'The Braxtons' Returns To TV With The Perfect Blend Of Grief And Wit

I was an avid viewer of “Braxton Family Values” during its seven-season run in the 2010s on We TV.

The original iteration of the reality series — starring sisters Toni, Trina, Traci, Towanda and Tamar along with the family matriarch, Evelyn — was a major success. But the show did not end on a good note.

Near the end of the original series run, there was a tense family therapy session with life coach and TV personality Iyanla Vanzant where deep family secrets were spilled and became fodder “for the blogs.” This unfolded around the same time as a dispute in contract negotiations for the show led to Toni, Towanda, Trina and Tamar going on strike from the show.

“The cameramen were making more than us,” Towanda said in a 2022 YouTube video about that period.

That left Traci as the only one working with We TV, much to her sisters’ disappointment at the time. When the sisters returned to the network, the show was canceled not long after. The final season ended after a paltry and anticlimactic six episodes. Not long after that, Tamar and We TV officially cut ties in response to her calling out the network over its “excessive and unfair” work demands.

All appears better now between the family and the network, though. But I was surprised by the news that the Braxton family would be doing a new show, “The Braxtons,” which premiered Friday night.

Traci died in 2022 from esophageal cancer , and as Toni explains in the premiere, that was the main motivation behind the choice to do another show.

“She wanted us to talk about her cancer, her illness, and hope that it would help others battling it,” Toni said. “Whenever there’s a loss — a death in the family — it can go either way: It can bring you closer or further apart and I think