Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Queens Court’ On Peacock, A Reality Series Where Three Famous Reality Queens Try To Find Their Kings

In the new Peacock original series Queens Court, three single Queens — Nivea, Tamar Braxton and Evelyn Lozada — all of whom have been reality stars at one point or another, are looking for their king. They’ve had some very public relationships which led to some very public flameouts — in the case of Lozada and Chad Johnson’s brief 2012 marriage, there was domestic abuse present. They’re now all ready to find a man that’s free of drama, and they’re willing to go outside their comfort zones to do it. To that end, hosts Rodney Peete and Holly Robinson Peete tell the three famous women that they’ll be introduced to 21 single guys in total — but not all at once.

QUEENS COURT: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we see the three stars of Queens Court — Nivea, Tamar Braxton, and Evelyn Lozada — get camera-ready, Braxton says, “What does it mean to be a queen?”

The Gist: The first group of hopefuls consists of eight single guys, all in the mid-30s to mid-50s age range (Nivea, Braxton and Lozada are all in their 40s). The first night, everyone mingles in a cocktail party in masks, just so no one judges anyone by appearance. Once the masks come off, the Queens are tasked with asking two of the men out on a date. That leaves two men out in the cold, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’re out of luck.

During the two-on-one dates the next day, the Queens dictate the activity — Nivea wants to be fed foods with aphrodisiac qualities, Tamar asks her guys to decorate a cake based on her vibe, and Evelyn asks her men to paint her portrait. They each get one-on-one time with their two dates.

After those dates, the Queens decide which four of the eight bachelors — whether they went on the dates or not — are the ones they’re most unsure of. They then have to go to an “elimination dinner party”, where they can make their case to the Queens. At the table, though, the only things served are an invitation to stay or, for two of the men, the ol’ heave-ho, with the phrase “You are not our king.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The Bachelorette combined with Flavor Of Love and/or Rock Of Love.

Our Take: Where do you think most of the interesting moments in Queens Court are going to come from? The 21 guys who vie for the Queens’ affection, coming in what seems like 3 waves? Sure, a few of them are interesting to watch, like the former addict-turned-Marine J.R. and the dude who calls himself “Gatsby”, who seems to have a real, authentic self and a talkative guy who is an expert at everything. But the real drama is going to come from Nivea, Braxton and Lozada. It’s what they know, and we’re absolutely here for it.

All three women seem like they’re ready for relationships that are less heavy emotional lifting than what they have been involved with in the past. All three of them show a level of maturity that they may not have had in their earlier reality incarnations. They all dismiss one of the bachelors, for instance, because his hair is a bit shaggy. But, during the elimination dinner party, he talks about losing a daughter and how he was deployed to three war zones, and all three women realized they judged him too superficially at first.

Of course, he was also one of the more chill guys to begin with, not wanting to make a show of things to impress the Queens, the cameras or both. The oldest bachelor in the group says that, at 54, he’s never experienced love and that he left his kid’s mother at the altar twice. Only later, at the dinner party, does he explain that those proposals were more for convenience than love. But, because he felt he needed to stand out, he sunk his chances almost immediately instead of actually letting the Queens get to know his real self.

But most of the entertainment is coming from the Queens themselves. Nivea is fun and chatty, while Braxton tries to be above it all. Lozada rides in the middle, super-cautious a decade after the debacle with Johnson and likely needing a lot of reassurances from these men before she opens up.

It’s those histories that will continually be examined by EP Will Packer and the show’s producers, mined for evidence of who might be able to make a proper human connection with the Queens, if that’s what the Queens are actually looking for.

One thing we wonder, even after looking at the first season highlights, is if the Queens will be fighting over a guy. We get the feeling that there are so many guys being presented to them, that the idea is that they’ll each find one or two guys they really vibe with, and nothing will overlap. Packer and company want to foster a camaraderie among the Queens, which is why the show is structured the way it is.

The Peetes are decent as hosts; like the Lacheys on Love Is Blind, we do like the moments when the famous couple reveal tidbits of how they got together and how they’ve stayed together since the ’90s. Holly seems to be more willing to share about some of the things about Rodney that she doubted when they met and dated, like his hair or his pro-athlete arrogance. But, like in other projects they do together, their on-screen chemistry is usually pretty natural.

Sex and Skin: Nothing in the first episode.

Parting Shot: After the Queens eliminate the first two bachelors, the Peetes tell them that they’ll be seeing seven new ones next.

Sleeper Star: Like we said, Nivea doesn’t take herself nearly as seriously as Lozada or Braxton. When one of the guys thought it was a good thing that she had both her parents around, she responds, “Well, they were crackheads, but they were there.”

Most Pilot-y Line: One of the bachelors, Puff, tells Lozada that he has a foot fetish. Buddy, that feels more like second date material, doesn’t it?

Our Call: STREAM IT. It feels like the Queens on Queens Court are sincerely interested in finding their kings in this series. But they also know what pops in front of a reality TV camera, and they’ll be pretty entertaining 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.