By RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com, filed Dec. 30, 2014
VH1 have flown two life coach types from Atlanta to fix up women in Los Angeles in a new reality makeover show called "Bye Felicia!" which debuted earlier this month for eight episodes.
The show uses a colloquial phrase "Bye Felicia," a dismissive farewell to someone you don't care about. It's a metaphor of sorts for the woman on the show seeking transformations.
Deborah Hawkes and Missy Young are lifelong friends and life coaches who grew up in Indiana but have lived in Atlanta for years. VH1 chose to fly them to Los Angeles to do their makeovers the first season. "We believe we made positive changes in all the women we met," Deborah said in a recent interview. "A lot of what we do is change illogical thoughts."
Deborah has more expertise on executive life coaching and the psychological aspects of a women's psyche. Missy focuses on how to look right for the occasion, from clothing to makeup to hair.
"We can get the whole woman together," Deborah said.
Each episode features two women in their 20s or 30s in desperate need of behavioral and image makeovers. In the debut episode, they have a woman named Kip addicted to spray tanning and dressing like a stripper but aspired to become a businesswoman along the lines of (ahem) Kim Kardashian. "No one is going to hire you if you don't look the part," Deborah said. "It was hard for her to take constructive criticism." They eventually convinced her to go for a more mature hairstyle and wear attractive but not overly sexualized clothing.
In the second episode, they built up the confidence of a 40-year-old vegan virgin named Monique and woke up an immature, lazy 30-year-old barista named Elle who pawns off her more responsible twin sister and uses coffee filters as toilet paper.
"Apparently, the best part of waking up is a coffee filter in your butt," Missy said.
Elle also resides in her sister's living room.
"The only reason you should be living in someone's living room is if you just came from jail," Missy said.
On a network which features a few family-friendly reality shows ("T.I. & Tiny" comes to mind) amid more patented and highly rated trashy programs ("Love & Hip Hop," "Mob Wives," "Basketball Wives," "Sorority Sisters"), "Bye Felicia" falls in the more positive zone.
Will it work on the ratings front? The show opened at a promising 1.06 million viewers on Dec. 9 but slipped to a mere 368,000 on Dec. 16, an alarming fall off. Week three on Dec. 23, the show drew 380,000 viewers.
"I can tell you 90 percent of what we've seen on social media has been overwhelmingly positive," Deborah said. "I'm just so proud VH1 wanted to be part of diversifying what they show on the network."
On TV
"Bye Felicia!" 9 p.m. Tuesdays, VH1
About the Author
