‘Let’s Stay Together’ Shows Potential for Its Sophomore Season

Let’s Stay Together (yes, that’s an Al Green song) centers around two couples — one married (Tasha and Jamal), one engaged (Stacey and Charles) — and a single lady (Kita) who is taking a hiatus from men. The couples go through the same issues that you’ve seen other couples encounter in previous television shows, while Kita (Erica Hubbard) is the fifth wheel who lingers around so much you wonder why she’s not given a life of her own.

On the plus side, BET and Queen Latifah’s Flavor Unit production company, along with creator Jacque Edmonds Cofer (Moesha, Living Single) provide what most networks are unwilling to showcase: an original scripted comedy featuring an African American cast in prime time.

But besides the talk of relationship issues — which is simply a mash-up of what we’ve seen from other shows — there isn’t much else going on in the series. Real life is never just love and relationships and Let’s Stay Together never brings any real substance to the characters’ experiences outside of their love lives.

The show suggests it explores the lives of black professionals. But their careers seem to be only in name and not in practice.

—Stacy (Nadine Ellis) is a doctor whose patients sit on a countertop instead of an examination table.

—Charles (Bert Belasco) is a handyman who rarely rolls up his sleeves and breaks a sweat.

—Jamal (RonReaco Lee) is a struggling attorney who is never seen in a law office.

—Kita just talks about working at the DMV.

—And Tasha (Joyful Drake) is a stay-at-home mother who has never coddled her infant twins in her arms. But then how can she when the show would rather have her push around a vacant stroller than bother to use real infants?

In many ways, the show doesn’t seem to take itself very seriously, so why should its audience?

Largely due to a strategic lead-in from the popular sitcom The Game and a loyal black audience that will watch almost anything to see some semblance of their culture represented on television, Let’s Stay Together was renewed for a second season.

Thankfully, the finale episode — watched by 1.5 million viewers — showed potential for a more captivating sophomore season. Tasha, who is married to Jamal and trying to control her inner gold-digger, runs into an ex-lover who has deep pockets that could lure her from her marriage.

Things go awry when Charles and Stacey attempt to finally tie the knot… and we’re left with a cliffhanger. Things could get interesting… Maybe.

Let’s just hope that Let’s Stay Together gets it right the second season around.

Stars: Nadine Ellis, Bert Belasco, Joyful Drake, RonReaco Lee, Erica Hubbard
Creator: Jacque Edmonds Cofer