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Friends, one of the longest and most adored running sitcoms on TV aired for the first time 1994 and it ran strong for 10 years, with 238 episodes hitting the small screen. The show ended in 2004 but the cast still lives on in Hollywood, and crazily, they have all moved onto bigger and better things. Here are some updates on the Friends cast as of this year.

Source: WENN

It was getting to the point that people were about to put out an Amber Alert for John Legend who has been pretty low-key these days since blowing away audiences when he hit the scene with Kanye-to-the in the early 2000s. But I don’t think anyone expected that when John resurfaced it would be with a television project instead of an album.

Well that’s the case according to Deadline.com, which is reporting that Fox just bought an untitled comedy project based around John Legend’s upbringing. The sitcom was written by Tommy Dewey and Greg Bratman who created “Sons of Tucson” and is reportedly “[a]bout a guy in his early 20s who becomes the guardian to his own siblings while having to manage his burgeoning career and social life.”

Not much is really known about the life of  John Roger Stephens, a.ka. John Legend, pre-fame. The gifted 33-year-old was born and raised in Springfield, OH, his parents divorced when he was 10, which reportedly caused his mother to suffer a breakdown. At 12, John entered high school and four years later he graduated as Salutatorian at 16. He then went on to study English at the University of Pennsylvania which is around the same time his music career got it’s major start and after graduation things really began to take off. The rest is sort of history.

Chernin Entertainment and John Legend’s production company Get Lifted will rake in the cash from this deal should it be successful.With the right actor — and writing — this could be an interesting sitcom to watch. What do you think?

Source: stylepulse.com and exposay.com

I’m perrrty sure when Tami Roman said she was going to be starring in a sitcom on the “Basketball Wives” reunion we all hoped it would go away like her Sister 2 Sister column, but no such luck. The reality TV recently star sent out a message on Facebook confirming the gig saying:

“Keep a lookout 4new comedy on TVOne called BELLE[S]. Starring Elise Neal, Ella Joyce and ME! God is good. Thank you TV1 execs, Ed Weinberger, Miguel Nunez Jr and Phaedra Harris 4 believing in me!”

Am I the only one who’s excitement over a show with Elise Neal was killed by the mere mention of Tami’s name? Earlier this year when TV One announced it’s upcoming series, “Belles” was included. The sitcom is supposed to be centered on an upscale soul food restaurant, but that’s about all the description that’s been given so far. According to BlackThespian.com, Tami created the series and Miguel Nunez, Jr. is producing it alongside the TV One execs mentioned in Tami’s Facebook message.

Over on Sister 2 Sister, people are already talking about boycotting the show or at least not watching. It’s too bad after Elise’s hiatus she’s back on a program associated with such a nut.

What do you think about Tami appearing in this show?

Brande Victorian is the News and Operations Editor for MadameNoire.com. Follow her on Twitter @Be_Vic.

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Source: Zimbio.com

A new sitcom reportedly starring Bill Bellamy and Vivica A. Fox could make for a big comeback for both stars who’ve been off the A-list radar for a little while now.

Some time ago there was word that Byron Allen’s company, Entertainment Studios, was developing a sitcom for comedian and actor Bill Bellamy to star in alongside fellow comedian Jon Lovitz. According to Humormillmag.com, the show is supposed to air on either TBS or TNT and word is Vivica A. Fox was just offered a starring roll.

The show will be about Bellamy’s character, a potential Hollywood star who ends up in trouble with the law, and is court ordered to do community service which lands him in South Central LA. His character ends up loving the kids that he is supposed to mentor and then he finds himself not wanting to go back to Hollywood. Lovitz will play his agent who is constantly trying to lure him back to the actor’s city. I assume Vivica will be his love interest but her part hasn’t been explicitly stated just yet.

Bill Bellamy is also in talks with CBS for a self-titled show that would air in 2013 so he may soon find his acting card full again. Vivica is also expected to star in three new films, “Queen City,” “Mission Park,” and “Caught On Tape.” Yay for black actors working.

What do you think about Vivica and Bill in this sitcom together?

