TLC is taking its cameras down south to follow a group of women in rural Dothan, Ala. The limited-run reality series, Bama Belles, will start with three one-hour shows with the plan to pick up more if the show’s successful. The southern Belles include a radio personality-real estate developer, an ex-beauty queen, a beautician, an Internet entrepreneur and New York transplant, and an Army reservist. “TLC is taking a real look at the Southern lifestyle of these women in a relatable and fun way,” Nancy Daniels, TLC production/development senior VP, told Variety.
This whole premise begs the following question: Is there anyone they won’t give a reality show to? (Answer: Yes. Me.) And, personally, I’m much more interested in following the lives of people who are completely unrelatable on reality TV. Why else would I tune into Jersey Shore every week? Someone send me some clips, and I’ll gladly give it a chance. But for right now, I’ll stick with Bad Girls Club, The Real Housewives of New York, Sister Wives, or any of the other 15,000 unrelatable reality TV shows on air.
What do you think, PopWatchers? Does Bama Belles, which bows Dec. 5, ring your bell? Or will you be passing on these tales from the heartland?
I live in enterprise about 30 miles from Dothan…. That’s pretty cool!
me too, actually fort rucker, but close enough, i am excited to see how they put those woman into picture…
To say this is an accurate picture of southern women is ridiculous. I am 48 years old and grew up in the country on a farm in a small community as rural as you can get. You had to drive 20-25 minutes to “town” to see a red light or get fast food. I am as southern born and raised as you can be, but I have never kissed a cow or witnessed any one kissing a cow, I have never raced a lawnmower or witnessed anyone else race a lawnmower, I have never tailgated much less attended a stock car race, I have never chewed tobacco and have never met a woman that chews tobacco, I have never hunted, but do know some women that do, I have fished with a cane pole when I was a child in my Big Daddy’s(grandfather) pond, ridden on a 4 wheeler with my nieces/nephews through the woods maybe a half dozen times. That show is a gross misrepresentation of a southern woman, or so-called “Southern Belle” whatever THAT IS. Also that Val person is somewhat ignorant in several areas, but what I would like to address is her statement Dothan is in the “middle of no where”. Dothan’s population is around 70,000, with a civilian work force of around 170,000.We are a tri-state area which means all those people that DO live out in the middle of nowhere in the wiregrass area of Alabama, across the state line in Northwest Florida and Southwest Georgia come to Dothan for shopping, eating out, Doctor appointments/surgeries, banking, work, entertainment, etc. We are home to 2 large hospitals, SAMC employs around 2,200 and Flowers Hospital employs around 1,200.We are home to approx. 300 Doctors covering most major medical specialties and are a cardiology center for the tri-state area. We have 28 or more banks, 100 or more restaurants, 2 movie theaters, 1 large mall and numerous shopping centers with chain department stores, 2 Wal-Marts, 2 K-Marts, 2 Lowe’s. 1 Home Depot,3 Publix, and many more chain and local grocery stores. We have Wiregrass Museum of Art, GW Carver Interpretive Museum, a mural festival for the 20 or more murals painted on buildings downtown representing Dothan history. We have the Dothan Opera House, which hosts symphonies, ballet, local theater group and other cultural events. We have a botanical garden, Landmark Park, an agricultural museum, and you can also spend the day there looking at old buildings from the past, walking through the woods, visit the planetarium, and many other activities throughout the year. Also nearby at Ft. Rucker they have an Army Aviation Museum. Dothan is also home to a Robert Trent Golf Course, one of the top 10 in the U.S. Dothan Leisure Services hosts softball and baseball tournaments from teams around the world and for the past 10 years has hosted the Dothan Pro Classic with top rated female tennis players from around the world.Along with our first class softball, baseball and tennis courts, we have soccer fields a small water park,indoor and outdoor pools, playgrounds, with a ball field and playground designed for handicapped children among the 19 parks maintained in Dothan.We are approx. 200 miles from Atlanta or Birmingham, 112 miles from Montgomery, 198 miles to Mobile, all major cities in Alabama. So you tell me, is Dothan in the middle of “no where”?
