On January 27th, BET+ will welcome Season 2 of one among my favourite reveals proper now, First Wives Club.
First Wives Club, starring Ryan Michelle Bathe, Jill Scott, and Michelle Buteau, is a present loosely primarily based on the unique movie First Wives Club. The present is created and government produced by Tracy Y. Oliver (Ladies Journey).
First Wives Club, just like lots of our Black homegirl TV reveals, is a present a few group of Black girlfriends rediscovering their voices, proudly owning their truths, exploring new prospects, and honoring that they matter.
What Separates First Wives Club From the Relaxation, You Ask?
This present stars not one however two Black plus dimension leads! When have we ever seen that in tv historical past? I’ll wait….how about NEVER!
After I first noticed commercials for this present on BET again in 2019, my eyes nearly rolled out of my head as a result of I couldn’t consider what I used to be seeing.
Of all the reveals primarily based on Black girlfriends, that is the first one I’ve really seen myself in. It was actually the illustration I by no means thought I used to be going to get in a present like this.
Lastly, there could be a present the place the fats lady was not simply the sidekick good friend, the comedic aid, the butt of group good friend jokes, or the afterthought; they’d be the heart.
I later discovered First Wives Club would solely showcase on BET+, the then-new streaming app BET was rolling out, and First Wives Club was set to turn out to be their first scripted sequence.
I ran to subscribe to this streaming web site so quick!
Upon watching it, I used to be met with three girls, 2 of whom seemed like me, combating again to take again their lives, being in highly effective careers and positions, and proudly owning their magnificence.
Not a single storyline was rooted in both of those plus dimension girls hating themselves. Actually, it was fairly the reverse.
These girls had been proudly owning who they had been, going by way of regular relationship ebbs and flows, having scorching & wild intercourse, being desired, clubbing, celebrating their magnificence, and manifesting the lives they deserve.
Whereas Buteau is the comic of the present, she just isn’t the comedic aid. She is actually hilarious! Jill Scott’s character can also be a jokester, as is Ryan Michelle Bathe’s character.
On this present, Jill, who performs Hazel Rachelle, is a DIVA! She is bossed up and the definition of dangerous & bougie. Buteau, who performs Bree, is a superb surgeon juggling mother duties and rekindling the flames together with her husband.
In First Wives Club, there isn’t any “woe is me I’m fats” storyline.
There isn’t a half about these girls eager to shed pounds, or feeling lower than, there’s no storyline about them chasing a person that doesn’t need them, there’s no storyline about them wanting a revenge physique after a breakup, there’s none of that, and that’s the reason this present issues.
As a fats Black lady, I do know illustration and id politics is simply a small a part of doing the work.
I do know illustration is simply a small piece of our tales, however that small piece is such an vital piece. That small piece can change the sport of a fats Black lady seeing herself in media when she’s 9 as an alternative of when she’s 33.
We have to have the ability to see the issues we wish to be. I grew up, like most fats women, with solely Nikki Parker and the many different roles of Mo’Nique. The college lunch cafeteria workers on Nickelodeon and Disney sometimes performed by Loni Love. The fats lady who was the additional or had a small function which was normally pre Oscars Octavia Spencer or Sherri Shepard, and the a number of roles of Queen Latifah.
That was it!
In 2021, we get to observe fats Black girls in TV reveals and flicks of their wholeness, simply being. And that, my mates, is the world I wish to proceed to create.
Season 2 of First Wives Club begins streaming this week, January 27th on BET+!
Don’t say I by no means put you on!
Have you ever watched the first season of The First Wives Club? Are you excited for season 2?