‘reed between the lines’: Show weighs in on natural hair

[Denny]

Agree with this entire post. Also people may make comments about curly hair but the scrutiny is nowhere near what occurs toward kinky hair. Trust me, I'm a school teacher so I see it firsthand. "Curly" is much more acceptable especially amongst blacks. I've seen girls with curly hair get mucho compliments and those with kinky hair get none. The ones with curly hair get told they have "good hair" and people try to play in it. The kinky hair, *crickets* So I make it a point to compliment their hair

So true.
Will watch out for the show over here, we get BET as well but I hardly watch it. You're are good teacher, we need more observant ones like you in our schools. I do it as well to the girls in church.

[Chocolate CurlyGirl]

So true.
Will watch out for the show over here, we get BET as well but I hardly watch it. You're are good teacher, we need more observant ones like you in our schools. I do it as well to the girls in church.

Thank you With bullying being such an issue, I definitely listen out for what's being said. I don't want any child being picked on because of his/her natural hair or anything else. One of my male students had some starter locs last year and I complimented him. He's in 8th grade this year and they're coming along quite nicely!

[Chocolate CurlyGirl]

One of my favorite lines from this episode, which to me sums up the issue of kinky vs. curly is "Once you start loving yourself, it all gets easier". So regardless of your hair texture, once you begin truly loving yourself, you won't care what other people think whether you're curly or kinky.

As an impressionable pre-teen/teen, it is definitely much harder. I don't dismiss their struggle at all because it is evident that their hair (kinky) is not desired. Their moms can tell them they're beautiful all day long but they spend more time at school, so being mocked and receiving no compliments while their curly haired peers do is very hard to deal with. Personally I didn't have natural hair in middle school but I know I was not as confident in myself at that age. Confidence came with time and personal growth, so "loving themselves" is a process that many are still going through at that age so often they DO care even if they don't outwardly show it.

[MommieDearest]

Tracee Ellis Ross is leaving the show.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...,1485247.story

By Greg Braxton,
Los Angeles Times
August 17,
2012, 1:49
p.m.


Tracee Ellis Ross, star of BET's
family comedy "Reed Between the Lines" and one of the cable network's biggest
stars, is leaving the series.

Ross' exit comes several months after she joined the cast of an NBC fall
pilot, "Bad Girls," about women in a federal prison, that was ultimately not
picked up.

Ross in a statement said that "Reed Between the Lines" was a show "I believe
in and care about" and that there was a "chance" she might return at some point.
Loretha Jones, BET's president of original programming and news, called Ross "an
amazing talent," adding, "We wish her nothing but the best and hope to work with
her again in the future."

In "Reed Between the Lines," Ross and Malcolm-Jamal
Warner played Carla and Alex Reed, an Atlanta-based couple juggling their
busy professional lives with raising their three children. Their marriage was
presented as stable and loving.

When the second season launches next July, the couple will be separated.
Carla, a psychologist, has moved from Atlanta to Los Angeles to take a "dream
job" and hopes the family will join her. But Alex, a university professor and
stay-at-home dad, doesn't feel a move is right for the children and chooses to
stay in Atlanta.

BET has announced three new cast members — Michole White, Tony Rock and
Charlie Robinson. White and Rock will play old friends of Alex helping him deal
with his troubled marriage and raising the couple's three children, and Robinson
("Night Court") will play his father.

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I don't think they should change the show's premise of showcasing a normal black family, without major dysfunction, who are happy and loving each other. Having the wife living away from them is not the way to go. I think it would have been much easier to pull an "Aunt Viv" and just find a new Carla. IMO, the chemistry between Malcom and Tracee wasn't really there, so they may have struck gold with a new actress. *shrugs* I will still watch the show to see how they deal with the issue .

[afroknots11412]

tracee went where the money was. reed between the lines is not a show that will last. so she was smart for leaving.

i think they should not even try to work out the new plot for this show. its a goner.

[MommieDearest]

Tracee Ellis Ross explains her exit from the show:

http://www.essence.com/2012/08/24/ex...een-the-lines/

Last week Tracee Ellis Ross broke the news that she won't be returning to the second season of BET's family comedy Reed Between the Lines. Until now, the reason for her exit has been a mystery and left many wondering, What went wrong?

ESSENCE.com caught up with the former Girlfriends actress who revealed the timing became an issue when she was offered the opportunity to work with another network.

"It was that BET hadn't decided if they were picking up the show yet or not," says Ross. "During that time when they didn't know, I was offered a really amazing pilot for NBC, and BET graciously allowed me to go and do it."

Ross says from there things got tricky. "Then the timing got complicated and there was a need to move forward. [BET] had to figure out how to deal without me because I wasn't available. But it's not because I wanted to leave."

The natural-haired maven tells us that things happen for a reason. Despite the casting changes and the fact that the NBC pilot she filmed was not picked up, she appears to be in good spirits. "I love Reed Between the Lines, I believe in it. There is a chance I'll go back, always. There's nothing weird about it."

When the show returns next July, its characters Carla (played by Ross) and Alex (Malcolm-Jamal Warner) will be separated, with Carla moving to Los Angeles to pursue her career and Alex staying behind with the children in Atlanta.