To say this is an accurate picture of southern women is ridiculous. I am 48 years old and grew up in the country on a farm in a small community as rural as you can get. You had to drive 20-25 minutes to “town” to see a red light or get fast food. I am as southern born and raised as you can be, but I have never kissed a cow or witnessed any one kissing a cow, I have never raced a lawnmower or witnessed anyone else race a lawnmower, I have never tailgated much less attended a stock car race, I have never chewed tobacco and have never met a woman that chews tobacco, I have never hunted, but do know some women that do, I have fished with a cane pole when I was a child in my Big Daddy’s(grandfather) pond, ridden on a 4 wheeler with my nieces/nephews through the woods maybe a half dozen times. That show is a gross misrepresentation of a southern woman, or so-called “Southern Belle” whatever THAT IS. Also that Val person is somewhat ignorant in several areas, but what I would like to address is her statement Dothan is in the “middle of no where”. Dothan’s population is around 70,000, with a civilian work force of around 170,000.We are a tri-state area which means all those people that DO live out in the middle of nowhere in the wiregrass area of Alabama, across the state line in Northwest Florida and Southwest Georgia come to Dothan for shopping, eating out, Doctor appointments/surgeries, banking, work, entertainment, etc. We are home to 2 large hospitals, SAMC employs around 2,200 and Flowers Hospital employs around 1,200.We are home to approx. 300 Doctors covering most major medical specialties and are a cardiology center for the tri-state area. We have 28 or more banks, 100 or more restaurants, 2 movie theaters, 1 large mall and numerous shopping centers with chain department stores, 2 Wal-Marts, 2 K-Marts, 2 Lowe’s. 1 Home Depot,3 Publix, and many more chain and local grocery stores. We have Wiregrass Museum of Art, GW Carver Interpretive Museum, a mural festival for the 20 or more murals painted on buildings downtown representing Dothan history. We have the Dothan Opera House, which hosts symphonies, ballet, local theater group and other cultural events. We have a botanical garden, Landmark Park, an agricultural museum, and you can also spend the day there looking at old buildings from the past, walking through the woods, visit the planetarium, and many other activities throughout the year. Also nearby at Ft. Rucker they have an Army Aviation Museum. Dothan is also home to a Robert Trent Golf Course, one of the top 10 in the U.S. Dothan Leisure Services hosts softball and baseball tournaments from teams around the world and for the past 10 years has hosted the Dothan Pro Classic with top rated female tennis players from around the world.Along with our first class softball, baseball and tennis courts, we have soccer fields a small water park,indoor and outdoor pools, playgrounds, with a ball field and playground designed for handicapped children among the 19 parks maintained in Dothan.We are approx. 200 miles from Atlanta or Birmingham, 112 miles from Montgomery, 198 miles to Mobile, all major cities in Alabama. So you tell me, is Dothan in the middle of “no where”?
When you compare Dothan to New York, it is in the middle of nowhere. New York is cosmapolaton, big scale. Dothan may be big to you but it is so small to people like Val and me, who is from California. I had to move down here to Lower Alabama and it is a culture shock. Why worry about Val anyway? It’s that Dakota who will give “Bama’ girls a really bad name.
This comment is for MJT after only reading the first line in your sentance it became very obivous to be of how much of a lying idiot you are. Why would you come to this site to post negative comments about “southern girls” when it’s very obvious to me and i’m sure everyone else that has been on here that by far are you a true southern woman. I actually love the show and i think it proves to everyone in America what a true southern person is!!!!!!!!!!!! so maybe you should stop being jelous of people that you really wish you could be!!!!!!!!!!!!!
dothan is in the middle of nowhere!!!!
I have to comment on this, you need to remember Valerie is from New York!! So, to her it is in the middle nowhere. If I might add, if this show is such a disgrace then why did you watch it. And just b/c you haven’t done those things, DOES NOT mean other people have not. I mean come on, you call your grandfather Big Daddy!! If thats not country I dont know what is. If I do say so myself I loved the show, I hope they keep airing it. LOVE THE BAMA BELLES!!
@Carrie Edens, FYI, the show was canceled after the 2nd episode aired back in Dec.
I’m in Birmingham, and I’d just like to go on record now as saying that whatever hot mess, train wreck crap that happens, we are really not all like that. This won’t go well!
Just wanted to let you know i know one of the girls on the show. Her name is Amie Pollard she is the host of the morning radio show for 93.7. She is very well respected. Honestly i wouldn’t pick any other lady from our area to do it. She is very well grounded and she not what you are thinking. Just watch and see. It’s gonna be like most southern people are portrayed. Also if you would like to see Amie she and her family were on the Great American Road Trip.
Pollard well respected? I am from Dothan and I cannot STAND to listen to her either on the air or off.
This is your opinion just like I have mine! This is mine and I’ve heard yours and you’ve made it very clean in your comments. No matter what you say that won’t change! You sit here and talk about Amie but really come on now you are just making yourself look like the a** being all negative and trying to blast someone on the internet. Another thing we learned in the sound is If you can’t say nothing nice then don’t say anything at all. Rather you support or you don’t support Amie isn’t going to matter! So I don’t know why you keeps trying to make a big deal out of nothing due to the fact she has so many more people supporting her than not supporting or so at the end of the day you epic fail and you don’t matter!
