Chanvalyn Jenkins
MC301 Contributor
Forty-one year old actress Gabrielle Union has once again grabbed the media spotlight with her starring role in BET’s television show, “Being Mary Jane.”
Many know Union from her previous roles in “Deliver Us from Eva,” “Love and Basketball,” “Bring It On,” “Bad Boys II” and “Good Deeds.” She has also starred in the original television movie from which the TV show is based, “Being Mary Jane. Union has won two Black Reel awards for “Bring It On” and “Cadillac Records”.
According to a report on variety.com, the show’s premiere on Jan. 8 drew a large share of the Nielson ratings with 3.32 million viewers, landing it in the top spot among cable original shows. The premiere was also the top trending topic on social media with many discussing the strong sexual content of the show.
“Being Mary Jane” is written and directed by husband and wife duo Salim and Mara Brock Akil. Many are familiar with Mara Brock Akil’s works on hit shows that include: “The Jamie Foxx Show,” Girlfriends” and “The Game.” Akil started her career by writing and directing episodes of “South Central” on FOX in 1994.
According to IMDb.com, when “Being Mary Jane” first aired as a cable TV movie, it had more than 4 million viewers and has since been compared to the hit TV show “Scandal”.
“I watch both “Scandal” and “Being Mary Jane,” and I think they are both interesting shows, but I would not compare them,” said Aschira White, a sophomore criminal justice.
In “Being Mary Jane”, Union stars as Mary Jane Paul, a very successful TV news anchor who seems to have it all. However, she does not have it all, and her family tries to get her to notice what she is missing. Paul is a single black woman who is seeking love, but also has to juggle her life and stay devoted to her family as well. Although her family judges, she still feels the need to be there for them.
Omari Hardwick stars as Andre Daniels on the show, who’s the married man that Paul is seeing. Hardwick’s previous works include: “Gridiron Gang”, “Sparkle” “, and “For Colored Girls”, in which he won the Outstanding Ensemble Award in 2011. On the show, Daniels is married to Avery Daniels, played by Robinne Lee. Lee also starred in “Deliver Us from Eva,” “National Security,” “Hitch” and Tyler Perry’s television show “House of Payne.”
Margaret Avery stars as Helen Patterson, Paul’s mother who is battling Lupus. Avery’s is most known for her role as Shug Avery in “The Color Purple” in which she was nominated for an Academy Award for best actress/
Students at Jackson State University weighed in on their feelings about the show and the way that social media is spotlighting black.
Dominique Triplett, a senior English major from Jackson, Miss. said aside from the fact that Mary Jane is sleeping with a married man, her morals are pretty high up there.
“She knows what she wants in life, she’s a go getter, she has her head on straight as far as family because she knows that she wants to get married and have kids,” said Triplett.
Ann Johnson, a junior elementary education major said she has never seen the show but all the media attention has changed her mind about watching.
“I have never watched “Scandal” or “Being Mary Jane, but after hearing so much interesting feedback about the show I will tune in now,” said Johnson.
If you haven’t seen it and want to see what all the fuss is about, tune in to BET on Tuesday’s at 9 p.m. and join the conversation.
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