Season two of BET’s family comedy Reed Between the Lines will premiere at the top of the year without its leading lady. But Malcolm-Jamal Warner is confident that the show’s brilliant content will pull the series through.
Related: Confessions: Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Earlier this year, Tracee Ellis Ross, who played Dr. Carla Reed, announced her departure from the sitcom after just one season. The 39-year-old actress says the reason was purely a “timing thing.”
As the show gears up for a new season, Warner is back in the saddle with a pair of roles that include acting and producing. EBONY.com caught up with The Cosby Show alum to discuss the future of Reed Between the Lines and what fans can expect the second time around.
On revamping the show without Tracee Ellis Ross…
“Well, the bulk of that work really started with Felicia Henderson. Felicia was hired to kind of redevelop the show without Tracee, so she had the biggest task. For me, a lot of it was trusting her. Because I think if there is anybody who had the biggest doubts about—not so much in terms of my ability to do the show, but just the biggest doubt of how you make the show work—it was me. The biggest response from people—whether people liked the show or hated the show or just thought it was okay—was that the best thing about the show was the chemistry between Tracee and I. So I was really skeptical. If everybody agrees that that’s the best thing about the show, you take that away, then how do you continue the show? So I think Felicia really had the biggest challenge. She is a really strong show-runner, a really strong producer, came in and was very invested in the show from day one.”
On how the series will continue to succeed…
“I think people are going to be pleasantly surprised. Like I said, I was one of the biggest doubters. I was like, how are we going to make that work? But Felicia has such a great sense of story and character. Last year, our biggest asset was the chemistry between Tracee and I think this year our biggest asset is Felicia’s sense of character and storytelling.”
Read the entire interview at EBONY.com…
