Basketball Wives: Shaunie O’Neal, the co-creator and one of many executive producers of VH1’s Basketball Wives, demands a change in reality TV shows. Shaunie has repeatedly been on the defense about the negative portrayal of women, specifically black women, on the show. Once again, Shaunie speaks to her desire to bring about change to a fast moving and highly lucrative train wreck. She tells Fox 411,
“When I started the show I really just wanted to follow this group of ladies around. We all have a common bond; we understand each other’s lives. It started as that. Since then, it’s taken on a life of its own. I never imagined it would be a group of ladies fighting and arguing that way that they do. That was never part of the plan.”
“I hate that it has to be a fight or an argument that gives us 4.2 million viewers. I hate that, but it’s something where I’m working as hard as I can to show some type of balance, because it is there. We do know how to act, we do charity work. I would love a little more balance and we’re going to try to do more of that in season 4,” she said. “I know that people love the fighting and the arguing, but I do want to have some positive in there somewhere.”
(Basketball Wives LA cast at an event)
In highlighting just how little control she has over the creative process of the show, Shaunie talks about the cast for the new spinoff Basketball Wives LA,
“I feel like that show, from what I hear in certain production calls and stuff like that, is turning into ‘I have slept with a basketball player at some point of time in my life, so now I’m on Basketball Wives’. That’s definitely not what I brought to the table and not what I would be proud of having my name on. I think that’s a whole different show that I wouldn’t produce.”
Shaunie makes her last plea,
“A change needs to be made somewhere in these reality shows. If I can be the start, I would to be a start in showing some balances.”
It makes you wonder what world Shaunie was living in when she developed the concept for Basketball Wives, who was her case study? Where had she witnessed a successful reality TV show, much less one with predominately black women that did not thrive on drama?! If she did somehow naively believe this instance would be different than the monster that is Basketball Wives is far out of her control. Maybe Shaunie should try a scripted series like “Single Ladies.”
