‘Iyanla: Fix My Life’ Might Be The Best Reality Show on TV

If I could only watch one reality TV show for the rest of my days, I think I would choose Iyanla: Fix My Life. No other series is able to balance the drama and redemption involved in the healing process than Iyanla Vanzant’s masterpiece of spiritual life coaching.

The general setup of an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life is this: A guest that has written the show for help arrives at Iyanla’s door with an incredibly heartbreaking story. The guest (or guests) then sits for an introductory interview with Ms. Vanzant. It’s this moment that Iyanla sees if her clients are willing to take the uncertain journey of healing with her. (Spoiler: they usually aren’t.) Iyanla then prepares her guests for healing by letting them speak their trauma, get in touch with vulnerability through a few personalized exercises, and ultimately OWN (copyright Oprah) their stories. This is usually a dramatic process that provides the show with a bevy of “tweet-able moments,” as Oprah would say. (She live tweets the show every week.)

If you haven’t seen an episode of Iyanla: Fix My Life, then I must catch you up with the eponymous personality that runs one of OWN’s highest rated shows. For without Iyanla, there would be no Fix.

Iyanla Vanzant is an inspirational speaker and self-help author who gained fame with her popular segment on The Oprah Winfrey Show in the late ‘90s. Oprah watched in astonishment as Iyanla took audience questions, dished out keen relationship advice, and showed a medium-like ability to guess at people’s hidden trauma.

Iyanla’s first attempt at a TV show was not produced by Oprah, but by Barbara Walters for ABC. The initial vision for Iyanla was much different than Fix My Life. The daytime talk show featured makeovers and cleaning tips, for example. But luckily for us soul-searchers, Iyanla was short lived, and in 2012 Ms. Vanzant returned to Oprah to create Fix My Life.

Reality TV is notorious for orchestrating moments that can seem anything but “real.” I don’t believe that Fix My Life is immune to this problem, but I appreciate that it gives viewers a glimpse at the woman behind the curtain. Iyanla often hosts digital extras that are posted to YouTube after a new episode of Fix My Life airs. In these, she speaks with advisors and producers to break down what happened behind the scenes of a moment. As someone who has begun to feel disillusioned with reality TV, this unglamorous attention to the truth is greatly appreciated.

Iyanla’s greatest gift is taking the challenges of one life and making them universal. This message can get lost in translation, however, when a famous guest appears on Iyanla’s couch.

“I do famous people to level the playing field,” Iyanla said on Watch What Happens Live. “I want to help us look at these public people as regular people.”

For some, the mix of fame and Fix My Life has not been a source hope, but of controversy. The show is accused of riling up the rich and famous for higher ratings, and that some of these episodes are devoted more to public shaming than public healing.

Though I can binge a new season of Fix My Life in a matter of days, I’ll skip just about any episode that features a reality TV star. This isn’t because a star’s story is not important and worth healing. I just don’t want to get into a judgmental headspace when I watch this show, because watching this show to judge others is missing the point entirely, and for many of these celebrity guests, it boils down to what Iyanla had to say about a Love and Hip Hop star in “Reality Rehab,” an recent episode of Fix My Life.

“She didn’t come here to do no damn healing. She came here to be seen with Iyanla Vanzant.”

When Iyanla works with people on the ground floor with deep-seated problems and no desire for fame, magic can happen. Iyanla and her team are able to take emotionally closed off people and lead them to pathways of success, whether that be through rehabilitation and other specialized healing programs run by trained professionals, or through healthy habits and new career paths.

If you feel intimidated to enter the world of Fix My Life, start by streaming “Back in Brooklyn,” the first episode of the show’s current season, and decide for yourself if Iyanla will become your new obsession. This first episode focuses more on Iyanla’s speaking engagements and personality than the healing of any specific person. If you enjoy Iyanla’s larger-than-life personality, you’ll enjoy the rest of the series. If you’re scratching your head by the end of the episode, you might be better off with a different guru.

Iyanla: Fix My Life airs new episodes every Saturday on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Cody Schmitz is a filmmaker living in New York City. You can find his work at: youtube.com/c/codywyatt

Stream Iyanla: Fix My Life on Oprah.com