'Love & Hip Hop Atlanta' season 4 debut recap

Stevie J, of course, has been a leading man on the show since day one so giving him top billing was ridiculously belated.

There are at least 14 other recurring characters as well.

Let's review the storylines. The trick is: can you tell the ones that were "made up" for the show vs. the ones that actually would have happened if mastermind Mona Scott Young didn't have cameras rolling? Most seem like semi-fiction, created to generate artificial drama and hopefully a fight or two or five.

- Mimi, now that she's put the sex tape (more or less) behind her, is starting her own management company. She tests out Tiffany Foxx, who is seen singing but has no dialogue.

Chance this would have occurred in "real" life: 0%

- Joseline is "suspended" for an episode  since her multiple attacks during the reunion show last year. Stevie J says she just "happens" to be away in Puerto Rico.

Chance this would have occurred in "real" life: 0%

- Stevie J offers his "special sauce" sperm to Mimi and then grins that Stevie J grin. Not in a sex way, he said. "I'm in the danger zone," he says, and not in a "Top Gun" sort of way.

Chance this would happen in "real" life: 50% (Stevie J seems shameless so why not?)

- Stripper Jessica Dime shows up "retiring" from stripping in Miami. We see her being "rained on" with bills. She wants to go legit in the music biz. Dawn, a booking agent, is helping her. Karlie "convinces" her to move to Atlanta. She used to be stripper buddies with Joseline but not anymore.

Chance this would be happening in "real" life: 5%

- Mama Dee is now getting along with Erica Dixon. Erica is "beefin' " with Lil Scrappy over child support. Scrappy denies he's not helping his daughter out and says Erica is spreading rumors and poisoning Mama Dee's brain.

Chance this would be happening in "real" life: 70% (I could see Erica and Scrappy having child support issues.)

- Margeaux, the wife of skeezy Nikko Smith, pops up. "It was an open marriage," she said. But she was upset about the sex tape with Mimi. "I called it quits and never looked back," she says. But Nikko flies to New York to convince her to come down to Atlanta. She just might. Because if she doesn't, how could she get a spot on this show?

Chance this would happen in "real" life: 0%

- Kirk Frost opens an office that looks suspiciously like an apartment/potential love nest and signs a new artist named Ashley Nicole. His wife Rasheeda is busy working from home and wants to open a cosmetics retail store. She is skeptical about Ashley, who seems a wee bit flirty. Kirk has yet to introduce her to Rasheeda who knows zip about said apartment/potential love nest.

Chance this would happen in 'real" life: 10% (Kirk and Rasheeda seem like a happy couple but a happy couple means dullness. So they bring in Ashely to "stir" the pot.)

- Nikko wants 25 percent of proceeds from Mimi's memoir. She apparently signed the deal before they had a falling out. At the same time, Mimi is worried that Stevie J is spiraling out of control over drugs and/or alcohol and child support issues and this could hurt their management deal. Mimi tells Stevie J about her contract with Nikko and that he and their daughter are in the book. Stevie approaches Nikko, in a similar scene to one from last year. Nikko asks for $2 million for the 25 percent deal.

"I own her 25 percent," Nikko tells Stevie J.

Stevie J isn't going for this. "I'm going to f---- your wife," Stevie J threatens. "You put the book out, you're going to force my hand."

Stevie J then attacks Nikko and there are no guards this time to stop him.

Chance this would happen in real life: zip (come on. Really?)

ADDENDUM: There is a brief scene at Paris on Ponce that is shown 30 minutes in that I heard about and showed up to a few months ago. But I was booted before filming began. For about five minutes I was seated about four feet from where Stevie J (in his Michael Jackson red jacket) sat. I was actually surprised they let me in in the first place but obviously word got to some producer and a guard quietly escorted me out. I was the only Asian guy there. I stood out like a sore thumb anyway. They were "showcasing" Tiffany Foxx, the new singer Mimi wanted for her management company. I never saw her. On the show, he appears drunk and leaves before we even hear Tiffany sing. Was this scene staged to the hilt? Yes. Producers were placing the free "extras" in specific places. And the women were shot multiple times walking in.

Plus, the Paris on Ponce room we see isn't even a retail location. It's a place people rent for special events. (It was used in that disaster of a reality show "Sorority Sisters," too.)