Mary Mary: The Reunion…: Season 4, Episode 4 Recap…

marymary

Hello World, (Since recaps are so popular, and I’m a writer, I decided to try to recap a show…Lemme know how I did too!)

Now that Empire and How to Get Away With Murder have been removed from my weekly TV watching schedule, I have some brain space available to take in more drama and high jinks. I had said that I wasn’t going to watch Mary Mary’s reality show after their personal and professional lives nearly imploded last season (read my open letter), but I changed my mind. I’m a sucker for love plus I’m nosy. Tina, like the forgiving Lord that we serve, opted to forgive Teddy for his philandering ways and renewed their vows in beautiful outdoor garden ceremony in front of their family and friends…

Bridal Bliss?  wedding

But as you know, there is always going to be a snake in paradise. Touch your neighbor and say, “Paradise doesn’t come without a snake.” (Unless, you’re in Heaven, of course.) This is where this week’s episode begins. Tina, who has been hypnotized by love and forgiveness, invited Mary Mary’s former manager Mitch Solarek, who Mary Mary fired on their show last season and responded by suing them, to her wedding ceremony. But instead of playing nice, he takes the opportunity to slither up to Erica and basically ask her if she is going to get jealous when Tina, who has always had the most dynamic stage presence he adds, gets her solo career going and gets bigger than her. Once Erica tells her husband Warryn and her sister Goo, Mary Mary’s stylist, about his shenanigans, Goo confronts Mitch,  saying his actions were “ugly and foul” and that it “was very Mitch of you.” Gone Goo! ( Y’all know what she really wanted to say, right?! We haven’t been saved foreva!) Rather than being Christian about it (or maybe he isn’t) and recognize that he was flat out wrong, he demeans her, saying she is not Mary Mary’s mediator nor attorney, just a stylist. I guess being their sister doesn’t count. She should have shown him the door wedding or not. Then he turns to the camera and says, “This not over. Let the games begin.”

Cut. Freeze Frame. And this is why I’m a double- minded reality television viewer especially since scripted shows are back on top again! One the one hand, I love the drama. On the other hand, I hate the drama. Was Mary Mary’s former manager who sued them invited to Tina’s wedding because she truly forgave him or was he invited to create some drama that I can write about? Don’t know. What do you think? Goo, Erica & Warryn, however, don’t tell what happened to Tina and Teddy, allowing them to continue on to their honeymoon in Maui, Hawaii blissfully unaware of any trouble on the horizon.

Meanwhile back at the ranch…

Warryn Campbell, one of the partners of My Block Records in L.A., is trying to launch the career of his younger sister Joi Starr. He is coaching her in the studio because she has an upcoming performance in Central Park in NYC. She asks him to come with her although he has promised Erica that the two of them will vacation in Cabo San Lucas. Joi claims he is “throwing her to the wolves” and convinces him to forego his vacation. He wonders if he can convince Erica that a vacay in NYC is just as relaxing as a vacay in Cabo. Ummm hmmm….

Don’t Go Chasing Waterfalls…

With THREE waterfalls backing them up, Tina and Teddy, who are perched atop rocks, literally sing to one another like they are a tropical and modern-day version of Lionel Richie and Diana Ross singing “Endless Love.” Somebody, choke me with a lei…Just kidding! I do believe in endless love…Apparently, they wrote and performed much of the music at their wedding and decide they should make an album of their wedding music…Okay, Lionel & Diana…

Vacaying/Working in NYC…

During Joi Starr’s (love her name by the way) rehearsal, Warryn’s business partner mentions that 7,000 people will be in Central Park for her performance and that it would be a perfect opportunity for Erica to perform in front of a new crowd, the R&B crowd. At first Warryn doesn’t agree, but then he gets on board and wanders if he can romance Erica enough to agree to work during their “vacation.” Not only has he booked a beautiful hotel room with a swanky outdoor terrace in the middle of the city, he hires a helicopter to whisk them over the city before they come back to a beautiful dinner on the terrace. (See if y’all would have let Pastor Dollar’s partners buy him that jet, Warryn could have borrowed the jet for all that! Just jokes World Changers 🙂 Church hugs 🙂 ) Feeling that Erica has been properly romanced, he asks her if she will be at the sound check for her sister-in-law. Like Warryn, she puts up a bit of fuss, but her ambition wins out and she performs at her sister-in-law’s concert…Wonder how Joi felt…stirring my tea…

