May 21, 2019 at 05:49AM
Temmora Levy (second from right) and the pop/R&B vocal group KARMA are the stars of the upcoming made-in-Memphis reality program, "Ms. T's Music Factory." (Photo: Brian Graden Entertainment)
A new Lifetime television series will have a Memphis accent.
Debuting June 1 at 9 p.m. central on the Lifetime cable network, the eight-episode "Ms. T's Music Factory" is one of two new "reality" programs set to run this summer on the network that already hosts such "unscripted" serials as "Dance Moms," "Military Makeover" and "Married at First Sight."
The star of the show is Memphis singer and independent music mini-mogul Temmora Levy, who runs the local "artist development" school Arommet Academy (her surname, spelled backward) while also acting as manager — or "mom-ager" — to a pop group called KARMA, led by her daughter, Miesha Michelle Levy.
Expect much KARMA drama and other challenges as Levy — the titular "Ms. T" — juggles career and family expectations, while her students compete to be the opening act at a KARMA show.
Originally titled "Temorraland" when it was shot in Memphis from November through March, the show presents Levy as a sassy diva and high-fiving tough-love mentor to her sometimes bewildered charges. "I expect my students to be better than the best," she says in the program's trailer. In one scene, she chides a trio of auditioning singers who show up in sunglasses: "Take them shades off y'all's faces, y'all ain't made it yet."
"Ms. T's Music Factory" — to be joined on the Lifetime summer schedule by "Cheerleader Generation," a "docuseries" about competitive cheerleading — joins the A&E police documentary "The First 48," and the Discovery Channel's still-going-strong street-racing program, "Street Outlaws: Memphis," as an example of Bluff City reality programming.
Deputy Film Commissioner Sharon Fox O'Guin said the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission assists dozens of reality programs a year, most of which visit Memphis for just an episode or two. "That's mostly what we do here when there is not a major film here," she said.
"Unscripted" series that have visited Memphis in recent months include NBC's "The Voice," the Travel Channel's "Best Places to Pig Out," the DIY Network's "First Time Flippers," the Cooking Channel's "Late Nite Eats," and Investigation Discovery's "See No Evil," to name a few.
"Ms. T" is a production of Brian Graden Media, an extremely active production company founded by Brian Graden, who helped develop "South Park" into a series while at Fox and later was president of entertainment at MTV Networks. Overseeing production on "Ms. T" in Memphis was Ron Fellah, a reality television veteran whose credits include "Battle of the Wedding Designers" and "Full Throttle Saloon," about "the world's largest biker bar."
Read or Share this story: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2019/05/20/lifetime-reality-tv-show-ms-t-music-factory-memphis/3745372002/
Temmora Levy (second from right) and the pop/R&B vocal group KARMA are the stars of the upcoming made-in-Memphis reality program, "Ms. T's Music Factory." (Photo: Brian Graden Entertainment)
A new Lifetime television series will have a Memphis accent.
Debuting June 1 at 9 p.m. central on the Lifetime cable network, the eight-episode "Ms. T's Music Factory" is one of two new "reality" programs set to run this summer on the network that already hosts such "unscripted" serials as "Dance Moms," "Military Makeover" and "Married at First Sight."
The star of the show is Memphis singer and independent music mini-mogul Temmora Levy, who runs the local "artist development" school Arommet Academy (her surname, spelled backward) while also acting as manager — or "mom-ager" — to a pop group called KARMA, led by her daughter, Miesha Michelle Levy.
Expect much KARMA drama and other challenges as Levy — the titular "Ms. T" — juggles career and family expectations, while her students compete to be the opening act at a KARMA show.
Originally titled "Temorraland" when it was shot in Memphis from November through March, the show presents Levy as a sassy diva and high-fiving tough-love mentor to her sometimes bewildered charges. "I expect my students to be better than the best," she says in the program's trailer. In one scene, she chides a trio of auditioning singers who show up in sunglasses: "Take them shades off y'all's faces, y'all ain't made it yet."
"Ms. T's Music Factory" — to be joined on the Lifetime summer schedule by "Cheerleader Generation," a "docuseries" about competitive cheerleading — joins the A&E police documentary "The First 48," and the Discovery Channel's still-going-strong street-racing program, "Street Outlaws: Memphis," as an example of Bluff City reality programming.
Deputy Film Commissioner Sharon Fox O'Guin said the Memphis & Shelby County Film and Television Commission assists dozens of reality programs a year, most of which visit Memphis for just an episode or two. "That's mostly what we do here when there is not a major film here," she said.
"Unscripted" series that have visited Memphis in recent months include NBC's "The Voice," the Travel Channel's "Best Places to Pig Out," the DIY Network's "First Time Flippers," the Cooking Channel's "Late Nite Eats," and Investigation Discovery's "See No Evil," to name a few.
"Ms. T" is a production of Brian Graden Media, an extremely active production company founded by Brian Graden, who helped develop "South Park" into a series while at Fox and later was president of entertainment at MTV Networks. Overseeing production on "Ms. T" in Memphis was Ron Fellah, a reality television veteran whose credits include "Battle of the Wedding Designers" and "Full Throttle Saloon," about "the world's largest biker bar."
Read or Share this story: https://www.commercialappeal.com/story/news/2019/05/20/lifetime-reality-tv-show-ms-t-music-factory-memphis/3745372002/