We Got to Do Better, originally titled Hot Ghetto Mess, is an American television series on Black Entertainment Television. The show is based on the cult website hotghettomess.com, which satirizes aspects of the African-American working class. Jam Donaldson, creator of the website and lawyer, is the show's executive producer. Charlie Murphy, known for his role on Chappelle's Show, is the show's host. The show's content has been described as "combin[ing] viewer-submitted home videos and BET-produced man-on-the-street interviews that the channel said are intended to challenge and inspire 'viewers to improve themselves and their communities.'"
Although Donaldson has said of Hotghettomess.com that "My mission with this site is to usher in a new era of self-examination", the site has been described as merely an expansive gallery of the worst of hip hop culture. However, BET programming director Reginald Hudlin insisted that the show was not a direct translation of the website, and the show was billed by BET as a tongue
Born to Dance is a reality dance competition show for females on BET starring Laurieann Gibson which debuted on August 2, 2011 at 10:00pm. Contestants will compete for a prize of $50,000 which will go to the winner. Auditions for the show were held in New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta. The series premier averaged 1.2 million viewers. On the final episode broadcast September 20, 2011, LaTonya Swann was announced as the winner.
College Hill South Beach is the sixth season of BET's reality television series College Hill, that follows the lives of students at various historically black colleges in the South Beach, Florida area. Cameras record and follow them as they live, learn, love, laugh, and experience life as young adults together under one roof. It premiered on March 24, 2009 and its season finale broadcast on June 23, 2009.
106 & Gospel was an inspirational version of the top-ten video countdown show 106 & Park, that aired Sundays on BET. The show debuted on January 11, 2009 and features a live audience, gospel music videos, choir battles and many celebrity guest. The show was canceled in April 2009 due to low ratings on the network.
The Deal was a rap music video show on BET that premiered on November 10, 2008. It was the successor to nineteen-year long Rap City. The show aired for one hour. Its hosts were Memphitz and DJ Diamond Kuts. The Deal began airing each weekday afternoon at 5p.m. On November 24, 2008 it moved to at weekday mornings at 3 a.m. . In November 2009, it moved to Saturdays at 2 a.m. The Deal show was cancelled in August 2010, due to low ratings and bad time slots. It was shown on Mondays at 3 p.m. on BET UK.
Harlem Heights is a BET reality show. It documents the lives of eight trendy African-American 20-somethings as they navigate through relationships and their professional lives. The series airs Mondays only on BET. The future of the show is unknown. In a recent BET meeting, College Hill, Baldwin Hills and Harlem Heights weren't mentioned as returning series'.
The 5ive is a television show on BET. The show premiered on June 18, 2007 @ 7:30 p.m. The show is hosted by Alesha Reneé, a winner in the "New Faces" contest.
Cita's World is a video music show that aired on Black Entertainment Television in the United States. It was the first show to feature a virtual reality black stereotypical character as the hostess named Cita. Cita's World was the brainchild of Curtis A. Gadson, B.E.T. Senior VP of Programming at that time, & Corey Turner, concept designer and director. They came up with the idea sitting poolside one day laughing about how funny it would be to have a virtual character who could say almost anything...and get away with it! The show was ahead of its time technologically using advanced visual effects techniques that are now standard practice on feature films such as Avatar for onset capture and visualization.
Most people don't know that the show actually moved production locations 3 times. The first 2 years the show was produced and shot in BET's headquarters in Washington, DC. The third year the show was moved to Harlem in BET's newly rented space. The Cita's World set and technical infrastructure literally sat next
Take the Cake was a live, interactive game show on BET. The one-hour program featured interactive games where the viewers could win cash prizes. The show aired from 12 midnight - 1 a.m. Eastern every Monday night through Friday night. The program was produced by Endemol, who produced Midnight Money Madness for TBS in 2006.
The show aired its finale on November 2, airing a total of 85 live shows.
The jocular phrase "take the cake" means "win the prize".