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

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Source: starpulse.com

I can’t tell you how many times my classmates and I used to sit at lunch talking about the latest episode of “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” From Will getting shot to Carlton overdosing on speed and Hilary’s fiance face planting into the ground during a bungee jump proposal, there have been many dark moments on “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air” that had folks talking. But for the most part, the show was one of the funniest ever. The fact that they could even find a way to make the death of Hilary’s fiance funny at all says a lot about the writing. But enough rambling. You want to know where they are now, and after doing some research (a lot actually, I lost some good sleep hours), I thought I’d fill you in. Per the usual, be ready to click on a few pages.

Source: pramit-shah.blogspot.com

Will Smith

Of course we had to start with the obvious. Will Smith played…well, Will Smith, the street smart and hilarious Philly teen who moves to Bel-Air and creates all kinds of havoc (and comedy) for his aunt, uncle and cousins. I just loved everything about Will on this show, especially his overly-dramatic side (“Mama noooooooooooooo! *in a high pitch scream*). While the show was going and after it ended, Will Smith became a blockbuster movie star. Post the show, he did Men in Black, I Am Legend, I, Robot, and garnered Academy Award nominations for his work in Ali and The Pursuit of Happyness. He also, of course, was a music star, releasing the albums Big Willie Style and Willennium. Be on the lookout for sequels for Hancock, I, Robot and another Bad Boys installment. Geez, going to keep milking that one, eh?

Source: photos.usatoday.com

Source: Zimbio

“They say girlfriend you know you work too hard”—that statement was true for Gladys Knight in the ’80s and it’s still true for the singer now. Not only has Ms. Gladys returned to the forefront of the entertainment scene as a contestant on “Dancing with the Stars,” she’s also gearing up to star in a new television project.

According to TMZ, she’s been cast in a new show called “The First Family,” which is about a fictional President of the United States who’s juggling work with his family life. No one’s said anything about the show being based on President Obama but it’s clear that’s where the inspiration came from. Gladys Knight is said to be playing the president’s mother.

A major network has reportedly already expressed interest in the sitcom and production is being rushed in order to capitalize on Gladys’ “Dancing” fame. Byron Allen, the Executive Producer of “First Family,” said this about her role:

“Gladys is truly an American treasure and we’re excited to work with her.”

Sounds like there might be a good black sitcom on the way, which is just what we need. What do 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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Source: NBC

In a few weeks NBC will debut a new sitcom titled “Best Friends Forever.” The comedy is the brainchild of real-life best friends Jessica St. Clair and Lennon Parham, and it follows the story of Jess moving back in with her BFF Lennon and her boyfriend, after her husband files for divorce. Despite the fact that the trailer for the show is pretty funny, this isn’t a sitcom I normally would’ve paid attention to if it wasn’t for its sole black character, a 9-year-old girl named Queenetta.

If the name alone doesn’t tell you enough about who this little girl is, allow me. She’s the too grown for her age, neck- and eye-rolling, keep white people in check, sassy black neighbor of the friends—essentially every stereotype we hate about black women rolled into one cute little underage girl. And despite the fact that the show hasn’t even debuted yet, people are already going in pretty hard on Daija Owens’ character, the show’s creators, NBC, and even Daija’s mom for letting her portray this role.

Now I won’t lie, I laughed pretty hard at the trailer when Quenetta quoted a line from Drake’s “Oh you fancy huh” with Lennon outside of their apartment building, but then I stopped. For one, I don’t like sassy, smart-mouthed little kids in any shade. But I also know the thought process that went into the development of this character, because after all, how could we grow up to be angry black women if we weren’t hand-on-the-hip-holding, tell-it-like-it-is little black girls first?

Shamika Sanders of Hello Beautiful literally asked, WTF is Wrong with NBC, as she wrote:

“All this show does is prove that there can’t be a central character in a major production without he or she falling subject to a company’s lack of sensitivity and limited scope of black people.”

Rebecca Theodore-Vachon of The Urban Daily noted that black characters have pretty much been dead on NBC since the Cosby’s, writing:

“While it is commendable that the show is giving work to an obviously adorable little girl, there’s no denying the stereotypical eye rolling and ‘sass’ factor on display here.”

