I was an avid viewer of “Braxton Family Values” during its seven-season run in the 2010s on We TV.
The original iteration of the reality series — starring sisters Toni, Trina, Traci, Towanda and Tamar along with the family matriarch, Evelyn — was a major success. But the show did not end on a good note.
Near the end of the original series run, there was a tense family therapy session with life coach and TV personality Iyanla Vanzant where deep family secrets were spilled and became fodder “for the blogs.” This unfolded around the same time as a dispute in contract negotiations for the show led to Toni, Towanda, Trina and Tamar going on strike from the show.
“The cameramen were making more than us,” Towanda said in a 2022 YouTube video about that period.
That left Traci as the only one working with We TV, much to her sisters’ disappointment at the time. When the sisters returned to the network, the show was canceled not long after. The final season ended after a paltry and anticlimactic six episodes. Not long after that, Tamar and We TV officially cut ties in response to her calling out the network over its “excessive and unfair” work demands.
All appears better now between the family and the network, though. But I was surprised by the news that the Braxton family would be doing a new show, “The Braxtons,” which premiered Friday night.
Traci died in 2022 from esophageal cancer, and as Toni explains in the premiere, that was the main motivation behind the choice to do another show.
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“She wanted us to talk about her cancer, her illness, and hope that it would help others battling it,” Toni said. “Whenever there’s a loss — a death in the family — it can go either way: It can bring you closer or further apart and I think this was her way of making sure we stay together.”
I have missed the Braxton family on television, but no matter how good this new series is, it will never quite be the same as “Braxton Family Values.” However, “The Braxtons” premiere strikes a balance between being forthright about the weight of grief that the Braxton sisters carry and all of the wit and humor that made their first show such a success. Serious as grief is, the show still maintains a sense of levity — and Traci was right to encourage them to do this show after she passed on.
As someone struggling with loss myself, I relate intimately to when Toni says of Traci following her diagnosis: “I felt helpless. I couldn’t do anything to save her.”
When I watch Towanda and Trina check on Traci’s son, it reminds me of my mom’s sisters doing the same with me following her death.
In the premiere episode, the sisters gather to commemorate the second anniversary of Traci’s death, and as one sister put it, “We never see each other.”
In response, Evelyn wants the family to go to grief counseling as a unit. Odd as it may sound, even watching some of them drag on about getting professional help is comforting — it reminds me that I indeed have time myself to go once I’m ready.
The family is very vulnerable in the premiere about how hard it’s been to lose Traci. They face the reality that death doesn’t always change people or situations — and how hard it can be to get together after an integral part of the family is lost. They even navigate those uncomfortable conversations about a shared loss.
The Braxtons are all talented singers, but when it comes to reality TV, their greatest strengths are their collective ability to be themselves on camera no matter the situation.
“You just try to live with a broken heart,” Toni explains.
Some of us are learning how to do the same in real time, so in that regard, “The Braxtons” is a balm. Overall, the new show is a proper return to form so far.
We have Traci Braxton to thank for that. May her memory be a blessing.