Ladies of T&T, can you handle a peek inside The Box? This new estrogen-charged talk show, set to premier on Gayelle next week, rose from the fertile imaginations of producers Cedriann Martin and Isoke
Edwards Najeeullah. Martin is well known to local readers as an
award-winning freelance journalist who, apart from her regular features
in a local paper, has also written extensively on regional health
issues.
(Cedriann Martin, left, and Isoke Edward Najeeullah at the Carlton Savannah, the location for the Box. Photo: Brian Ng Fatt)
Her most recent TV credit is as producer and co-host of Gayelle.com. Edwards Najeeullah, a local and international actress who has performed in Washington DC and New York, is the founder of Griot Productions, a
drama company that’s already gaining recognition among theatre lovers.
The more outspoken, dramatic and talkative of the two, she acted as a
complement to Martin’s thoughtful and sober persona while co-hosting
Gayelle.com.
The pair, who have known each other since their Bishop’s days, had been bouncing around the idea of a new women’s talk show for some time. “Gayelle.com really wasn’t our cup of tea,” Martin says. “We decided
to bring our strengths together to come up with a new project. Once we
started brainstorming, we had lots of great ideas.”
They soon discovered that many others out there in local TV-land had toyed with the idea of bringing a new women’s talk show to the airwaves, but nobody had ever managed to bring this fanciful concept
into the realm of reality. They grabbed the idea and ran with it. The
women created their new company, Two Brown Girls, and got down to the
business of making a new TV show from scratch. Since Gayelle gave them
the green light, the pace has been feverish.
In just a few months, they brought together all the elements, packaged it, and tied it up for Trini viewers with a bright bow. The Box will be hosted by four women of different ages, ethnicities, and world
views, who will chat about anything women find interesting—and they do
mean anything. According to the producers, the show won’t just push
the envelope; it’s going to rip it to shreds.
At first glance, it brings to mind popular US-based talk show, The View. Its mainstays will be Cacique Award winner, Penelope Spencer, talk show’s Grande Dame, Allyson Hennessy, Accountant and Disability
Advocate, Sharda Ramlackhan, and Christiane Steel, the model otherwise
known as Lady Blah Blah. The line-up will be supported by celebrity
cameos and any guest brave enough to come on and spill their guts.
They’ll be talking about women’s issues, entertainment, events, fashion,
food, men, and of course, sex, sex, sex.
To put an end to any prurient ideas once and for all, the first thing that comes to mind when you hear the show’s title, The Box, is NOT what they mean. Edwards Najeeullah clarifies. “You open a box or
door, and peer down into it, listening to women having a private
conversation. The show is provocative, it’s candid…but these are the
things we talk about when men aren’t around.”
For the most part, the Two Brown Girls will remain behind the camera, but Edwards Najeeullah, with her history in drama, doesn’t mind popping in front of it from time to time. For example, the show’s
maiden episode will feature a discussion on the shortage of eligible
men, a topic which is sure to hit home—hard!—with many women in
T&T.
Edwards Najeeullah will satisfy our Trini farseness by going on a blind date in the full glare of the cameras, after which relationship experts will be on hand to pick apart her night out, moment by moment,
pointing out all the things she did right—or wrong.
While many new partnerships founder and die due to differences in personality and opinion, the women aren’t bothered by the fact that they are as opposite as Yin and Yang. “I don’t expect to always agree with
Cedriann,” Edwards Najeeullah begins, and is interrupted by a burst of
assenting laughter from her partner. “We know that from jump. But we
understand why each other’s opinion is important. Cedriann’s
viewpoint is essential, otherwise it would be one big fete.”
Edwards Najeeullah dismisses the idea of their partnership having a hierarchy. “That’s a man’s thing, to expect one person to be in charge. We don’t need that. I don’t want to be her boss, and she doesn’t
want to be mine. I trust her implicitly. We each understand where the
other wants to go. If I’m not here and she makes a decision, fine.
We’ll go with that.”
The duo has already started dreaming up new TV or film projects. For the time being, all eyes will be on The Box, which will be aired for the first time on Gayelle on December 14 at 10.00 am, with a repeat at
5.00 pm. Followers can keep up with it on Facebook.
I don’t want to be her boss, and she doesn’t want to be mine.
I trust her implicitly.
