Fantasia Barrino, “American Idol’s” season 3 winner, has tossed her hat into the ring of reality show promotional vehicles. The actress, who reprised the role of Celie in the Broadway production of The Color Purple, will premiere her new series, “Fantasia For Real” on VH1 Jan. 11, at 10 p.m. EST. (Pay close attention to Fantasia ‘rolling out’ at the 2:41 mark in the show.)
“For Real” will feature Fantasia dealing with her career and raising her daughter, while her family gets face time doing what celebrities’ families do when on television: provide all the chaos and disorder that will attract and retain viewers.
It seems as if the latest crop of reality shows are more or less ways for recording artists to invite fans into the painstaking process involved in making records, along with introducing new and potential singles without having to wait for radio and other vehicles to do so; Keyshia Cole, Monica, and others have benefitted by taking this route. A downside to this strategy, though, is the collateral damage that comes from throwing their less-than-refined families and friends under the media bus.
We’ve watched Cole’s family implode right before our eyes; we just hope the Barrinos are able to withstand the pressure of the spotlight. Time will tell.
–gerald radford