I’s Mauiid Now…

This is from Teddy & Tina's Instagram page...Apparently, folk had problems with Tina showing her stomach...If you can't show your stomach on your honeymoon with your hubby, when can you show it?

This is from Teddy & Tina’s Instagram page…Apparently, folk had problems with Tina showing her stomach…If you can’t show your stomach on your honeymoon with your hubby, when can you show it?

Tina is back from Maui and feels like she is a superwoman. (Hawaii will do that to ya. That’s where I went on my honeymoon too.) Not only does she want to record an R&B love and wedding album with her hubby, she also wants to get back to Mary Mary and volunteers to be their manager since they are Mitch-less. Not to mention the fact that she is writing a book. The only problem is the other Mary. Erica is not trying to hear it after Tina was the one who put the group on hold in the first place when her marriage hit the rocks. (And now they singing on rocks…lol…)Erica also brings up the fact that Tina has been messing with Mary Mary’s money since before her marriage was in trouble being late and flaky about performances… “You’ve been kicking me to the curb for a lot of years.” Erica discusses the dilemma with Goo, and Goo says she is being selfish but she should “pray and fast” for direction.

Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary?

Prayer must have worked fast because while driving in L.A., Erica calls her sister to tell about her decision. When she gets Tina’s voice mail, she says, “It’s on. Let’s get Mary Mary back together.” Warryn doesn’t think Mary Mary should get back together right now and gives Erica the gas face when she tells him she that is what she is going to do before they go to bed one night. When that doesn’t work, he tells her throat is going to break down being singing for herself and for Mary Mary. Erica shuts him down. “My God is a healer. My throat aine going to break down.” Foreshadowing perhaps? I don’t know…Guess we will have to see what happens during the next episode….

Sidebar: Warryn & Erica’s art deco home though…I don’t know too many Christians living like that…somebody pass the offering plate one mo gain for me please 🙂

So how did I do?

Any thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

Why Mary Mary May Need To Get Off Reality TV…My Open Letter to Erica & Tina Campbell

Dear Mary Mary,

I’m a big fan of reality TV…In fact, earlier this year, I interviewed Real Housewives of Atlanta’s Mama Joyce about her increasingly volatile relationship with her daughter Kandi Burruss over her her fiance’ Todd Tucker, a production manager, whom Kandi met on the show…

I’m a big fan of Mary Mary, I interviewed the two of you at the Atlanta premiere of your reality show when the show debuted in March 2012. After watching the first show at the premiere, I was excited to see what was going to unfold…During that first episode, the two of you questioned aloud if y’all could balance two husbands, six (now seven children as Tina was pregnant then) a thriving career in the spotlight and capture it all on your new reality show…

Two years later, we all know the answer to that question is a straight up “No!” In the beginning of the show, the drama was rather benign for a reality show – drama with your manager Mitchell Solarek and your sister (their stylist Goo-Goo Atkins) over a wardrobe choice and mommy guilt over opting to perform at Macy’s Great Christmas Tree Lighting concert on Thanksgiving Day in Atlanta rather than spend the holiday with your families…But now in this season, we have learned that your husband (Tina Campbell’s husband Teddy) cheated on you. However, you take some of the responsibility for his transgression and are committed to making you marriage work…

In an interview with CNikky.com, you said, “I Tina assume full responsibility for the issues that I contributed to the relationship.  I was controlling, talked too much.  And you can never be heard over me because when I wanna talk I got the floor and ain’t nobody gonna get it from me until I give it up.  Real talk. That was the way it was and I have to work on myself. You know what I mean?  I was selfish.  When we started having children it’s like, I forget that I have a responsibility as a wife.”

