Are you Mary Jane Paul?

Being Mary Jane (BMJ) is a TV show that debuted on BET on January 7, 2014. The show is BET’s first original drama as well as Cable’s #1 TV show for the year. BMJ is written by Mara Brock Akil and produced by her husband, Salim Akil. BMJ hosts a majority of black actors including Gabrielle Union as the protagonist, Mary Jane Paul. BMJ is about a local TV news anchor, Mary Jane, helping to support her parents and her siblings. Mary Jane’s goals include flourishing as a news anchor and finding an eligible, ready-to-commit black man to marry and start a family with. The storyline of BMJ dabbles into the lives of her family members, coworkers, and friends as well as Mary Jane’s own life. The show also displays quotes on the screen at the start of every episode coinciding with Mary Jane’s post-it obsession with motivational quotes throughout her home. Throughout the first three episodes we’ve seen quotes by Bob Dylan, Chris Brew, and Bob Marley.
As Mary Jane looks for the ideal man to start a life with she is caught between two men, David Paulk played by Stephen Bishop and Andre Daniels played by Omari Hardwick. David seems to be the “right” guy and the guy Mary Jane knows she should choose, but she doesn’t. Instead Mary Jane carries on a longstanding rendezvous with Andre, a married man with a family of his own. Granted, Mary Jane didn’t know of Andre being married until their relationship became serious but how does this relay in the mind of the viewers?
In recent times there has been an obsession with the “side chick” and their place in relationships and society. Being that Gabrielle Union is a black actress playing a leading role in a TV drama African-American viewers at home find fault in how they’re assumingly portrayed in the show. Although the main storyline is not meant to depict Mary Jane Paul as the side chick who consciously continues to date a married man, viewers have flocked to that perception. “Side chicks” are now open and proud about their wrongdoings as opposed to being secretive and ashamed like they were in previous generations. (Spoiler alert) In BMJ, not only does Andre’s wife, Avery Daniel’s played by Robinne Lee, know about her husband’s affair, she confronts Mary Jane. As well as Avery’s knowledge of the affair, her husband Andre proposes to Mary Jane leaving her filled with varying emotions and questions.
As well as being controversial, BMJ, it’s actors, and its producers have taken a political stance. Last week Tuesday, January 28th, BMJ decided to host a mini marathon titled, “Our State of the Union,” consisting of the movie that the TV show is based on, episode 1, episode 2, and episode 3. Mara Brock Akil, the creator of BMJ, took to social networks Instagram and Twitter pictures and tweets publicizing that the marathon of previously shown episodes would play instead of the anticipated fourth episode because the State of the Union address by Barack Obama was being played at the same time on a different network. Akil found it important to support being actively aware in politics and allowed BMJ viewers to be able to watch the State of the Union address attentively without having to flip channels between the two programs.