By RODNEY HO/ rho@ajc.com, originally filed Tuesday, March 1, 2016
Vanessa L. Williams will star in the Barbara Walters-style matriarch role on Star Jones' upcoming VH1 drama "Satan's Sisters."
The scripted show, to be shot in Atlanta but set in New York City, is based on her fiction bestseller of the same name from 2011. It's a thinly veiled take on Jones' time on "The View."
According to a VH1 press release, "Williams will play the role of Maxine, the creator and host of 'The Lunch Hour,' a formidable, powerful, and decisive woman, but fears she's being put out to pasture."
Backstage, the show will feature the five women in "a world filled with power struggles, personal demons, diva fits, love affairs, man troubles, cat fights...and cocktails."
The Emmy-nominated Williams, now 53, has been a busy actor and singer for decades. In the past 10 years, she has had regular or recurring roles in shows such as "Ugly Betty" to "Desperate Housewives" to "The Good Wife." She has a knack for bringing a bit of Cruella de Vil to her characters.
One of the executive directors Josh Berman also produced Lifetime's "Drop Dead Diva," which was shot in Peachtree City from 2009 to 2014.
"Satan's Sisters" will start shooting here later this year and begin airing in 2017.
