The Atlanta-based Bronner Brothers received the spotlight in the third episode of Netflix’s new series “We Are the Champions,” focused on unusual battles such as a cheese rolling race, a frog jumping contest and a sweat-inducing chili-eating competition. The series debuted Nov. 17.
The Bronner Brothers for decades has held extravagant hair-styling competitions. The Netflix cameras were there for a fantasy competition in New Orleans in 2019.
“If you want to prove you are the best hairstylist in the world, there is only one way to do it,” intoned narrator and executive producer Rainn Wilson, best known for his role as Dwight Schrute on “The Office.” “You have to win at the Bronner Brothers International Hair Show.”
“You can go east, west, north or south,” said James Bronner, who runs the show. “You will not find the level of creativity, the level of artistry, the level of talent and energy that Bronner Brothers brings to the hair and beauty industry.”
“We are a staple in Black beauty,” added Erika Respress, event manager.
“This is the Super Bowl of hair,” Bronner said.
The focus of the 30-minute episode is the fantasy competition, “the purest test of technical mastery,” Wilson noted. The theme is Mardi Gras.
The hairpiece on the model’s head has to be made of hair, and the stylists are given an hour on stage to attach them properly.
Three people are featured:
- Relative newbie wig-maker Merlande Petithomme, a Haitian-American self-described “wig assassin” who wants her styles to be “rememberable,” which isn’t a word but sounds like it should be.
- Atlanta two-time Bronner Brothers champ Terrence Davidson, who is known for “lawless ingenuity” and breaking the rules, “I want people to be in awe,” he said.
- Ambitious four-time winner Kevin Kirk, considered “the king of the jungle in beauty,” Repress said.
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Credit: BET
Credit: BET
Atlanta native and comic Patricia “Ms. Pat” Williams is getting her own show “Ms. Pat” on the BET+ streaming service. It’s set in Atlanta and will be shot locally starting early in 2021.
It will be executive produced by the “Empire” team of Lee Daniels and Brian Grazer.
According to Deadline.com, the series will be based on Ms. Pat’s stand-up comedy and memoir, a multi-camera sitcom about a former convicted felon turned suburban mom. Ms. Pat will play herself living in a conservative middle American town with her well-intentioned husband, played by J. Bernard Calloway (”City on a Hill”), her sister (Tami Roman) and two distinct sets of kids raised under different circumstances.
The show was originally greenlit last year by Hulu. Fox also considered the idea in 2016.
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Credit: Star 94
Credit: Star 94
Casey Tate, a producer at Star 94 for seven years, died in mid-November in Raleigh, North Carolina. He was 35.
The obituary did not identify the cause of death but said it was sudden.
Tate was a 2003 graduate of Calhoun High School and received a bachelor’s degree at West Georgia College. He began as an intern at Star during college, then joined Cindy Simmons and Ray Mariner in 2008 as “producer Casey” and stayed on when Simmons teamed up with Jimmy Alexander.
“He was fearless and willing to do anything we asked of him to make any bit funny or more entertaining,” Mariner said in a text Monday. “Plus, his laughter was contagious! He was very raw when he started but grew into a very savvy producer.”
In 2015, he became the producer for the Raleigh-based Gene and Julie morning show, which was on air in Atlanta for a brief time in 2003 and 2004 on what was then Lite 94.9.
Tate eventually got out of radio and worked in real estate for the past three years.
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