''Daytime Divas'' is an American

satirical Satire is a genre of the visual arts, visual, literature, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently Nonfiction, non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, ...

comedy-drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

television series developed by Amy and Wendy Engelberg for

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

. It is based on the 2011 book ''Satan's Sisters'' by former co-host of '' The View'' Star Jones. The show stars

Vanessa Williams Vanessa Lynn Williams (born March 18, 1963) is an American singer, actress, model, producer and dancer. She gained recognition as the first Black woman to win the Miss America title when she was crowned Miss America 1984. She would later Vanes ...

, Chloe Bridges, Camille Guaty, Fiona Gubelmann, and McKinley Freeman. Principal photography began in August 2016 in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

. The series premiered on June 5, 2017. On November 1, 2017, VH1 cancelled the series after one season.

Premise

Maxine is the creator and lead host of the popular daytime television talk show ''The Lunch Hour'', which also includes co-hosts Mo, Kibby, Nina, and Heather. On-air, they are great friends, but behind the scenes, they live in a world of power struggles and super-egos. Meanwhile, Maxine's former assistant, Anna, returns as the hard investigative journalist working for a great magazine, who wants to expose the truth about Maxine.

Cast and characters

Main

as Maxine Robinson, the creator and lead host of the daytime television show ''The Lunch Hour''. She is one of the greatest personalities on American television and mother of Shawn * Chloe Bridges as Kibby Ainsley, a former child star and recovering addict who is one of the co-hosts * Camille Guaty as Nina Sandoval, a

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning investigative journalist and one of the co-hosts * Fiona Gubelmann as Heather Flynn-Kellogg, an outspoken conservative and one of the co-hosts * McKinley Freeman as Shawn Robinson, the producer of ''The Lunch Hour'' and Maxine's adopted son

Recurring

Tichina Arnold Tichina Rolanda Arnold (; born June 28, 1969) is an American actress. She began her career as a child actor, appearing in supporting roles in '' Little Shop of Horrors'' (1986) and '' How I Got into College'' (1989) before being cast as Pamela ...

(credited as a "special guest star") as Mo Evans, an eccentric comedienne and one of the show's co-hosts * Niko Pepaj as Leon, an ambitious head production assistant * Sarah Mack as Ramona Davies, a production assistant * Tammy Blanchard as Sheree Ainsley, Kibby's scheming mother * Ness Bautista as Andrew Weller, Nina's husband and a rising politician * Rich McDonald as Brad Kellogg, Heather's husband and a race car driver *

Adam J. Harrington Adam John Harrington (born November 26, 1972) is a Canadian actor and producer. He is known for his role as Roy Earle in the 2011 video game ''L.A. Noire''. He has also appeared on ''Supernatural (U.S. TV series), Supernatural'', ''The Secret Ci ...

as Jason Abel, a network president *

Norm Lewis Norm Lewis (born June 2, 1963) is an American actor and baritone singer. He has appeared on Broadway and in London's West End, film, television, recordings and regional theatre. He is also noted for his wide vocal range. Lewis was the second ...

as William Tomas, the doorman at Maxine's co-op building, who knows some of her darkest secrets *

Kristen Johnston Kristen Angela Johnston (born September 20, 1967) is an American actress. Best known for her work on television sitcoms, she twice won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her role as Sally Solomon in ...

as Anna Crouse, Maxine's former assistant and current editor-in-chief of a great magazine, who wants to expose the truth about the behind the scenes of ''The Lunch Hour'' *

Cassady McClincy Cassady McClincy, or Cassady McClincy Zhang, is an American actress best known for her portrayal of Lydia on the AMC horror-drama television series '' The Walking Dead'' since 2019. Life and career McClincy has guest starred in Lifetime's '' ...

as Tandy Ainsley, Kibby's younger sister * Scott Evans as Julian, a celebrity sober coach who helps Kibby keep her life on track

Guest

* Tamera Mowry-Housley as herself *

Kelly Osbourne Kelly Michelle Lee Osbourne (born on October 27 1984) is an English television personality, singer, actress, and fashion designer. She is a daughter of Ozzy Osbourne, Ozzy and Sharon Osbourne, and came to prominence while appearing on the reali ...

as herself *

Tasha Smith Tasha Smith (born February 28, 1971) is an American actress and director. She began her career in a starring role on the NBC comedy series '' Boston Common'' (1996–97), and later appeared in numerous movies and television series. Smith has ...

as Portia Camden, a popular lifestyle guru and the ladies' counselor who is brought on to guest host * Debby Ryan as Maddie Finn, Kibby's rival and former ''Lacey from Outer Spacey'' co-star, who wants to ruin Kibby's life *

La La Anthony Alani Nicole "La La" Anthony (née Vázquez; 19791982) is an American television personality and actress. In the early 2000s, she worked as an MTV VJ on ''Total Request Live''. She was the host of the VH1 reality television reunion shows '' F ...

as Isabel Carlisle, a crisis management expert hired by Maxine to help handle a situation in behind the scenes * Joy Behar as herself * Sunny Hostin as herself * Jedediah Bila as herself * Sara Haines as herself *

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

as Cecile James, a bestselling author of books about alpha women who guest hosts, and who initially wants to become a permanent co-host * Richard T. Jones as Ben Branson, a charismatic real estate mogul who is set up on a blind date with Maxine *

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American Rhythm and blues, R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Godmother of Soul". LaBelle began ...

as Gloria Tomas, the mother of William, who also has secrets * Janet Mock as herself, who appears as a guest host on the show * Jillian Rose Reed as Kali Z, a millennial

YouTuber A YouTuber is a content creator and social media influencer who uploads or creates videos on the online video-sharing website YouTube, typically posting to their personal YouTube channel. The term was first used in the English language in 2006 ...

brought on as a guest host * Rob Estes as Vance Gordon, an actor and Kibby's former ''Lacey from Outer Spacey'' co-star * Star Jones as herself * Ashley Graham as herself, who appears as a guest host on the show * Zeeko Zaki as Cab Driver

Episodes

Production

On February 18, 2016,

announced a television adaptation of Star Jones' best-selling book ''Satan's Sisters'' for 2017. The series is based on real behind-the-scenes events of '' The View'', which Jones appeared on between 1997 and 2006.

was announced as lead role on March 1. The show's head writers are Amy and Wendy Engelberg; it is directed by J. Miller Tobin. Production began in August 2016, and the series was retitled ''Daytime Divas''.

, Chloe Bridges, Camille Guaty and Fiona Gubelmann were announced as the other co-lead roles on August 22.

Reception

On the review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the series holds an approval rating of 60% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.45/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "These ''Divas'' try a little too hard achieve genuine camp, but fans of prima donnas will find a catty enough array here." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the show has a score of 53 out of 100 based on four reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

References

External links

* * {{VH1 original programming 2010s American comedy-drama television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related comedy television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2010s American satirical television series 2017 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings American English-language television shows Serial drama television series Television series about television Television shows based on American novels Television series by Sony Pictures Television Television shows filmed in Atlanta Television shows set in New York City Transgender-related television shows VH1 original programming