Amongst the slew of backlash the character is already receiving, there is one aspect people have to keep in mind, and that’s the fact that this show is a comedy. Characters are exaggerated, stereotypes are harped upon, and prejudices are exposed for the sake of laughter. It’s clear that’s what’s going on when you name a little girl Queenetta, but it’s also unfortunate that that’s still the only type of character sitcoms think to write for a black actress. I can picture the writers in a brainstorming session thinking, “wouldn’t it be so funny to get a little black girl with an attitude to smack her lips and be like ‘uh huh girl, you know,’ and say all that stuff that’s not funny when white women do it but is hilarious when it comes from a black girl?” What’s interesting is that from interviews I’ve seen of Daija, her real personality seems nothing like the character in the show, which is typically the case and always makes me wonder, why when there are countless examples of black girls who don’t fit the angry, ghetto stereotype do we still get reduced to these roles?

I think the success and depth of backlash against the show will depend on just how exaggerated they choose to make this little girl and whether they introduce any other black characters to balance our representation on the network. Like where is this little girl’s mother and why is she always with her neighbors? Of course, that’s nowhere near the focus of the network, especially for a non-primary black character, so what we see now is most likely what we’ll get all throughout the season. Let’s see how this goes.

Check out Queenetta’s character in the trailer below. Do you think her role will be problematic or is this just for laughs?

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

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Source: Zap 2 It

Ol’ Marty Mart is back. Last month we found out that CBS was toying around with two different scripts to bring Martin Lawrence back to prime time TV, and the network has officially given a pass to a new comedy project.

CBS scratched both of the initial ideas in favor of a pilot featuring Martin as a widowed father of two teens who loses his job as a construction worker and then attempts to enroll in the police academy at the seasoned age of 46. I wonder if Martin will dredge up a little bit of Otis the security guard from his ’90s show for this part.

Mike Lisbe and Nate Reger from “$#*! My Dad Says” will write and executive produce the untitled project so we can count on plenty of non-PC jokes, especially once Martin gets involved. Hope the pilot proves to be as funny as his show was back in the day.

What do you think about this plot, will it work?

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

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I can’t get enough of Martin even though it’s been 15 years since the show went off the air (shout out to TV One for playing reruns). Thankfully, Comedian Martin Lawrence is expected to return to TV soon with a new sitcom on CBS.

The network is currently throwing around two different scripts for a show. In the first one, developed by “Bernie Mac” creator Larry Wilmore, Martin would play a single man who becomes a foster parent to several children along with his sister. Tom Hertz, the creator of “Rules of Engagement”  came up with a different plot where Martin would be a family man trying to keep his kids grounded while facing off with his wealthy in-laws.

The funny man known for characters like Sheneneh Jenkins and Jerome, signed a deal with CBS and CBS TV Studios last fall to develop a comedy project and a decision on which direction the network will go is expected in the coming weeks. Martin probably won’t have as much freedom on CBS as he did on Fox but I can’t wait to see if he’s as funny in his 40s as he was in his 20s. Maybe he can get Bruhman to make a cameo.

What do you think about Martin returning to primetime TV? Which sitcom would you prefer to see him in?

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

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I’m not a fan of Nene Leakes’ on-camera demeanor and attitude, but let’s be honest, somebody obviously is. You have to give her credit though because she is making some big moves and collecting some even bigger checks, and you know you’ve made it when you’re moving from ratchet reality TV to a popular, mainstream series on a non-cable network.

The outspoken and “rich” reality TV star has confirmed that she will have a recurring role on the show as character Roz Washington,  Sue Sylvester’s rival. Washington is a synchronized swimming coach for the school that will definitely be making waves. She’s already filmed her first episode and tweeted about her new gig:

“Studying lines now! My memory is just gone LOL! Gotta head right back 2 the Glee set after the holidays”

I don’t even really like Glee, but even I have to admit that this could be interesting knowing how crazy the Sue Sylvester character is, and also knowing how crazy NeNe is in general. If all goes well, she could be the black Gwyneth Paltrow on that joint, getting nominated for Emmy awards and singing at the Grammys. It also helps that some of her new co-stars are geeked about her new role and presence on the hit show. Entertainment Weekly reports that stars Chris Colfer and Lea Michele were all over her trailer when she arrived for filming. Looks like Glee is about to get some ATL swag.

So will you be watching?