Sierra, you are correct in your statement that each of us has our opinion. And each one is valid. Your choice to support the show may be based on information that is not made to the public my Ms. Pollard, and with that, it helps to support your argument. But if I may be allowed to present the facts of why I dislike the concept of the show.
My personal opinion of Ms. Pollard will not factor into these points. That is for a different discussion.
1) Ms. Pollard was on the Great American Road trip, another “reality show.” Paraphrasing Ms. Pollard, she said “What I didn’t like about the show is that [the crew] filmed everything and [the show] edited the events to make it look like something happened that never did.” This statement followed by the fact that Ms. Pollard chose to do another reality show makes me wonder what her motivation is.
2) I am arguing on the premise that this show will NOT make the south look good, as everyone in Dothan in hoping. We had enough of an issue with the John-Boy and Billy show that eventually ended with the mayor of Dothan going to NC to ask them to stop making fun of Dothan. We now are right back in the same situation, just on a different medium. The editors of the show are going to splice events together to make southerners look like the stereotype everyone knows. Case-in-point, the promo shows Jana Roberts kissing a cow with Amie Pollard in the background hollering “Woo girl, you just gave a cow some sugar!” Please help me to understand how this act is going to help fight the stereotype of backwoods uneducated southerners?
3) Dakota Redding has publicly stated (which has been spread all over the internet) that she is (and I quote) “a tobacco chewing cowgirl.” Again, how does this help to improve the look of southerners?
4) Ms. Redding also needs to make sure the information being reported about her is correct. Media is reporting she has stated she is a Physical Therapist. I have found that she is not a PT, but is a certified Occupational Therapy Assistant. While the 2 fields work together, they are not the same job.
5) While watching the promo, seeing Ms. Redding making the comment “They have changed since you got here, and not in a good way.” (It can be assumed that she is speaking to Val, since Val has “moved” (and I use that term loosely) to Dothan). This just helps support my argument that the editors and producers are going to “create” the show that gets the best ratings, be the actual events real or not.
6) I am also concerned for the mindset of the women involved in this show. Will their actions be able to be easily manipulated with the idea before them that they may “become famous?” Case-in-point, I read a comment by Ms. Redding where Perez Hilton has made some comments about the “Bama Belles” show. Her reaction was one of elation and joy that Perez Hilton had talked about her (when in fact, he spoke only of the show in general). I read the article, and my response to the article would have been “Why is this person speaking ill of my show?” Perez equated the Bama Belles show to a Real Housewives of Atlanta knock-off. Last I checked, a knock off is nothing more than a cheap imitation of the original. Perez was refereeing to the show in a negative light, and all Ms. Redding saw was “Oh, Perez talked about me!”
7) After seeing the “lawnmower race” clip from the show, the comment by Ms. Tignini “some of the people in the stands are missing teeth.” The ensuing argument between Ms. Tignini and Ms. Redding on the subject of people and their absence of dental appliances just helps to support my argument that the editors are going to cut together a show that gets the best ratings, be the actual events real or not, or be they real ideas or just stereotypes.
As before, I have invited anyone to an open debate on the subject, and I still have that invitation open. All I ask is that it be an actual debate with facts, and that everyone (myself included) please keep it civil.
Pollard respected? Don’t think so
Just watched the premier, and you were WRONG!!! This show represents nothing correct about South Alabama, and especially the Dothan area. Amy Pollard should be ashamed for the negative and false light that she has brought to this area.
I am bitterly ashamed at the protrayl of the Southern women. While Amiee is from Wicksburg, Al. and Not Dothan, she has given us all a blackeye. Next week they fight at a bar headed toward Florida. This is NOT accurate of southern ladies, only of rednecks coming from somewhere else. I hope someone will take a class action suit against those involved in this farce of character.
Silent E believe you are correct this is a bad thing.
WOW Vader. Great points. I live north of Dothan and don’t know who Pollard is but Sierra seems like she is just a pissed off friend of hers. No guts to reply. Nicely handled Vader.
Ive been raised in Alabama all my life, and these women seem to be a poor representation of Southern women. There’s probably a real good reason TLC only initially showing 3 shows. Fail possibility is high.
No, there are probably not like you. They are all educated, successful,ambitious, good people who are proud of their town and state!
You tell ‘em Mrs. Henderson! You were my favorite teacher in school! Can’t wait to watch Melissa. -Miranda Dodgen
Hi Kay!!! you stick up for your girl!!!!!
It should be “they’re” not “there”.
