Hilarious might be one word to describe the situation over at the VH1 series ‘Basketball Wives LA‘.
Introduced as the sister show of the series ‘Basketball Wives Miami’, the series’ cast was shaken up by the arrival of ‘Miami’ wives Shaunie O’Neal and Tami Roman during its fourth season.
Why they were forced to abandon their own ship?
The departure of its leading lady and ratings-puller Evelyn Lozada.
This season, with Lozada back in the mix, the aforementioned Roman and O’Neal front a revamped version of the LA-based series sans some of the ladies who carried it prior to their intrusion.
So, why has the situation become hilarious? The ratings boost brought about by Brandi Maxiell, a ‘Wife’ O’Neal has spent three seasons trying to fire.
On April 17th, the show’s season six premiere pulled in 2.61 million viewers who tuned in to catch Lozada’s long-awaited return to the lowbrow fray.
However, by May 7th (only four episodes into the cycle) that number slipped to a worryingly low 650,000 as storylines fronted by O’Neal and the gang failed to sustain its high.
This is where things get interesting.
For, the following episode saw the show soar to the 1.8 million viewers point followed by another which swam to the 1.9 million mark.
What (or who) saved it from its slump?
Undoubtedly unimpressed by her “dismissal”, a total of 3,790,000 viewers tuned in to catch Maxiell’s comeback episodes between May 8th and May 15th.
Hilarious, as she is only credited as a recurring character on the show.
![Extended Trailer: Prime Video's 'Cruel Intentions' Series [Starring Savannah Lee Smith, Sarah Catherine Hook, & Zac Burgess]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/cruel-intentions-prime-trailer-tv-adaptation-thatgrapejuice-2024-464x260.jpg "Extended Trailer: Prime Video's 'Cruel Intentions' Series [Starring Savannah Lee Smith, Sarah Catherine Hook, & Zac Burgess].")
Brandi didn’t save anything…the ratings have been good. Brandi was barley in the episode and she only makes a FEW appearances this season. I know SOME people like her, but let’s not act like everyone watched just because she made a lil appearance LMAO
How do you explain the ratings flopping one week and then jumping up the next week when she came back. The fact that the producers brought her back so early on into filming just proves that they know the geriatric girls are tired.
BRANDI HAS ALWAYS BEEN A MAIN REASON WHY THE SHOW IS GOOD..BELIEVE IT OR NOT…..ALL OF THE DRAMA FIGHTS , EVEN INCLUDING HER PRIOR FIGHT WITH TAMI ON THE BEACH, OR WITH JACKIE, OR WITH SUNDY WERE WHY I TUNED IN..SHE KEPT IT INTERESTING…AS WELL AS MALAYSIA ….JACKIE ALSO…..THIS SEASON IS SUPER BORING…TAMI IS IGNORANT AND PATHETIC AND SHAUNIE HAS ALWAYS BEEN DREADFULLY BORING..SHE SHOULD FIRE HER DAM SELF…THEY DONT LIKE HER CUZ SHE AINT SCARED OR AN ASS KISSER….SHAUNIE IS SO BORING .THAT HER PERSONAL SHOW GOT CANCELLED…HER JEALOUSY FOR BRANDI IS SOMETHING ELSE.
I know RIGHT SHE IS NOTHING BUT A SH** STARTER!!?
People wanted to see what Tami was going to do to her that’s why. Its not like the rateing went up tremendously.
Brandi definitely bring sass and shadyness to the franchise! Her & Malaysia bring youth to the show that the Miami girls could never do! I’ve actually come to really like Brandi bcuz she ain’t scared of Shaunie, Tami, & definitely not Evelyn! She can stand on her own! Vh1 needs to bring back Brandi, Malaysia, & Jennifer Williams full time! Fire all the new girls… except Saniyah… she is ghetto but she messy &. It’s great for tv!
Bc Evelyn isn’t fighting jackie doesn’t count she all talk
Brandi confronts these old b****** and they know
Old make sure you get to a nice age
Not so fast it wasn’t Brandi that saved the show it was the possibility of conflict in the previews that boosted the viewers. If they had brought back Jennifer sooner the ratings also would have risen. The issue isn’t with Shaunie, Evelyn and Tami it’s with the SEVEN random new castmates that nobody knows or cares about and isn’t invested in learning about them. The Metoyer Sister storyline is a dud as the W**** Sister with the break baby has a gag order so she has no interesting D. Wade tea to spill. Nobody cares about the Keyonna Gordon and Nick Young story and the other three ladies have no genuine connection to the cast.
Brandi can stay or go but at least she’s familiar. They would’ve been better suited getting Jennifer and Draya back full time as well to give the show a more authentic and invested viewership. Brandi is boring and without this temporary conflict does not carry any true storyline of interest as our cancer Sympathy has since faded as stated by Draya.
Must be a friend of Brandis that wrote this snippet. Nobody is looking for Brandi maxielle on their tv screen.
You do know how embarrassing this must be for Shaunie right? If we’re only a few episodes in that means the producers asked Brandi to come back a few weeks after they started filming. That’s how you know that even vh1 knows that Tami and Shaunie are stale. They couldn’t even get through a few weeks of filming without forcing the producers to ask Brandi and Malaysia back. ?
Imagine the shame you must feel if you spent three years trying to fire someone, succeeding only to then have that same person come back to the job and SLAY you in it!!! Legit howling at the irony in it all. The biggest gag is that the producers obviously clocked how boring the show was during taping so ran to employ Brandi…again. Whoo chile.
The rating decline on the 4th episode was simply because it aired on a day that the show normally doesn’t air on.
Thank you. Common sense…
I watch because of Brandi n Malaysia..
Wikipedia… are your writers college educated?
Those numbers are accurate and come from TV by the numbers,
Brandi saved that show for sure, with her bestie Malaysia, shutting ish down!!! Jackie too. I like Tami too, but she’s only good for starting ish.
Stop with the lies. The only reason the May 7th episode lost viewers was because it aired on Sunday instead of the usual Mondayl
Finally someone replied with the truth. It was shown on a different day hence the reason for the low numbers. As much as I don’t like Shanie, this is some low class reporting on this site.
Evelyn and Tami steal the show, their shades are so funny !
Brandi did not save s***. She was only on the episode for less than 2 minutes.
I like Brandi and I agree I love her and Malaysia. Shaunie honestly should feel like s***..
David, David, David. It’s to the point now that your articles stick out like a sore thumb on this site. I don’t have to see your name on them to know you wrote them lol. It’s a shame that you’re not writing for The Inquirer or some other tabloid magazine because nobody can make up a story like you can lol. Don’t pull a muscle reaching as hard as you like to do lol.
the could have just left this Toucan Sam looking b**** off the show her boring ass nobody really cares about her …. they should just bring back the original basketballwives Miami and leave it at that
The episode that flopped was the one about Tami and Ev? Wow. So a special about its stars did worse than episodes about someone who isn’t even in the main cast? I cannuh I cannuh!!!!!
I don’t watch this show, but if May 7th is the date of question, weren’t more people tuned into Part 4 of the Real Housewives of Atlanta to see Freak and Fraud get dragged?
The ratings dropped because that 650K was from a one-off sunday episode. It clearly says one episode was MAY 7 and the other may 8 – so stop with the fuckery!
Her & Malaysia are the best two real “wives” on the show…they r more like “us” not ott Tami…who’s predictable as Trump
Brandi has always been interesting. I know she’s not scared of Tammi..