TheLoop21.com

By: crystal (follow this member)
Tue, 07/21/2009 - 09:24

With all the negative attention surrounding football due to the murder-suicide of Steve McNair and the questionable future of Michael Vick, tuning into The T.O. Show, which premiered Monday night on VH1, brings a lighthearted, positive representation of star athletes—even if you're not a fan of reality TV.

The show follows Terrell Owens the night he discovers he's been "laid-off" from the Dallas Cowboys, an opener I've never seen on a star's reality show. I applauded the synergy with the woes of the rest of the world even though Owens was lured by a multi-millionaire dollar contract from the Buffalo Bills nearly a week later.

We meet Owens' publicists and friends Monique and Kita, who don't have an affinity for the T.O. lifestyle. They convince him to relocate to L.A. during the off season to work on his inner self. They remind me of nosey, overbearing mothers, but really just don't want to see his talent wasted on groupie girls. Judging from their reactions to a white woman Owens met in a club and Jules, the Asian real estate agent who showed the new L.A. home, I was concerned that Monique and Kita had been coined as the type of black women who don't support interracial relationships.

But as the show went on, I found out their anger was more about Terrell finding and being true to someone genuine. Very smart, considering the amount of trouble men—athletes and entertainers in particular—get into behind women. I appreciated their cheerleading for marriage and stability as they encouraged him to get together with his ex-fiancee'.

And judging from Owens' escapades in the preview, he needs some help growing into a man. His ex-fiancee', Felisha, says his first true love is football and he won't settle down until he's out of the league. Owens seems like a typical 34 year old man to me: in love with himself and incapable of letting love exceed his need for the celebrity lifestyle.

I, for one hate reality TV, but this show is one I could get behind, especially if it's about one black man's journey for self-improvement.

Crystal P. Smith is TheLoop21.com's editor. She writes the Inside the Loop blog.