On August 27, 2012, polls showed Mitt Romney in a dead heat with Barack Obama for the presidential election. The No. 1 song was "Whistle" by Flo Rida. Top movie that day? "Expendables 2." NBC aired a quickly forgotten reality show "Stars Earn Stripes."
And VH1 offered up the second season finale of "Single Ladies."
Ratings for "Single Ladies," based and shot in Atlanta, were solid that summer, up about 10 percent year over year. Five days earlier, VH1 had renewed the show for a third season.
So why did it take 16 months for the show to return to the airwaves?
VH1 has said it was merely a scheduling decision.
In early September of 2012, creator and showrunner Stacey Littlejohn bowed out of the show, according to deadline.com. She released a statement in part:
Littlejohn is one of only a handful of African-American female executive producers and showrunners in Hollywood.
The original plan for "Single Ladies" was to bring back the show this past summer. But instead, VH1 pushed back the debut until January 6, 2014, airing another scripted drama "Hit the Floor" over the summer instead. In other words, "Single Ladies" didn't air at all during calendar year 2013.
I'm not clear if Littlejohn's departure was a factor in the shift but it doesn't appear to be the case. Other executive producers have remained and the network taped 13 episodes over the spring into the summer here in Atlanta, early enough that if VH1 had wanted to air "Single Ladies" over the summer, it could have.
To bridge the gap (a little), VH1 has released three eBooks that fill in some of the gaps for the three main characters.
Will this long delay cost "Single Ladies" fans? We'll find out soon enough.
The series returns as if three months have passed since the season two finale. They appear at a wedding - but not one involving any of the main characters. Several relationships had blown up in the interim so April, Omar and Racquel attend the wedding solo. Keisha and Malcolm (D.B. Woodside) are back together and only involved couple.
Last summer, I spoke with some of the actors on set.
I first met up with LeToya Luckett, an actress and R&B singer who was part of Destiny's Child. She joined the cast this year as the tough new artist management boss Felicia Price to April (Charity Shea.) She will be in most of the episodes and is nasty and aggressive, to say the least. (One character in the first episode calls her "Lady McB*tch." Subtle, eh?)
"This is my most adult role," said Luckett, who lived in Atlanta from 2000 to 2005. "She reads so much older. I look a lot younger. I just had to make it my own." (She is merely 32 years old.)
April also faces a rival at the firm played by Damien Dante Wayans, who has moved on from BET's "Second Generation Wayans." (Canceled after one season.)
Charity Shea said she is glad to see her character maturing to a degree. "The writing [this season] was very intelligent. It was smart. It flowed," she said. "It's wittier. There's no more crying scenes. I'm having more fun. I feel April has a direction now."
And she said her scenes with Wayans are delightful and possibly, well, physical. "One scene," she teased, "I ended up with 36 bruises.... We mess with each other. We say inappropriate things."
She compares Luckett's character to that of Meryl Streep in "The Devil Wears Prada," although Luckett isn't much older than April. "I'm afraid of her," she said. "Her wardrobe is very black, white and red only. She has that evil queen look. Hot and sexy!"
April wears bright colors like yellows and blues, which reflects her personality (though not Shea's personal wardrobe which is more motorcycle boots and jeans.)
And here are some thoughts from LisaRaye McCoy-Misick about her relationship with Woodside's character Malcolm.
"We’re so damn good together," she said. "It's so refreshing to see a couple that gets along and is in love."
But she spent so much time away with Malcolm traveling the world, Raquel (Denise Vasi) is a little resentful when Keisha waltzes back into the boutique and wants to change things back to where they were. But Keisha is in a much better place than she has been in the past.
She acknowledged the show's long break might be a problem. "But once you see the first couple of episodes, news will travel around that we're back," she said. "The show has gotten better every year."
Travis Winfrey, who plays Omar, the gay boutique employee under Raquel, said the show this season "is less indulgent, more real world drama. You'll see us interacting a little less with each other. We get a set of great guest stars." Even he is getting more self-sustaining storylines on his own.
Among the guest stars: T.I., KeKe Palmer, Laz Alonso, Cassandra Freeman, Malik Yoba, La La Anthony, Omar Gooding, Future and Ja Rule Atkins.
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