There?, and Maui says you were her favorite techer? Sheesh, Maui must not have learned a thing in school. LOL. Ms Henderson, being a teacher, you should proof read your comments so your kids do not look as dumb as you.
I’m sure you guys never make mistakes, my goodness! So many perfect people on this thread it’s amazing. I hope that the people that surround you aren’t near as judgemental as half you on here. By the way they had almost a million viewers and it is in a Star Magazine as top five pick to watch!
Had a good laugh at this! Don’t proofread if you don’t know what you’re talking about. “They’re” = “they are”. Put “they are” in that sentence and see how much sense that makes.
And she didn’t type “there”, but “their” which is correct. You can blame the English language for that…
Jesse – Had a great laugh at you. Kay wrote, “No, THERE ARE probably not like you.” Monica was correct. Might I suggest you take your own advice?
OH my goodness, do I really need to clarify further? It seems I do. Nini- put the word “they’re” in place of “there” in her sentence. You get the sentence “no, they’re are probably not like you” which is no more correct than what she wrote, making the person who corrected her both incorrect and an arrogant ass.
It’s not Manhattan or anything, but a city with 70,000 residents is not “rural.”
Agreed! Sounds like a city to me!
cant wait to watch it im originally from wpb fla hubby moved me here about 10 years or so ago what a culture change
First-Jersey Shore? That show is terrible. It gets rating b/c they are making complete fools of themselves. Smart
. I am origianlly from the south but have lived out west for many years. I hope they show the true south. Sweet tea, family bbqs, living on farms..I’m sure it will make me miss the south.
These girls are great women and I’m blessed to be friends with them. Let me be the first to say they are nothing short of examples of the “real south”!
I am from North Alabama. I am very proud of being Southern as well as an Alabamaian. I was raised on sweet tea, taught to use manners, be respectful, and honor God. I have lived here all my life and cannot think of a better place to be raised or to have raised my children:)
I have lived most of my life in the north but have southern roots. I adore the South. If I were to watch any reality show, this might be it. But I just don’t. I really don’t care for the genre.
Guys, Dothan is relatively big. Just because it is in Alabama does not make it “rural.” In fact, it has 65,477 people within its city limits. Still a small town, but not rural.
I think by “rural” they mean the Wicksburg area and whatnot. At least that is where Amie Pollard lives, I have no clue about the rest.
Wow I just read their profiles. Amie sounds like a hard working woman!! Have to respect that. Ex-beauty queen? We all know that is very typical of the south. Lol. Jana? Her husband played for the New York Mets-thats interesting & they are going thru IVF-I am not sure if I want to see a tobacco-spitting girl-yuck. I will say, I have seen Southern California girls do worse. This show sounds very interesting. Fingers crossed they show the South in a good manner. Online is saying we should be able to see clips during the Sarah Palin show tonight? Now that is a show to dicuss!
From what I have seen from preview of the upcoming show it looks like a flop. Amie Pollard is trying to become famous and in the process of her trying to climb the fame ladder, she is going to make the women of the South look dumb. I think there is really only one girl that is fairly attractive. You would think they could have found some really pretty people to do this show. I think Amie had to lose a lot of weight before they would even let her film. The whole show looks like a bunch of caddy women with bad clothes and way too much makeup.
Sounds like you have a personal problem with Amie, I didn`t think any of these women looked dumb. The remarks you made are dumb, made amie lose weight ? please so you think larger women can`t be on TV? that in it self sounds dumb.And your opinion onthe looks of these women are far from the truth. Looks maybe not important to the show maybe the the inside beauty, and that case they all are beautiful, it showed that last night on the show huge hearts that care…
I live in Dothan and honestly we are not a small town by no means. I’ve seen small towns. Dothan isn’t one of them. We are fairly large now. I cannot wait to see this show. I listen to Amie on the radio and I think she will show a great side of the Southern ladies in our area.
I hope that there is a well-balanced representative of women living in Dothan, Alabama. Are there any African-American women in the series ? If not, why not?
Why isn’t there any black women on the show? I’m just saying there are plenty of successful black women in Dothan, AL. One would be nice!
the black women were probably way too smart
How rude,
“aren’t” not “isn’t” – “women” is plural!
Amie Pollard is the most ignorant, fake, self absorbed woman I have ever met. I predict the show won’t even last the 3 episodes they have in the bank. How someone so brash and without talent keeps getting on these shows is beyond me.
I have heard this time and again! Sad!
Preach on, Tarvin! I agree TEN THOUSAND percent!!!!!
i live in ozark 20 miles outside of dothan, i would love to do housewives episodes. southern wives are the bestest.