BET hasn’t been my network of choice since I was a teenager. I remember coming home every day to watch Video Soul – which eventually turned into 106 & Park. I was excited when BET picked up The Game after a campaign by the fans.
On July 2, 2013, my sister-in-law needed to do my hair so we needed a program that would last a couple of hours. We turned to “Being Mary Jane” with no expectations. It has been a long time since I met a character, particularly a black woman on television who was so real… that she scared me.
The shows creator, Mara Brock Akil, has written on a lot of shows that I loved: South Central, The Jamie Foxx Show, Girlfriends and Moesha. While I identified with Girlfriends and I was Moesha, no seriously, I was the editor in chief of my school newspaper, dated a musician and rocked braids & eventually locks. Most of the shows only dealt with reality in bite size pieces. While watching those shows, most of the time I was laughing, with the perfectly executed punch lines. Being Mary Jane is very different.
She is the matriarch of her family expected to provide financially to her siblings and her parents.
She has the career of her dreams.
She’s beautiful with a wardrobe that most women would kill for…
But her Facebook Profile isn’t quite perfect because her relationship status would say “it’s complicated.”
She finds herself in love with a married man, whose wife she confronts in a local boutique, and has choice words for her.
You wouldn’t think of her as desperate but she does something SHOCKING at the end of the first show… so shocking that it can’t even be mentioned here.
Mary Jane is complex… she’s not predictable. She’s funny but not in a “ha-ha” kind of way, more of a “oh no – I’ve been there” kind of way.
I will be hosting a weekly viewing party because we ALL have a little bit of Mary Jane in us, and frankly I’ve been waiting for a television show like this my entire life.
Tune in on January 7, 2014 at 9:00 p.m. central/10:00 p.m. eastern! Be sure to follow me at Twitter @blkgrlunmasked for my live tweets & to join our #BeingMaryJaneChicago party!
I am excited about this show also! I am glad we do have a REAL character. I think black women are often portrayed in two extremes, we are either all good or all bad. I think this show is going to show us in a light of being the best of both worlds!
I totally agree with you. We don’t really have any roles with depth. You know you have to come out to the viewing party if you’re free so save the date🙂