Harlem Is...So Not 'Harlem Heights'

Where does one begin?

As you all know I was quite excited yesterday anticipating the premiere of BET's Harlem Heights. As a Harlem resident, I was eager to see how BET and the creators would use the neighborhood as the backdrop for a program following eight ambitious 20-somethings pursuing their professional dreams.

Now I can be pretty tough on BET sometimes. If you look through some of the BONTV 'BET' archives I'm sure you'd be hard pressed to find one where I am not bashing BET. But even with all the negative reviews, I always give BET the benefit of the doubt and tune in when I think they may be on to something. Unfortunately, this was not one of those times so let the bashing begin.

From the minute the show opened with Bridget's narration and introduction of her 'friends' I realized I had been duped by BET once again. Shame on me for thinking BET was going to create 'anew' with this program. If this was to be a reality show set in Harlem at the very least they could have kept it 'real'. Instead we were force fed overly staged/rehearsed corny scenes, cheesy narrations, one preachy quote after another, boujy restaurant gatherings that made me think this show was set in Buckhead, Atlanta vs. Harlem, New York City.

So in short, Harlem is so not 'Harlem Heights'. Take it from this Harlem-ite.