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Title: “Basketball Wives”

Who:

[Season 1]Shaunie O’ Neal, Gloria Govan, Jennifer Williams, Evelyn Lozada, Royce Reed, Suzie Ketcham

[Season 2]Tami Roman

[Season 3]Meeka Claxton

[Season 4]Kenya Bell, Kesha Nichols

When: April 11, 2012 – Currently Running

Network: VH1

Why We Watched:

Reality television had taken a boring turn once “Flavor Of Love” and its many mundane spin-off shows had evaporated into thin air. There was a lack of color and character on the boob-tube. The women of BBW have strong personalities so they clashed very early on. Within the first few episodes an undercover beef looming between Shaunie O’ Neal and Gloria Govan had been revealed and Royce Reed, Dwight Howard’s baby-mother, popped her booty for Ludacris.

“He say, she say” became the catalyst behind many future rivalries, including an on-going feud with Gloria and the rest of the cast! We were introduced to Tami Roman during season two. Her infamous dispute with a docile Jennifer Williams over “food stamps” went down in reality TV history!

Roman became a fan favorite. Her “hood” persona resonated with audiences. BBW had been reinvigorated by her rambunctious antics; Evelyn Lozada would soon rise to stardom though. What would happen if firecracker Evelyn and “real a**” Tami got into it? Well… ” A non-motherf*cking factor” was born!

Tami Talks…

“People always ask me if the name of the show is befitting. And at this point I wish they would change it. None of us are wives anymore and there’s so much more to the show than us being considered basketball wives. It focuses on us and what we’re doing with our lives NOW.  But we a hot ass mess, too. We the grown ‘Bad Girls Club’. And that’s not a compliment! We have our moments but for the most part we’re all good people. But people don’t get a chance to see that side of us because VH1 is making a TV show and they are trying to exploit the dramatic moments. I think if people just look past what they see on TV and get to know us outside of the show they would fall in love with us.

Evelyn revealed to Tami that she had dated her ex-husband Kenny Anderson while they were together! A physical altercation ensued and Ev coined a new term which she later turned into a T-Shirt line to Tami’s dismay. After threats, lawsuits and very awkward situations Tami and Evelyn rekindled their friendship. Evelyn, in the mean-time had fallen in lust with Chad Ochocinco!

Season three brought even more drama! Meeka Claxton, Speedy Claxton’s wife joined the show. She and Tami bumped heads as soon as Tami realized that Meeka was playing both sides of the fence! It resulted in Meeka getting socked in the face during an outing at the club! She later quit the show!

What no one saw coming was Evelyn Lozada and Jennifer Williams’ friendship coming to a horrific end!

Impact:

1.6 million viewers tuned in on a Monday night to watch “Basketball Wives.” It was an immediate success and even though, only Jennifer Williams was married (Shaunie, divorced) at the time, people overlooked the mismatched title and focused on the dramatics.

Aftermath:

“Baskeball Wives LA” formed when Gloria Govan left Basketball Wives. VH1 premiered the spin-off show on August 29, 2011 to 1.8 million viewers!

Trivia:

-Gloria Govan and Matt Barnes broke off their engagement during season two of Basketball Wives.

Jennifer Williams had a divorce party during season three before she was divorced!

Evelyn Lozada slept with Chad Ochocinco the first time they went out on a date.

Royce Reed and Evelyn Lozada fought during a “make-up” session where Royce threw her drink at the reality star.

Tami Roman was given the boot, by her daughters who sought to pursue their music career without her management (But Tami says, “They tried to fire me but I wasn’t having it.!”)

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