Of Frank "The Entertainer" Moresca's Show

VH-1 has churned out another reality-TV love game show around one of its former rejected contestants.  

The madness began with "Flavor Of Love" where rap icon Flavor Flav dumped Tiffany "New York" Pollard for two consecutive seasons as a finalist whseo over-the-top antics prevented from being Flav's new slutty queen.  Being the self-proclaimed "Head Bitch In Charge (a.k.a. H.B.I.C.)," Pollard was given the green light to have two seasons of her own reality-TV show "I Love New York," an adventure that continued her quest for love from forty male suitors who cared more about fame than being her lover.

"New York" created a spin-off titled "Real Chance Of Love" which brought out more attention-seeking, body-exposing women vying for the affections of "New York" rejects Chance and Real who are also brothers.

Now, VH-1 unveils another reality-TV love/game show around another "New York" reject Frank "The Entertainer" Maresca.  The self-admitted loser who is well known for living in his parent's basement and underemployed meets fifteen women who want to win his heart on the tentatively titled "Frank The Entertainer...A Basement Affair."

Check out these fifteen contestants.  There are two token Black chicks, which will be a surprise if they make it past the halfway point of eliminations.  Overall, the dark-skinned Black one was the only cute, non-stripper trash looking of all the contestants.

What do you make of this bunch?

VH-1 Debuts Fantasia's New Reality TV Show In January 2010

 

R&B star Fantasia will let fans and viewers come into her world via reality TV on the VH-1 Networking.  With successful shows created around urban music acts Salt-N-Pepa, Irv "Gotti" Lorenzo, and Flavor Flav, Fantasia get the green light on an eight episode series titled "Fantasia For Real."

Read the synopsis below about the show from the VH-1 website.

Six years ago, Fantasia was a young single mother from High Point, North Carolina singing in her church choir and struggling to raise her daughter, Zion. On a whim, she tried out for the third season of “American Idol,” and seemingly overnight the world discovered Fantasia’s tremendous voice. Five years and 8 Grammy® Award nominations later, life couldn’t look more different for Fantasia. Her first album, Free Yourself, was a platinum-selling, chart-topping success, bringing her wealth, fame, and recognition as an accomplished artist. Fantasia has worked with many music industry legends, including Elton John, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, and Missy Elliot. In 2007 Fantasia was chosen to star as “Celie” in the acclaimed Broadway musical “The Color Purple.” Her book “Life is Not a Fairy Tale” made the New York Times bestseller list, and she also starred in a made-for-television movie based on her life.

As Fantasia’s fame has grown, her personal life has increasingly become more complicated. The sole breadwinner for her large family, Fantasia struggles to balance career, family, being single mother and the demanding life of a highly successful performing artist. Fantasia’s VH1 series delves into how she has dealt with the seismic aftershocks of fame, all while managing the daily demands of life on the road and writing and recording new music that will connect with her fans.

“Fantasia has engaged millions of fans not only through her music and her amazing talent but also by her incredible fairytale life story,” said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Original Programming & Production, VH1. “Our audience helped Fantasia become an American Idol and now, with this series, they get a backstage pass into her real life as she confronts obstacles to realize her true potential as an artist, a mother, a daughter and a sister.”

What Are Our Favorite "Top Model" Contestants Doing Today?

With thirteen seasons of the hit reality-TV series "America's Next Top Model" aired, there is no escaping of the cat-fighting drama around the catwalk for the legions of aspiring contestants we have grown to love since 2003.  After its first-run airing on the CW network, the Tyra Banks-helmed show has re-runs on cable networks Oxygen, Lfietime, VH-1 and MTV.

So what have our favorite runway divas been up to?  Check out these contestants' updates.

 

Jade Cole, Season 6: Remembered as one the uh, abrasive personalities on "ANTM," Jade Cole has since gone the way of the video vixen, appearing in segments for Jamie Foxx, Ne-Yo and, aptly, in Jay-Z's "Change Clothes." When the biracial beauty isn't busy working the runway in Hong Kong or South Africa, she's scribbling her autobiography and going on film auditions. As for "Top Model," Cole has said, "I feel like they only focused on my negative attributes." Uh huh.

