The Big Picture

CROWNED is a new talk show on the Black-owned streaming platform In the Black Network, created by Vivica A. Fox and Syleena Johnson. The show features raw conversations about real-life issues, with intense free-flowing discussions and occasional disagreements. The hosts hope to provide viewers with truthful advice and a comfortable safe space to express themselves freely, aiming to provide healing and progression.

During the pandemic, an accidental gem was brought to light. Vivica A. Fox, Syleena Johnson, Claudia Jordan, and LisaRaye McCoy hopped onto Zoom and created Cocktails with Queens. The series was a hit with viewers and was soon picked up by FOX Soul for 3 more seasons. Unfortunately, the show was suddenly canceled, leaving both the fans and its stars dismayed. This October, however, a new series, helmed by Vivica and Syleena, takes the concept Cocktails with Queens was built on, and puts it in the hands of a new Black-owned streaming platform.

In The Black Network is a new streaming platform dedicated to telling Black stories from Black creators with the goal of uplifting those voices. The network was created by James DuBose, who is the General Manager and Head of Programming at FOX Soul. CROWNED is the first talk show to premiere on the streaming service. Between the new streaming network and the star-studded cast of its first talk show, In The Black Network has a promising future ahead of itself. Will CROWNED fill the void left behind by Cocktails with Queens? Collider had the opportunity to speak with the four hosts of the new show about what viewers should look forward to.

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‘CROWNED’ Features Raw Conversations Black Womanhood and More
Image via In the Black Network

Four Black women coming together to have real conversations about real-life issues. That’s what CROWNED is all about, according to its four talented hosts. In addition to Vivica and Syleena, the series is hosted by CheMinistry founder Chanel Scott, and TV personality Kendra G. When asked about what brought the group together to create the new series, Vivica shared,

“Syleena and I were on a show on another network, Cocktails with Queens. We were unfortunately canceled, and we were actually really sad because we really thought that we had a really great following. So James [DuBose] didn’t give up on us. He told us it wasn’t over. And a couple of months later, he gave us both a call and said, ‘Hey, I want to start a new show. I’m going to start my own network’, which we congratulate him on having the courage [to do so]. And here we are with CROWNED.”

They each describe the series as raw, and that assessment is very accurate. The conversations are intensely free-flowing, leading to unfiltered moments and the occasional disagreements. Each of the ladies is in different places in their lives in the realms of romance and career, something which they hope will resonate with their viewers. When asked what they hope what the viewers will gain from watching the show, Kendra G. said,

“The truth. I think we gotta have, like we’ve been saying, the theme is real talk. And I don’t think we always give each other truthful advice. We give ‘nice’ advice. We give the advice that sounds good, the advice that you want to hear, but, I know my role in particular, I want to give you the advice that’s going to set you free, that’s going to lead you on a road to happiness. And it might not always be nice, but it’s going to be what you need to hear.”

Real talk is important, but so is having a safe space to express yourself freely, something that Syleena expanded upon. She said,

“I want people to take away a comfortable safe space, like we are in the living room talking. Right now, in social media, from what I can see, it’s a lot of gimmicky little conversations and that’s a wrap, you know what I’m saying? We’re coming from actual life experiences, actual things, and really speaking in a place where people can act, so that people can actually heal. And actually get a moment from or a revelation or progression from that to me, for me, that’s my goal. I want people to have to come back to see us because it’s that much of a fix, you know, they need it that much.”

Each of the ladies have lofty hopes and dreams for the show. And given that it’s on a network that is Black-owned and operated, the narrative and direction of the show is in their hands.

New episodes of CROWNED are updated weekly on Monday nights at midnight on ITBN.