I applaud you Tina for making that poignant statement because as I am learning as a new wife (seven months to be exact), you have to take care of your man and you can’t be loud-talking your man all of the time and expect him to stay around…I know some of my liberated lonely ladies are gonna show out when they read this…And if in fact, you were criticized for taking some of the responsibility for her husband’s cheating…But any woman who has been married for any length of time knows the truth I’m speaking or writing in this case…

But based on what is going to unfold in this week’s episode of “Mary Mary,” it seems that Teddy may be owning up to “countless affairs!” SCREECH…Hold up cuz I need to get off the bus…There is a difference between cheating and being a downright philanderer…And we’re supposed to watch the televised unraveling of your marriage all in the name of entertainment? Not to mention the fact that we learn in this season that you fire your manager on the showAnd now he is actually suing you, claiming he is owed wages and commission…You (Erica) is recording on your own…And most grievous of all is the passing of the your father Eddie Atkins from cancer…Yes, this all makes for riveting reality television but reality TV is a ravenous beast eager to devour all in its path…sound familiar Christians? For my non-believers, check out 1 Peter 5:8…

Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

Yes, reality TV is a kind of devil…In the fascinating and illuminating article, “Scott’s suicide reveals tragic side of city’s glitzy scene” in the New York Post, Maureen Callahan writes about the recent suicide of Mick Jaggers’s girlfriend L’Wren Scott who was also a stylist to the stars but seemingly had no one to turn to in her despair despite the glamorous life she seemed to lead…Callahan blamed reality TV for glorifying wealth when many reality TV stars are actually struggling financially and destroying the personal lives of its stars…

“Over the franchise’s eight-year lifespan, 12 Real Housewives have filed for bankruptcy, one has been evicted on camera, several have battled substance-abuse issues, one couple has pleaded guilty to fraud in federal court, one husband has been indicted for fraud and identity theft, and one husband has committed suicide.”

Those numbers speak for themselves…As I watched the most recent episode of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” it was nearly painful to watch the strained relationship between Attorney Phaedra Parks and her husband Apollo Nida…She seemed to be tolerating him just for the sake of the cameras and his passive-aggressive behavior was embarrassing…Since this show was filmed before it was revealed that he was indicted for fraud and identity theft, that may have been the reason for their obvious disdain for one another… Yes, I know that reality television can provide an awesome platform…Kandi Burruss has reportedly said RHOA has enabled her to broaden her financial empire…But at what cost? Bottom line: As Christians, we cannot do things like the world and expect different results…That principle is made clear in Romans 12:2…

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but be a new and different person with a fresh newness in all you do and think. Then you will learn from your own experience how his ways will really satisfy you.

I’m sure you have your personal relationship with God so I’m sure that God is leading you where you should go in your lives, but as a fellow Christian on the journey to heaven, I’m just sayin’….Right now, you have something to save, but only God knows what will happen in another season…In fact, Tia and Tamara ended their reality show after three seasons…

And if you were wondering, I will always be a fan because God has obviously given you a beautiful music minstry…But I would prefer to only see Mary Mary, the gospel duo, rather than “Mary Mary,” the reality television casualty….

In Christian Love With Church Hugs 🙂 ,

Jackie

Lovapalooza….The Good, The Bad and & The Ugly of Love on Valentine’s Day…

Hello World, me and Rob

Happy Valentine’s Day to you! And hopefully, you ARE expecting a HAPPY Valentine’s Day…This is my first Valentine’s Day as a married lady so I am feeling grateful for the love that God sent to me…In fact, Valentine’s Day will forever be special to me for a few reasons…Yesterday marked the 4th anniversary of my first date with my hubby! (Monday was our six-month anniversary!) One the ways that I knew he was the one God had for me is how he pushed me to write my first book…Above is a pic of us at my book release party, and my first book After the Altar Call: The Sisters’ Guide to Developing a Personal Relationship With God came out on Feb. 14, 2012! So we have a lots of good to celebrate tonight!