 

Fo Porter, Season 12: One of the more memorable faces of that season, freckled Fo Porter made it a priority to get her GED after getting dismissed from the show last April. In six short months, she's scored gigs for Target, Nike and for Abercrombie & Fitch, shooting with Bruce Weber.

 

Fatima Siad, Season 10: Somalian and Ethopian stunner Fatima Siad, who found herself as the face of genital mutilation causes on season 10, may not have taken the title, but she definitely won big. Since wrapping "Top Model," the NYU-grad has posed pretty for Elle, Ebony, WWD, and walked the runway forBetsey Johnson and Louis Vuitton, amongst others. Still, Siad called her season of "Top Model" a joke, noting that the fact that a reportedly plus-sized model -- whose biggest gig since has been JCPenneycatalog work -- won "might be about politics."

 

Toccara Jones, Season 3: She came in seventh on the third season of "ANTM," but that didn't stop Toccara Jones from making a name for herself. Signing as a plus-sized model with Wilhelmina Models, Jones has worked for Ashley Stewart, Avon, Torrid, Rocawear, New York & Co. and other major brands. Most recently, she scored a major coup with a 14-page spread, shot by Steven Meisel, for the all-black issue of Italian Vogue. Still, the sometime BET-host's stellar portfolio is marred by a 2008stint on the VH-1 reality hit "Celebrity Fit Club," where the proud Jones dropped some 32 pounds.

"Work For Diddy" Fires Crazy Melissa

Melissa, the crazy Latina with the long blonde weave, finally got the heave ho from Sean Combs and company on the hit reality-TV show "I Want To Work For Diddy."  Being the loose cannon that separated herself from the other contestants over many conflicts became her demise.

Watching that train wreck on TV was fun.

This Globetrotter Is Soooooooo Dumb...

If you were to scramble the letters Z, R, F, N and A to unleash a common name in the Czech Republic, would you be able to come up with the correct answer within less than 10 minutes?  Perhaps an athlete may not.  Nathaniel Lofton, a contestant of the 15th season of the hit reality-TV contest series "The Amazing Race," could not solve that answer in almost three hours while other teams passed him up in far less time.

The college-educated Harlem Globetrotter might be called a dumb jock by last night's episode with his embarrassing and unsuccessful attempt to make sense of the unscrambling.

Lofton and his teammate and best friend Herbert Lang made the dumbest move of the season by choosing to quit that challenge and suffer through a four-hour penalty.  Apparently, spelling a five-letter word in four hours deemed to be impossible by the duo.  

Deservedly, they lost the competition.

Basketball players not played to spell.

By the way, the name that Lofton needed to spell was "Franz," a very common name in eastern Europe and is the equivalent to "Frank" in American English.

"I Want To Work For Diddy 2" Gets Rid Of Blake Already?

The purpose of keeping general reality TV shows, such as MTV's "The Real World," is to pack much drama into the concocted story lines in order to keep viewers tuned in.  Nowadays, reality TV game shows share the same premise where the contestants who are most deserving to win are eliminated by judges before the less-productive troublemakers.  The first season of NBC's "The Apprentice" proved itself to be about the antics of super villain Omarosa Manigualt-Stallworth equally to the young adults' drive to work for Donald Trump.

VH-1's second season of "I Want To Work For Diddy" is no different when drama queens succeed over driven contestants working diligently to prove their worth to work for Sean "Diddy" Combs.  As Combs displays himself as an over-the-top drama queen, it should be a surprise to noone that over-the-top antics will occur on his show.  That explains why season one contestant Kim (a.k.a "Po-prah") was allowed to compete in season two.  In season one, Kim fought any and everyone she found to be easily intimidated by her hot-headed behavior until her late-deserving elimination.  As soon as she entered into the competition for season two, she turned on her overbearing antics immediately.

The shocking part of tonight's episode is the double-elimination.  It was fair to see the loose-lipped, unraveling John to be fired from the Uptown team.  However, seeing Blake, who brought in money for the required fundraising task, getting the boot over loud-mouthed, confirmed "backseat riding" Ebony who contributed nothing to the task, shows that having a second season of this spectacle does not mean Diddy is looking for another assistant.  Instead, he aims to extend his 45 minutes of fame at the expense of misguided people who are thirsty idiots for fame.

Side note: If Ebony really holds a Masters Degree, she should act as such since her ghetto behavior suggests that she seems like a high school drop-out.