Dysfunctional TV Family: The Braxtons

Like a lot of people, you were probably curious about what Toni Braxton was up to these days. She had a great run of singles in the 90’s, songs like “Another Sad Love Song” and “Unbreak My Heart.” Then the hits stopped coming, she had a couple of kids, had some health problems, got divorced, and filed for bankruptcy (twice). Well, Toni is back on TV along with her 4 sisters: Tamar, Towanda, Trina and Tracie. Plus her mom Evelyn too. The show is called “Braxton Family Values” and airs on the WE channel. Having just finished the second season, the show is definitely one of those guilty pleasure shows.

Toni comes across as the sane, responsible one compared to her sisters.

Tamar is the spoiled bitch sister. She thinks she is the s***. She is married to Vince Herbert, a big-time record executive behind Lady GaGa and others. She is trying to get her own career off the ground, and make her mark on the entertainment scene. Good luck girl! She has some funny comebacks, but she needs to shut up and put out to me. If she is so great, than put out an album. Quit with all your talking about not wanting to be Toni Braxton’s backup singer anymore and just hit it already. Truth is she flopped on an album with the sisters and her own solo album before.

Trina is the party sister. She has had some issues with alcohol and even had a DUI. She has been trying to make her marriage work after reconciling with her husband Gabe who cheated on her. Turns out she cheated also. Ultimately, she has decided to divorce him. She is working on her own material with a band, sort of dance-pop material.

Towanda is the responsible one, and is trying to launch an acting career. She is also trying to work on her marriage to Andre, a good man who can’t seem to support his family. So they are living together despite being separated. Plus she seems to be Toni’s go-to girl — she was her personal assistant in the first season, but is not anymore.

Tracie is the wanna-be. She is the one who never got to experience being famous. She had a contract with the sisters, but then she got pregnant and it didn’t happen for her. So now, she is trying to get all the sisters interested in a “Braxtons” album project. With the sisters wavering on that, she has taken an interest in running a hair salon. She is very happy to step in as Toni’s backup when Tamar announces that she doesn’t want to do it anymore.

Evelyn is the mom. She was married to the children’s father for a long time, till she found out he was cheating on her for years. So now they are divorced and don’t get along so well. She also has one son, who was shown on the show just once (he’s not in show business). She has some strong words for her daughters as far as careers and relationships (siblings, marriages).

As for Toni, she is shown dealing with lupus, accepting awards and making the occasional live performance. I always thought she got screwed by Arista Records and Clive Davis. He was too busy with Whitney to nurture Toni the way she should have been. Now she’s had 2 albums on smaller labels, neither of which has made much of an impact. She still has a beautiful voice and I would love to see her in concert someday.

I would love to see the sisters release a soundtrack companion to the show. They could sing a couple of songs together, then all the sisters could each do some solo songs. Maybe even get Mom to sing one too. I would definitely be interested in buying it.