I initially imagined that Tiny & Toya would be more like the babymama version of Laverne and Shirley, but with a pretentious twist (like the rest of the world). However, the first episode was more interesting than I anticipated.

The show chronicles the lives of good friends, Tameka “Tiny” Cottle, TI’s alleged wife, and Antonia “Toya” Johnson-Carter, Lil Wayne’s ex-wife and first child’s mother. In last night’s premier, we got a first glimpse into each woman’s world. Tiny is dealing with her now incarcerated “husband” preparing to go to prison in addition to her father having Alzheimer’s disease, while Toya struggles with a drug addicted mother.

What I like so far, is that each woman has her own identity and they both seem very down-to-Earth. Tiny reminded us in the opening credits, that she had her own career and money before TI, and Toya was Lil Wayne’s teenage love (from back in the CMB days).

It’s not ostentatious like The Real Housewives of Atlanta, and Tiny and Toya actually act their ages. Sorry drama addicts, I don’t think you’ll be seeing too much cattyness this season. I’m definitely tuning in next week. What did you think?

Tiny and Toya airs Tuesday nights on BET at 10pm ET

Give it up for baby mamas! They are having the best week ever.

Not only is Tiny supposedly Mrs. T.I. now, she along with friend and Lil’ Wayne’s ex-wife, Antonia “Toya” Johnson-Carter, have signed on to star in a new BET series.

Tiny and Toya is said to chronicle the lives of “two dynamic, young women immersed in the craziness of the Hip Hop world, but striving to find inner strength, peace and purpose.”

If you’re wondering that inner peace is said to not come in the form of Louis bags and saddity stilettos paid for by child support checks.

Rather, the ladies will be each starting their very own businesses.

The show will also chronicle how each copes with the legal woes of their respective baby daddies, and seeks to offer each woman an opportunity to define themselves outside of their high profile relationships.

I’ve come to love The Real Housewives of Atlanta, so I don’t doubt for a second that I’ll be watching The Baby Mamas of Bankhead when it premiers.

BET will air a preview special, Monday, June 15 at 10pm/9c followed by a sneak peek Sunday, June 28 (immediately after the BET Awards).

TI’s Road to Redemption is a good show but let’s face it, even though it’s  great to see a rapper stepping up to make a positive change in troubled youth’s lives, it was starting to get a little redundant. Last night, viewers were treated with two episodes where things were switched up a bit.

First, we met 15-year-old Cynthia, the first girl in the series who was struggling after witnessing her gang-banger brother get shot and killed. She joined a gang at age 13, planning to take revenge for her brother’s death. Revenge eventually stopped being a pressing issue for Cynthia, but that didn’t keep her from continuing with her gang activity, much to her mother’s chagrin.

T.I. stepped in and took Cynthia to Homeboy Industries, a refuge for ex-gang members in Los Angeles. Three women talked to Cynthia hoping to convince her to get out of the game, but she didn’t really grasp the severity of the situation until she met ex-gang member Alex.

To help Cynthia get inspired about changing her life, T.I. brought her to a photo shoot which gave her a taste of what it was like to be a photographer. In the end, Cynthia promised that she would turn her life around. As a reward, T.I. got her a new computer and a digital camera to help keep her motivated to pursue her photography dreams.

In the next episode, there was no gang-banger. Donald was just a good kid who had a rough life. Despite struggling and bouncing around to different group homes for years, the 18-year-old straight-A student has always remained positive. T.I. respected Donald for staying focused on school and doing the right thing so he decided to “treat him like a king” for a day. Donald got a haircut from a celebrity barber and scored some new clothes from TI’s line, Akoo. The pair ended up at dinner after a long day, where T.I. explained his legal situation to Donald urging him to continue traveling the right path. The icing on the cake came when Donald got to record a song with music producer, Plow Da Don, and took a copy of his music home to share with his family.

It was nice to see a change of pace. I’m glad that a positive child finally got a chance to be rewarded, and it’s good that people get to see that more and more young women are turning to crime at alarming rates. I wish there was more diversity on that show in that aspect. But overall, good job TI. Next week’s episode focuses more on T.I. preparing to serve his sentence, and how his family is coping with the situation. Going to prison is a serious no matter how long the sentence, but T.I. definitely lucked out by only getting a year, which I don’t think he’ll serve in its entirety. Either way, good luck TI, and keep that same positive attitude you’ve been showing the youth.

Who’s up for watching T.I perform community service? Oooh! Oooh! You got that, because guess what? The legally-challenged rapper is turning his most recent  1-year prison sentence into a reality show for MTV. Cameras already filmed him during his highly-publicized house arrest. Viewers will also watch him fulfilling 1,000 hours of community service. Serious filming will start this summer through the spring of 2009 when he’s slated for the pokey. MTV will air the show shortly after.

“Hopefully the mistakes I’ve made will be a lesson to today’s youth and they won’t go down that same path,” T.I. said. The show will also document the release this fall of the rapper’s new album, “Paper Trail,” (of course!) much of which was inspired by his travails over the past year, and the birth of his child.