Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Regretably, I must start my journey as a blogger with such a trivial subject: Star Jones-Reynolds and the View. I'm sure everyone and their mama knows that Star announced yesterday, that she will be leaving the show. I'm sure everyone and their mama will know - by tonight - how the show responded. They gave her the boot. Star Jones-Reynolds will no longer be hosting the View, effective today, despite the mid-July date she gave yesterday.

Let me preface this by saying, I'm not a Star Jones-Reynolds fan. In fact, I never could stand her, too stereotypish for my taste. Furthermore, I've never been much of a fan of The View. However, something about this whole ordeal rubbed me the wrong way. Call it sista loyalty, a lapse in sanity, no big deal, whatever. All I know is that when a Black woman is given the boot the way Star was today, my feelings get a little hurt.

According to Barbara Walters today, Star has known for quite some time that her contract would not be renewed. Barbara said the show decided not to renew her contract for reasons she didn't want to go in to, but that they tried to do it in a dignified way. Barbara said they gave Star ample time to find a new job, and were willing to allow her to make a statement regarding her leave. She said they wanted to allow Star to leave with dignity. Well, yesterday, Star took them up on the offer to talk about her boot from the show. In an act that, according to Barbara, surprised the show, Star announced her departure. I guess ol' Barbara doesn't like surprises, because today Star was gone and Barbara announced that she wasn't coming back.

So why should I care about this? Why should I waste my time even writing about this stuff? Well, you see, I guess it goes back to that silly ol' race loyalty thing I have going on. You see, Star Jones-Reynolds - no matter how annoying, or uber conservative or uppity or I can go on and on forever - is still one of us. And as one of us, I must wonder why her contract wasn't renewed.

I wonder, did she no longer fit the mold of what they were looking for in the minority point of view? Now that she's lost the weight (no matter how suspicous the method), gotten a man, and softened up a bit, is she no longer the right fit for the show? See, in the media, there are these stereotypes, these little niches, that Black folks are forced to fit into. Star Jones was definitely a cross between the Mammy and the Sapphire. Being that she was morbidly obese, to the average American that made her unattractive and asexual, hence the Mammy stereotype. And since she was always so damn angry and "bitchy" and downright evil at times, that makes her a perfect candidate for the Sapphire award. So, now that Star has lost the weight and some of the anger, and found love with Al Reynolds, does she no longer fit the mold appropriate for Black women on television? I think so.

Also, according to the grapevine, (ok, ok I heard it on Russ Parr this morning) Gayle King - you know, Oprah's sidekick - may be filling Star's place at The View table. I don't know about anyone else, but Gayle doesn't strike me as the controversial type. In fact, she seems like a pretty low-key, yes-woman type. Is that more acceptable from a Black woman, than a Star Jones type with opinions out the, er, behind, and as controversial as can be on daytime tv? You tell me. Perhaps, with Rosie O'Donnell -another annoying, overweight woman obsessed with her new found love life - coming, they didn't have room for an opinionated minority (minority because she's a lesbian and nowadays that's even more controversial than being Black). So maybe when they weighed their options between Star and Rosie, Rosie won out.

I don't know what's going on over there at ABC. All I can say is that I'm not too happy. After ten seasons, Star deserved better than that. I can't help but wonder if Joy would've gotten the same treatment in the same situation. I doubt it. It looks to me like another Black woman got too big for her britches, or in this case too small, and Massa had to put her in her place. What a shame.
What's up everyone? Welcome to my place, where the brilliance (read chaos) of my mind spills onto the screen. It's time I shared my thoughts with the world, this is the first step. Here you'll find my take on everything, from issues in my community - the Black community, to current events, politics, pop culture, music, etc. Wherever my mind goes, I'll be sure to take you along for the ride. Peace.