But not everyone is expecting good today…Unfortunately, some are actually expecting bad…and if it’s very bad, it can get ugly…so to make this post interesting I’ve decided to share some of the good, bad and ugly stories I’ve heard about love this week…And I’m offering my prediction on whether the people in these stories can expect the good, the bad or the ugly today…

1. My current favorite talk show host Wendy Williams (my all-time favorite is Oprah) is hosting “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” tonight at 10/9c on the Investigation Discovery channel…I am obsessed with this channel…Maybe it’s the storyteller in me, but the juiciest stories are those that involve crime…LOL…I know…My husband doesn’t get it either…I predict these stories will be good although the people featured in the stories are likely expecting ugly today….Below is a preview video…

2. “Why I Don’t Love My Fiancee'” This is a blog post that I came across earlier this week. From the title, you would expect not-so-good, but it is very good actually. This is a sweet story of young (he’s only 21 years old) Michael J. Pittman and his 20-year-old fiance’ Amanda…They are getting married in approximately 130 days 🙂 I predict a good Valentine’s Day for him….

3. “Georgia sheriff cancels Valentine’s Day due to weather” If you live in Georgia or have access to the news stations, you know that this is the second time in just a couple of weeks that we have been snowed and iced in…..and this particular snowstorm/ice storm happened to fall on Valentine’s Day week so the Oconee County County Sheriff’s Office announced that Valentines Day has been CANCELLED from a line North of I-16 to the Georgia/Tennessee border. Sheriff Scott Berry posted on the department’s Facebook page. “Men who live in the designated ‘NO VALENTINE’S DAY ZONE’ are exempt from having to run out and buy lottery scratchers and Hershey bars from the corner stores until February 18, 2014, due to ice, snow, freezing rain.” LOL…This can good or bad depending on how you look at it…If the women in this area wanted Hershey bars, then that’s bad for them, but if they are looking to spend some quality time with their hubbies, that can be very good 🙂

4. “Black History Month: Black Love on ESSENCE Covers Through the Years” ESSENCE has compiled its most stunning black love covers they have featured since 1970…It was heartwarming to see some of the covers from right around the time I was born! Also, it was encouraging to see some of the couples who made the cover of the magazine and are still together today! And sadly, while some of these couples were beautiful together, they are no longer actually together today…It’s mixed bag of what these couples are expecting today, but hopefully the ones that are still together as of today are expecting good…Check out the pic of Oprah and Stedman in their early years together…black history indeed!

5. Usually, at any wedding, the bride is the focal point(sorry grooms)! And this wedding is no different but for an entirely unique reason altogether…Watch what Arianna Pfledere does as she walks down the aisle to meet her hubby-to-be Ryan…So sweet…I predict a good Valentine’s Day for this couple as this is their first V-Day as husband and wife…

6. “I just got engaged and immediately doubted my decision. Here’s why I still said ‘yes'” Another blog post about young love….Here are a few words from Mo Isom’s post. “But the fact of that matter is that as soon as the boyfriend I cherish became the fiancé I promise to cherish for the REST OF MY LIFE, my human nature began to doubt. And I began to realize how much my mind and heart had been crafted by the world, rather than the Word.” A great post about getting engaged at any age…I predict a good Valentine’s Day for them….

7. Season 3 of “Mary Mary,” the reality show featuring gospel duo of sisters Tina Campbell and Erica Campbell, returns on Thursday, Feb. 27  at 9|8c on WE tv. In this season, we will see Tina Campbell dealing with the fallout after discovering her husband Teddy has been unfaithful to her….”Whenever I’m on the road, I think about what my husband did to me. He was unfaithful to me while I was on the road. So I’ve got to wonder, ‘Since you got caught, are you faithful now? Do you really mean that you want to be a better man to me? Or are you still who you were?” Below is a preview video…Hopefully, as this show was likely filmed a while ago, Teddy and Tina Campbell will have a good Valentine’s Day…