Petitioners may not have succeeded in stopping TLC from airing a new reality show about preachers’ wives this past January, but they will be happy to know the channel has cancelled the show “The Sisterhood” and it will not be returning for a second season.
The news comes from The Jasmine Brand, which recently chatted with members of the cast about the cancellation. If you recall, the show centered on the lives of Tara Lewis, Domonique Scott, Christina Murray, DeLana Rutherford, and Ivy Couch — five Atlanta women who were married to current or former pastors. The backlash to the mere idea of the show was almost instant and a change.org petition urging TLC to cancel the series went viral within a week of the first episode. With AlwaysAList.com’s report that the “The Sisterhood” won’t be returning for season 2, the natural question is whether ratings or controversy is the culprit. In an interview with The Jasmine Brand, Dr. Brian Lewis, husband of Pastor Tara Lewis, said, ultimately, the women are the ones who got the show cancelled.
“There are so many factors that contributed to the cancellation of the show, but ultimately it was the cast members themselves that caused our core viewers, Christians, to be grieved by their conduct and turned-off and disinterested in the show. The premiere episode one was so way off base for those professing to be Christians and the sensationalized sexual content so blatant, the arguments so tense and the doctrinal differences so outlandish that it made people feel so uncomfortable that the show immediately lost 300,000 viewers and it undermined this phenomenal opportunity we had to witness His light in darkness. The bickering, pettiness, gossiping, backbiting, insolence and cliquiness of three of the ladies violated the one law that identifies true Christians.”
Although the couple is disappointed that “The Sisterhood” has gone by the wayside, along with the opportunity to minister to viewers, the Lewis’s are actually hoping to get their own show where they can continue to be the positive, uplifting examples they set out to be from the beginning. Tara said:
“So many people want to see us have our own show. So the answer to your question is “Yes!” We have developed a pitch for our own reality docuseries featuring Tara and I, as well as, daily talk show pitch. We plan to pitch the docuseries to the production companies and the top reality based networks and are confident that this will not be the last that you see of Brian and Tara Lewis in reality. We also have our weekly television broadcast Phenomenal Life Today, which airs locally here in Atlanta and is featured on Magic Johnson’s Aspire TV Network and we are in discussions to go on The Impact Network, the first and only African American owned global Christian television network. Tara and I still be in the call on our lives to use television to impact the world for Christ.”
I wouldn’t be surprised if TLC hopped on that.
What do you think about “The Sisterhood” being cancelled? Would you watch a spin-off show with Brian and Tara?
