Source: transgriot.blogspot.com

If you’re anything like me, last night you had all your errands ran, shower taken, and a hot meal in front of you in anticipation of the season 2 premiere of ‘Single Ladies’ at 9. And then, you either enjoyed the show for what it was or went in on it on Twitter. Since I’m in the camp who took the show for what it was, based on what I’d already seen last season, I decided to put together a list of things fans and naysayers are just going to have to accept about the show if they’re going to make it through 60 minutes of it every Monday. You may be asking why you have to accept any of this, and you don’t. But you’ll save your fingers the pain of running ragged trying to type out 140 characters of shade after every scene if you make peace with these few “Single Ladies” facts.

1. Valerie is gone. I could quite possibly be the only one who still thought she was coming back, but from the way things were playing out in the beginning of the season opener I really did still think there was a chance. I figured a trip to Milan means she’s coming back, right? But then the ladies read the email that said she decided to stay and I poured out my own champagne for Val along with the girls. Just kidding about the last part, but I think that on-screen gesture clearly meant Stacey is not welcomed on set ever again in life.

2. There will be bad acting. This shouldn’t surprise anyone but from the comments made on Twitter, I think people might have suspected the girls had taken acting classes in between seasons or something. Not so. I think a lot of people also had high hopes for Denise Vasi since she came from All My Children and seemed to be a decent actress to most, but if there is no other similarity between Denise and Val, here’s one: they’re both B-list actresses with C+ acting ability. I don’t mind because I’ve accepted it. If you turn on this show and expect to see the likes of Viola Davis or Anika Noni Rose, you will be highly upset.

3. Both LisaRaye McCoy and Keisha Green are ghetto. I don’t know what came first, LisaRaye’s addition to Single Ladies or her character’s development but let’s just say these two are one in the same. LisaRaye has never been anything but hood and neither has her character Keisha. Neither one knows how to fully finish a word, they both think hungry has an O in it, and they’ve mastered the neck roll, teeth-smacking, face-squinching attitude to a T. You know the saying, you can take the girl out of the hood but you can’t take the hood out of the girl. Keisha and Lisa’s ghettoness is what it is no matter how you dress it up, which most times is poorly, but that’s my next point.

4. Valerie will continue to be the only character who could dress. Val was a bad dresser, bad meaning good. The other ladies just dress badly. I thought they’d make Raquel the new Val in terms of fashion since they’ve both got that petite cuteness thing going on but once I saw those black leggings and that jersey knit blue top they put her in towards the end of he episode, not to mention that terrible weave, I made peace with the departure of fashion excellence that was Val. It seems they might be stepping up April’s style and the beauty crew definitely gets points for giving Keisha that cut because lord knows there was nothing right about her wigs last season, but that’s pretty much where the praise stops.

5. There will be corniness (but not as much now that April’s husband is gone). I actually liked the tango scene at the opening of last night’s show but I know many thought it was wack. Yes, it’s far fetched that every member of the cast would be skilled enough to hit the dance floor like a “Dancing with the Stars” pro but it drew us in, so in my book they get points for creativity. It may have been a tad corny but it wasn’t like the cast was stereotypically dropping it like it’s hot. Let’s try to find the positive.

Once you get past these five things you’ll be able to enjoy “Single Ladies” much more and take the show for what it is because if nothing else, it has some fine men that are worth sitting through an hour of bad acting and terrible fashion for. Plus Omar’s still on the show, which I consider a big plus, and the foreign assistant, Christina is not, which I consider an even bigger plus. So trust, yes, there’s a lot of bad with this show, but there’s some good that’s entertaining too.

Here’s a clip of last night’s opener in case you missed it. What did you think?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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