Posted on Friday, November 24, 2017

See Kim Fields, Jasmine Guy, Tatyana Ali & More Star in Lifetime’s “Wrapped Up in Christmas” on Saturday, Nov. 27!

Hello World,

I hope y’all had a great Thanksgiving with family and friends yesterday! However your year has been, I know that we all have something that we can thank God for, right? And now, it’s the most wonderful time of the year: Christmas!!! One of my favorite ways to celebrate this season is watching Christmas movies! And y’all know that pop culture is never far from my mind as evidenced by the tagline of this blog (blogging the cross section of faith, relationships and pop culture)! On Saturday, a Christmas movie with some of my favorite pop culture icons “Wrapped Up in Christmas” is debuting tomorrow night at 8 p.m. on Lifetime!!!

See the description below:

Christmas is one of Heather’s (Tatyana Ali or Ashley Banks from the “Fresh Prince of Bel Air”) favorite times of year but this year, as the manager of the upscale Town Center Mall, she has to be the Christmas Grinch and cancel the leases of under-performing stores. One afternoon, Heather’s niece, Molly asks the mall Santa to help find a boyfriend for her beloved aunt. Unbeknownst to Molly and Heather, “Santa” is actually Ryan (Brendan Fehr, “Guardians of the Galaxy”), who is working at the mall for the holidays and helping his Aunt Patty run her failing toy store. As Heather and Ryan begin to fall for each other, they have no idea of one another’s true identity: Heather who is tasked with closing his aunt’s store and Ryan who is too ashamed to tell Heather that he is the actually the mall Santa. Will Molly’s Christmas wish come true, or will Heather be stuck as the Town Center Grinch? The film also stars Kim Fields (Régine Hunter from “Living Single”), Jasmine Guy (Whitley Gilbert Wayne from “A Different World”), Joseph Marcell (Geoffrey the butler from “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air”), Dan Lauria, Jackée Harry (Lisa Landry from “Sister, Sister”) and Mindy Sterling. “Wrapped Up In Christmas” premieres Saturday, November 25th at 8/7c on Lifetime and is produced by ARO Entertainment. Jeff Schenck executive produces. Peter Sullivan serves as a director from a script by Jennifer Notas Shapiro.

Check out the trailer below:

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, September 24, 2017

TV One Presents 30th Anniversary “A Different World” 14-Hour Marathon TODAY!!!

Hello World,

After today, we have to wait two more days til the Season Finale of OWN’s “Greenleaf,” but there are other opportunities for enthralling television entertainment until then! As a matter of fact, TV One will celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the premiere of “A Different World,” one of my FAVORITE shows of ALL TIME, with a 14-hour marathon on the same date the series launched, today, Sunday, September 24 at 10 a.m. ET. The marathon will begin with the pilot episode, which still reigns as the highest rated television pilot in history, garnering 38.9 million viewers. So after I get home from church, I will be watching!

“A Different World” premiered on NBC on September 24, 1987 as a spin-off of The Cosby Show. The series originally centered on free-spirited, rebellious Huxtable daughter, Denise (Lisa Bonet), as she attended her parent’s alma mater, Hillman College. During season one, Denise struggles through college and meets memorable friends along the way, including Maggie (Marisa Tomei), Jalessa (Dawnn Lewis), Dwayne (Kadeem Hardison), and Whitley (Jasmine Guy). Seasons two through six capture the essence of being young, black and educated in America by tackling political, ethical, racial, emotional and social issues far before the media was ready to address them.

“TV One is excited to celebrate the 30th anniversary of ‘A Different World,’ a truly iconic television show which displayed the black college experience in a way that touched and inspired generations of students to pursue a higher education,” says Dexter Cole, TV One SVP of Program Scheduling & Acquisitions. “After three decades, many of the show’s themes and messages of friendship, coming of age, responsibility and perseverance still ring true. We hope fans will join us as we take a moment to look back with fondness on this American television treasure.”

