Stream It Or Skip It: ‘BET Presents The Encore’ On BET, Where 9 Singers From Defunct Girl Groups Have 30 Days To Make An Album

BET Presents The Encore is a reality series where 9 singers from various ’90s and ’00s girl groups move into a house and are given 30 days to record and album and perform the songs live. Another familiar face also pops up on the show from time to time: Cita (Kali Troy), the animated host of the 1999-2003 BET show Cita’s World. Read on for more.

BET PRESENTS THE ENCORE: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A shot of a limo pulling up to a massive mansion.

The Gist: Twins Fallon and Felisha King, from the group Cherish, are the first to arrive. They’re surprised when the next arrival is Pamela Long — wearing a clear face mask — from the group Total. They’re already concerned that most of the “girls” will be 40 and over. The other arrivals are Aubrey O’Day (Danity Kane), Shamari DeVoe (Blaque), sisters Irish and LeMisha Grinstead (702), solo artist Nivea, and Kiely Williams (3LW and The Cheetah Girls).

Williams, citing “The Curse of the Supremes”, wants this super group to get along, but she immediately starts ticking some of the other women off when she claims that she only has interest in being a creative director for the group — her profession these days — and not perform. There isn’t a whole bunch of time for that, because the King sisters are basically trying to dictate to these more experienced, platinum-selling artists how things should go, while also not claiming to know who any of these women are. It gets so bad that the twins storm out of the house.

The next day, the King sisters have had some time to think and realize that this could be a great group, so they try to channel their creative energies into making it the best it could be. Vocal coach Cynnamyn comes in to see how rusty everyone is and to see how their voices can fit together. Then, songwriter Elijah Blake and producer Kosine talk to the group about what kind of music they want to sing. When some of the group, like the religious Pamela and family-oriented LeMisha, say they want to avoid sexual themes, others, like Aubrey and Shamari, think otherwise.

This leads Aubrey, so experienced in reality via Making The Band and other shows, to float the idea of two different groups, and gets the King twins on her side.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Making The Band, except everyone’s a hell of a lot older. In fact, it feels like a combination of Making The Band, The Bachelor, and any of The Real Housewives series.

Our Take: It almost feels like Carlos King, The Encore‘s executive producer, has given these nine women an impossible task: Figure out how to balance each other’s egos and conflicts and put out a coherent-sounding album and live show in 30 days. Thirty days! That’s barely enough time for them to rehearse and get everything right, much less record an entire album. Even with the assistance of high-profile people like Kosine and Blake in the studio, it feels like King and his staff are setting things up for fireworks.

Then again, that’s what reality TV is all about, right? Why bring in O’Day, who is a champion reality shit-stirrer, if you don’t want shit to be stirred? Why bring in the King twins, whose peak was 15 years ago but still more recent than the others, if not to have someone there think they know the current state of the music business better than the other women? They also had to have an inkling that Williams wasn’t interested in performing before casting her, as well. It’s not a criticism to see that this group ahs been put together to maximize conflict.

Which should make it even more interesting to see, over the season’s ten episodes, how they come together to actually pull this off. It’s a show that does show how strong women who are confident in their abilities react to each other in a single space, but it’s also very dependent on conflict — and the producer and songwriter who will help them with the album are both men. Is it trying to send a message about empowerment or anything else? Probably not. But if something halfway decent — or a complete disaster — comes out of this series, it’ll be a fascinating process to watch.

Sex and Skin: Aside from whatever outfits the women wear coming into the house, that’s about it.

Parting Shot: Aubrey confronts Kiely for talking about her behind her back. The King twins watch the tension rise between the two obvious rivals.

Sleeper Star: Nivea is the funniest of the group, and the one who’s happy to buckle up and watch the sparks fly.

Most Pilot-y Line: We get that this show was done during the pandemic, but why is Pamela the only one wearing a mask? And why do we see her wearing it in some shots but not others? And how the heck does she breathe in that plastic contraption?

Our Call: STREAM IT. BET Presents The Encore has too many opportunities for explosive reality moments to not recommend it. It’s not exactly the most progressive show out there, but it sure will be fun to watch.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere. 

Stream BET Presents The Encore On BET.com