Julianne Reviews: Basketball Wives LA Season One Reunion

I struggled with whether or not to publish a hub following the fiasco that was Basketball Wives LA Season One Reunion. After all, I hadn't cringed that much during a reality-show based reunion since the last Housewives of Atlanta reunion.

Reality-show haters, you may want to stop reading this hub immediately because is printed will only reinforce your discontent for the reality-show genre. However, Basketball Wives fans, I am hopeful that you will appreciate this hub.

Introducing... the Basketball Wives of LA

Picture it...Basketball Wives Los Angeles, season one, 2011. A group of women are randomly selected to share their lives with the public as current/ex/estranged wives or significant others/would-be fiancees of basketball players. Within the first episode of the show, the obligatory fight erupts between two women who later become fairweather friends. One wife (Tonya Williams) leaves the show after declaring herself too civilized to participate in the ignorant backdrop of this show and another (Kimsha Artess) is allegedly fired. A significant other (Gloria Govan) invites a "questionable" woman (Draya Michele) into the circle though not really familiar with her background or lifestyle and an insecure ex(? Laura Govan) talks about everyone on the show, excluding her sister to their face and behind their back. "Questionable-Woman with a Past" (Draya Michele) is initially presented to us as an unfit mother who left her child to fend for himself and as an alleged "jump-off" or what would have been referred to as a groupie back in the day.

The passive aggressive ex-fiancee (Imani Showalter) talks at, to and about fellow cast mates depending on the situation and leaves a few of us bored with her flat personality. Finally, the middle-woman and would-be self-proclaimed first lady of basketball (Jackie Christie) assumes the role of mole, instigator and allegedly, mentally-insane pathological liar.

This show takes us on a roller coaster ride of women at their absolute worst.

Did I sum it up for the followers out there? This season was filled with "she said, she said" moments that left this hubber a bit confused at times. There were clearly things that were a bit unclear as to where the gossip and/or animosity was originating. Off-camera moments that we were not privy to always surfaced in a "she-said methodology." If we believe the edits and the basketball wives cast, Jackie Christie created all of the problems that would eventually surface between these women. It was Jackie Christie who told each of these women that they could not trust each other and it was Jackie Christie who had said all of these malicious things about the ladies. None of them had ever said a bad word about the other woman.

Let's put the brakes on this train for just a moment...Laura liked to refer to Jackie as being "cooky" but it is this hubber's opinion that they were all just a little bit cooky. Jackie was the one who got caught.

Looking Back

Wasn't it Laura who called Malaysia a hood rat in the first episode? Wasn't it Gloria who said she was on the fence as it related to whether or not she could tolerate Malaysia even after she witnessed the "truce lunch" between Laura and Malaysia? Next, let's examine Imani.

Wasn't it Imani who passively unearthed Draya's past during the Life Coach session her own passive-agressive fashion by calling her "worthless"? Jackie and Laura did the research but it was Imani's passive-aggressive attack that led to the act. If someone accused an acquaintance, someone you barely knew of being "worthless" for something he/she did...wouldn't you want o know what thing was? I'm not finished with Imani just yet...then, there was the decision by Imani to pack up Laura's things and move them from her garage after having heard that Laura was talking about her. This was a statement that she made to Jackie Christie who was complaining that Laura had said somethings about her behind her back.

Jackie Christie

Now, I cannot overlook Jackie Christie. Jackie's behavior and actions were odd at times on the show and was amplified during the reunion. As I previously mentioned in my initial review of this show, I found that Jackie was trying to bond with these ladies a little too hard. It is this hubber's opinion that she should have extricated herself from this batch early on in the series. Her time probably would have been better spent at her mother's side than with women who did not want her around. Jackie was full of rambling opinions and thoughts that many of them really didn't want to hear. Her actions whether through editing or fact as the other members of the cast would have us to believe left her to appear to be manipulative at times. Her rants then extreme shifts to pleasantries was not a good look either.

The Reunion

Throughout the reunion show, Jackie Christie's extreme personality and mood swings, which leads to me to believe she may have a personality disorder of some sort that was only hightened during the reunion show.

Could some of this have been due to being ostracized by the group of women and some of it was provoked by moderater John Salley? Clearly, she was trying to save face, but these little girls weren't going to allow for it. This viewer had hoped John Salley wouldn't add to her dilemma but unfortunately, John's questions and actions only contributed to the confusion.

This viewer wanted VH1 to dive into a few specific clips from the show a bit more, most of which I have outlined in this hub. This viewer wanted John to question these ladies about their opinions as it related to Draya considering each of them with the exception of Jackie had in one way or another bad-mouthed her behind her back and to her face. Instead, we had to revisit the expulsion of Jackie from the circle for the umpteenth time.

Jackie would have been best served if she had simply not said a word or limited her comments. She needed to pick one side of the fence and stay there. Her plan should have been to either make amends with the group or she needed to cut her losses and let them go.

Considering they "voted her off the island", Jackie should have come to the show with her head held high and unmoved by their antics and efforts to publicly cut her off again.

Viewers should question if this show will return with the original cast (minus Laura who was moving). It would be quite boring without Jackie Christie. Every reality-show requires a little "crazy" right? We need someone to bring the drama. We also need to see the drama-filled one triumph and recover in the upcoming season so that someone else's true-self can be realized.

I know that VH1 will continue to air Part 1 and 2 of the reunion. Do yourself a favor and do not watch it more than once.