The marathon celebrating the fictional HBCU will run from 10 a.m. ET to 1 a.m. ET and will feature a selection of the most popular episodes, in chronological order, containing memorable moments from each season of the series.Interstitials from cast and crew captured recently reflecting on their experiences with the series will also be featured during the marathon. The pilot episode will be presented as a special “Pop Up Edition” filled with show trivia at 10 a.m. ET and again at 8:30 p.m. ET to commemorate the same time the pilot premiered 30 years ago.

On TVOne.tv and the network social platforms, fans can celebrate all week with daily editorial breaking down the most iconic moments, a video countdown of the top 5 moments of all time, and a ‘Where Are They Now?” photo gallery to catch up with your favorite characters. For more information about A Different World on TV One, visit the network’s companion website at www.tvone.tv. TV One viewers can also join the conversation by connecting via social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@tvonetv) using the hash tag #ADifferentWorld.

Check out TV One’s “A Different World” 30th Anniversary Promo Video Below!

Any thoughts?

Posted on Sunday, November 16, 2014

Submission & Stove Buying…A Newlywed Story…

Hello World,

My all-time favorite TV newlyweds…Dwayne Wayne and Whitley Gilbert Wayne from “A Different World”

I wonder how long you are a technically a newlywed…According to Psychology Today, two years is the maximum to be considered a newlywed…That’s good because although Robert and I have been married over a year now, I’m experiencing new things all the time with him and have no idea how to navigate the newness…

One area that I am ever considering is the dreaded s-word…If you are a Christian wife, you already know…I am referring to SUBMISSION (yes Jesus…the word that scares me more than a Stephen King movie…And the only reason I can sleep in complete darkness now is because I have someone sleeping with me…so I’m a scary person by nature…) Ever since my pastor, who you know is my father if you have read my blog posts for any amount of time, preached on submission this summer, I have been wondering just what it means in my marriage or any marriage…

After I got over the weirdness of thinking my father preached that sermon directly to me (since he knows firsthand that no one but God is the boss of me), I started considering just what it means to be a submitted wife…I’m still not sure, so I kinda moved on in my head…(read: relegated it to the recesses of my mind) but when I saw a FB post by FB friend and fellow author Demetria Lucas D’Oyley, also a newlywed, I began thinking about S-word again in earnest…Basically, she said was wondering about the term and noted that it was a concept that rarely came up as she consulted with various married couples leading up to when she got married and that submission seems to be only a Christian concept…She got 146 responses from that singular post…I even commented a few times…

I made a few a definitive statements probably leading people to believe that submission makes me feel like this…

But the rest-my-hand-on-the-Bible truth is that submission makes me feel like this…

I want to speak in tongues and run all up and down the church aisle because seeking guidance from God because I just don’t know what to do ~~sometimes..~~.

Case in point…Yesterday hubby and I went to stove shopping…We agreed on a budget…That part went smoothly…But the rest of it…not entirely smooth…

First point of contention…Hubby and I have known for several months that we needed a new stove so because hubby is always excited about buying new gadgets even domestic ones, he researched various stoves that he thought would be a good months ago….Me, ever the procrastinator, didn’t start researching until yesterday…that’s right the day we had designated to shop…

Second point of contention…When I did started my research, I started with Clark Howard…He represents all things good when it comes to lovable geekdom and saving more and spending less…He recommends that you should NEVER buy an extended warranty on appliances because they are basically useless as most appliances are pretty reliable nowadays…Hubby disagreed with Clark…

Third point of contention…The bells and whistles…Hubby has duly noted that I…and I hesitate to admit this…am not a domestic goddess…Cleaning anything (except my body) is usually not my first thought…Should we pay for additional bells and whistles like self-cleaning and what not? Hubby said yes…Me…see above…I’m all about that saving more and spending less even if means that I only clean the stove if I think someone will see it…

By now, you are probably wondering did hubby have his way or did I? I won’t share all of my business here but I’m happy to say we are the proud owners of a brand new stove…the first time I’ve ever bought a major appliance even…

But this morning, I’m wondering what was the submissive thing to do in this situation?…

If you are unfamiliar with the term submission, below is how it is mentioned in the Bible…

Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. ²³For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. ²⁴Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. Ephesians 5:22-24

Below are a few stories, interviews and blog posts I have found about submission that I plan to read and think about…