*“Rickey Smiley For Real” returns to TV One with a hilarious fourth season of laughs, family drama and teachable moments on Tuesday, June 13 at 8 p.m. ET.
Produced by Bobbcat Films with Rickey Smiley and Roger M. Bobb as executive producers, the series concluded its third season with a finale that was up +15% vs. the season 2 finale among P25-54. The third season overall posted +18% gains among P25-54 vs. its premiere season.
This season will find Rickey working overtime to balance a family of growing, opinionated young adults while expanding his entertainment empire by directing a sitcom and creating/hosting a game show.
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During a recent media teleconference, EUR/Electronic Urban Report asked Mr. Smiley how often he experiences moments of apprehension about exposing and perhaps, oversharing, certain parts of his personal and family life with millions of viewers.
“I don’t overshare because everything is not for the camera,” he said. Adding, “If I feel like it’s something that we could put out there, where other families can be helped by this and there’s a teachable moment, we can definitely put that on camera,” he explained. “It just has to make sense. But just exposing stuff just to expose stuff, we’re just blessed to have a big cast and have a lot of content so we’re not searching for different stories.”
“If I feel like it’s something that we could put out there, where other families can be helped by this and there’s a teachable moment, we can definitely put that on camera. It just has to make sense. But just exposing stuff just to expose stuff, we’re just blessed to have a big cast and have a lot of content so we’re not searching for different stories.” Smiley explained.
“But one thing that we don’t do is put anything on camera without a resolve, because that would defeat the purpose. That’s something that Roger Bobb and I discussed at the beginning of the season — to make sure that there’s a resolve because we don’t want the audience to ever walk away from a scene feeling bad. Or if we feel like something will lead to the next episode, there will be a resolve. It’s really simple with us: conflict, resolution… and this season has been really smooth.”
This season on “Rickey Smiley For Real,” when the comedian and father learns that his daughter D’essence is working at a hookah club in Miami instead of attending college, Rickey quickly intervenes and decides it’s best she move back home to Atlanta. However, he’s unaware that his decision will only move D’essence closer to her “situationship” with Cornbread, Da Brat’s hip-hop artist.
Meanwhile, Smiley took a moment to reflect on the controversy that sparked last season from negative comments his son, Malik, made about Black women during a scene about dating outside of one’s race. Social media reacted strongly to the moment, and Malik addresses the incident with D’essence in Tuesday’s premiere episode.
In an interview with TV One’s digital team, Rickey shared his disappointment on how Malik handled the subject of interracial dating on the show. He notes that his son is young, still learning, and sometimes people make mistakes.
“Had I been there, we would’ve had a conversation immediately. When I saw it when it aired, I was shocked,” said Smiley, who says the situation has been handled. “If anyone was offended, we apologize.”
Tune into the all-new season of “Rickey Smiley For Real” Tuesday night, and after each episode, check out Gary with Da Tea’s behind-the-scenes insights on the network’s YouTube Channel and website at www.tvone.tv.
Viewers can also join the conversation by connecting via social media on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook (@tvonetv) using the hash tag #RICKEYSMILEYFORREAL.
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