Source: WENN

Eight months following its initial launch, BET has officially confirmed that Don’t Sleep! hosted by T.J. Holmes will not be returning for another season. According to Multichannel News, the series has been canceled due to its failure to draw a significant audience. The show started off strong, garnering 1 million viewers for its October 9th episode, but that success quickly diminished, averaging only 400,000 viewers before being transformed into a weekly show.

“[Don't Sleep!] delivered smart social commentary on significant issues important to African Americans with the nation’s most prominent thought leaders. BET remains committed to being a resource for our audience on issues that directly affect the African American community,” the network said in a statement.

Holmes maintains that he’s proud of what Don’t Sleep! represented and will continue to tackle issues affecting our communities.

“I thank the audience and my fans for all of their support. I am proud of Don’t Sleep and I look forward to continuing to speak to broad issues affecting the national and global communities.”

He also spoke to Journal-isms on Friday regarding his departure from the network.

“I’m a 
completely free agent. I will never, ever regret
 thinking that my heart was in the right place, a young Black man 
taking his skills to do something that was not being done for our 
community, that is, providing a daily news show geared toward 
African Americans. You learn from the mistakes, there are questions I 
should have asked, things that should have been cleared up, but 
reaching the Black community in that way was an opportunity I would 
love to have.”

It’s unfortunate that the show has been canceled. We wish T.J. the best in his future endeavors!

Considering how successful shows like Real Housewives of Atlanta and Love & Hip Hop are, would you say that we (the Black community) are to blame for allowing this show to be canceled?

A lot of anticipation has been building for T. J. Holmes’ new show on BET – partially due to the former CNN anchor’s reporting style, mostly due to his good looks. “Don’t Sleep!,” T.J.’s new late-night show, won’t make its debut until October 1, but the veteran journalist has given Eurweb a little snippet of what’s to come on the show’s first season, and he says he’s ready to tackle our favorite topic: reality TV.

“Something we can’t deny, something that’s been huge and talked about a lot in black media and, black culture these days are a lot of these reality shows,” he said. “So we will absolutely take on that topic at some point, and you’ll see a Shaunie O’Neal or someone like that on the show.”

Mona Scott Young maybe? She and Shaunie may quite possibly be the most-hated black women in reality TV (aside from the ladies on the shows themselves) and they’ve yet to be asked the hard questions about their representations of black women. That’s not the only topic T.J. wants to discuss though, he also gave Eurweb these details.

“You’ll see members of the White House administration or the Obama administration. You will see big time athletes. You will see actors and actresses, musicians, but people in communities, people who you don’t see enough of on other channels that don’t really have a platform: a black dentist from Atlanta, a black surgeon from Los Angeles. We just want to highlight and show the best that black culture has to offer.”

Amen to that last statement. For so long, BET has been synonymous with the worst of black culture so it’s high-time someone highlighted the best on a regular basis. Though T.J. is quick to point out that the show will not be all black everything all the time, he will be shedding light on issues of importance to us, he said.

“We’re not doing necessarily just black stories, if you will, or just black people, but everyone you will see on this show will certainly have something to offer and something relevant to the black community.”

Do you think T.J. will be able to get some straight answers about ‘Basketball Wives” out of Shaunie?

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Source: gistexpress.com

From BlackVoices

Former CNN host T.J. Holmes was pulled over on Monday, and documented the experience over Twitter.

Holmes did not indiciate where he was driving, but tweeted that he was pulled over one mile from his house with two cop cars behind him. He snapped a photograph of a police car in his rear view mirror with the caption “Driving while black ain’t no joke!”

Holmes tweeted updates from the side of the road over the course of ten minutes. He wrote that the officer was “stumbling over his words trying to explain” why he was pulled over. “This is a damn shame,” Holmes wrote.

Read more about the ordeal on BlackVoices.com.

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Source: blacksnob.com

From The Grio

By T.J. Holmes

Debates about how journalists report stories with offensive language are nothing new.  Some say it’s OK when it’s in context and even necessary to report the story.  Others say journalists should use restraint and be able to get the point across without explicitly using such offensive words. For the sake of this conversation, let’s give the two CNN reporters the benefit of the doubt.  (I happen to know both reporters and worked with them for years, and they are good, decent people and solid journalists.) Let’s assume they were doing honest reporting and had the best of intentions to put the stories in graphic context.  That’s reasonable. And, that’s their justification for using the n-word. So, what’s mine? I’m black, so I can? That’s pretty weak.

Honestly, anytime I hear the n-word come out of any white person’s mouth (Gwyneth Paltrow’s included), I cringe. Whether I hear it from a white character in a movie or a white reporter telling a story, it makes me uneasy.  I can’t help it.  But, if asked to explain why they used the n-word in their reporting, the two CNNers could make their case, agree with it or not.  Ask me to explain why I used the n-word 20 times in a conversation with my best friend at dinner last night, I don’t have much of a case to make.

In fact, I don’t have any case to make. Yes folks, I too use the n-word, and I assure you I’m not using it in order to put anything in context.  I use it casually and sometimes constantly. I have no real logic behind using the word, but for whatever reason, I’m given somewhat of a pass by society because I’m black.

Read more about T. J. Holmes and why he says he’s done using the n-word on TheGrio.com.

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Source: Global Grind Photo by Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images)

We’ve all criticized BET for their less than stellar programming and decisions; but when they get it right, we have to give props. And yesterday BET did a great thing by transforming their hit show, “106 & Park”  into an hour long special with Trayvon’s parents, Sybrina Fulton, Tracy Martin and Trayvon’s younger brother, Jahvaris Fulton.

Being that “106 & Park” speaks directly to young people– it was actually a favorite of Trayvon’s– it’s only appropriate that his parents speak to their son’s peer group. They sat down with BET’s newest talent, T.J. Holmes, to offer advice to the young audience members, share memories of their son and their hopes for the upcoming trial.

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Source: Soflydiva.com

When news anchor T. J. Holmes left CNN in December, there were reports that he was moving to BET but no one knew the details of his new gig.  Now, the network has announced that T.J. will be hosting a latenight comedic news show titled, “Don’t Sleep with T.J. Holmes.”

The show’s format is supposed to model other political news programs hosted by Bill Maher, Jon Stewart, and Steven Colbert. The official announcement describes the show like this:

“T.J. Holmes gives you a good reason to stay up late. With hilarious ‘correspondents,’ T.J.’s sure to have viewers rolling with laughter over the absurdity of today’s hot-button issues. Speaking through a unique and smart African American filter, T.J. invites the community to wake up on the issues that affect them; don’t sleep on the stories that mainstream news outlets won’t cover.

The show will also open ears with captivating, unexpected musical performances. DON’T SLEEP WITH T.J. HOLMES reports with keen focus to keep Black America engaged and in the know.”

Sounds promising. As far as timing goes, the show is supposed to debut later this year but no official debut date has been announced. Kudos to BET for switching it up with quality news and eye candy.

What do you think about this show idea? Will you watch?

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

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T.J. Holmes is leaving CNN at the end of the year after spending five years as a newsroom anchor on the network.

Holmes began his career as a producer for KSNF in Joplin, MS, and worked at local stations in Little Rock, AR, and San Jose, CA, before joining CNN in 2006.  Earlier this year, he was honored as one of The Root 100. A source at CNN says the weekend anchor already has a new gig lined up, but there’s no official word yet on where he’s going.

What black journalist would you like to see take Holmes’ place on CNN?

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

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