BET's Baldwin Hills - Season Two

The DVR in plezWorld has been recording episodes of Season Two of BET's Baldwin Hills since the premier, this weekend provided an opportunity to get caught up with the action.

Several cast members from Season One have returned for Season Two: Ashley (daughter of actress Vanessa Bell Calloway), Moriah (son of former UCLA and NBA great Marques Johnson), Gerren (tall and gorgeous model-in-training who dated Moriah in Season One), Sal (budding rap artist), and Staci (hard working and determined girl with a rough upbringing).

There are new cast members to round out the drama: Lor'Rena (drama queen extraordinaire who appears intent on stealing Moriah's heart from the first episode), Aunjel (Lor'Rena's sister and partner in crime), Johnathan (best friend of Moriah with plans on attending UCLA to play football), Justin (member of a songwriting group, he's a deep and spiritual young man), and Seiko (very pretty girl who appears to have eyes for Justin).

Baldwin Hills is very similar in nature to MTV programs like Laguna Beach: The Real Orange County and The Hills, except it features African American teenagers of upper-middle class families. Like all kids their age, they divide their time between attending school, playing sports, shopping at high-end outlets, and driving expensive cars. And of course, there is the drama when you combine attractive teenage girls with teenage boys.

Check out the drama on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. (ET/PT) on BET.

plez sez: i am probably 30 years removed from the demographic that BET has targeted with Baldwin Hills, so i guess the show falls into the category of "guilty pleasures" for plezWorld. the main storyline for season two (after first 5 episodes) seems to revolve around the unrequited romance that began in season one between Gerren and Moriah, and the determination on the part of new cast member, Lor'rena to steal Moriah's heart. complicating matters is the addition of Moriah's seldom seen "main squeeze" who appears to be a few years older than him.

i like Baldwin Hills for two main reasons: (1) it shows successful Black families in a positive light with clean cut and well-behaved teenage children, and (2) it incorporates parental involvement into the storyline. so far, the parents of Sal (well, his uncle), Staci, Moriah, Gerren, Johnathan, and Ashley have been shown providing guidance and advice to their children. and it appears that most of the kids are on a track to attend college when they get out of high school (with Staci already in college).

this show could very easily have fallen victim to the appeal of thuglife and fast vulnerable women, and it has thankfully not gone there! to be honest, there is very little programming on BET that is worth watching... on second thought, i can't think of anything else to watch on BET except, Baldwin Hills!

"Baldwin Hills" on BET

BET (Black Entertainment Television) Network recently released a schedule of new original programming. They've released a standard fare of Black-oriented shows, including: "Hell Date," "Take the Cake," "S.O.B," "Hot Ghetto Mess," and something called "Baldwin Hills." It seems that "Baldwin Hills" is a Black-version of MTV's "Laguna Hills."

According to the BET synopsis of the show, "Baldwin Hills' is

"...a reality docu-drama that explores African American teenage life from the point of view of 11 upper-middle class teens. BALDWIN HILLS, also known as the Black Beverly Hills, is an upscale Black neighborhood in Los Angeles where pro athletes, TV and movie stars, doctors, lawyers and engineers live. This reality show will focus on kids who split their time between school, the beach, pool parties, high-end shopping, and driving their parents' (or their) luxury cars. Some of them are smart and hard-working, while some of them are spoiled and overly entitled."

A Los Angeles Times article is quoted,

"The Unusually Entitled Young Person has become a familiar TV trope in recent years, but save for reruns of "The Cosby Show" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air," black teens in this income bracket are largely absent. (Another rare exception is MTV's routinely glorious "My Super Sweet 16," which is equal opportunity in its selection and presentation of spoiled young people.)

The innovations of "Baldwin Hills" stop there, though — these kids are, by and large, just as frivolous as their peers down the 405. They attend parties (thrown by Jordan, one of their own), shop at Christian Audigier (except for Staci, who, shops at Rainbow) and inch tentatively toward romantic mismatches."

plez sez: i was SHOCKED! having pretty sworn off BET because of its lack of quality and original programming, i was pleasantly surprised when i watched the first three episodes of "Baldwin Hills" (which airs on Tuesdays at 10:00 pm ET). the kids and their families look and feel very familiar to me, i quickly identified with their lives as middle class Black teens coming of age in America.

after 4 seasons of expletive-filled "College Hill" which began its last season with a bloody brawl between two of the female cast members and suffering through week after week of unintelligible shows where one could not follow the dialogue with all of the bleeped out curse words, i was ready to throw in the towel on ALL of BET's evening programming.

it has been quite refreshing to see some clean cut, attractive, respectful, and ambitious Black kids on television. my wife has already identified which girls (Willie and Gerren) she wants my 5-year old daughter to be like and which boys (Moriah and Gaven) she would want my daughter to date (when she is old enough, of course).

and with the addition of "Run's House," it appears that some good, clean, wholesome family entertainment can finally be found on BET. i'd like to give them kudo's on a job well done!