Sweet Life: Los Angeles, the beloved former HBO Max reality series produced by Issa Rae, will see its first season make its cable debut next month on OWN.
We can report that Season 1 of the show will begin airing on OWN on June 13, with two episodes airing each Friday beginning at 8 p.m. in a back-to-back block.
The show aired for two seasons on HBO Max before being canceled and removed from the streamer amid a purge of series during the initial period in the Warner Bros. Discovery merger. This included HBO Max pretty much exiting the reality space, canceling shows like Sweet Life: Los Angeles and the ballroom competition series, Legendary. Now, the show will make its linear debut on OWN, which is in the Warner Bros. Discovery family. The network was originally a Discovery property.
The series starred original cast members Amanda Scott, Briana Jones, Cheryl Des Vignes, Jerrold Smith II, Jordan Bentley, P’Jae Compton and Tylynn Burns. Bentley departed after Season 1, with Season 1 supporting cast members Rebecca Magett, Rob Lee and Jaylenn Hart upped to main cast for Season 2.
Per its last logline at HBO Max, “Sweet Life: Los Angeles gives a unique look at what it means to be young, Black, ambitious, and in constant pursuit of one’s dreams. Exploring themes of loyalty, legacy, and love, this coming-of-age series follows a group of long-time friends in South Los Angeles as they navigate the relatable, chaotic, mid-20s moments at the quarter-life mark and propel each other into adulthood success.“
‘Sweet Life: Los Angeles’ is getting buzz on TikTok with viewers revisiting the show
OWN’s upcoming airing of Season 1 comes as social media buzz has been blazing with fans of the show asking for its return amid the wedding of Smith and Des Vignes.
Also, several of the stars, named Burns, Smith and Jones, have frequently gone viral over the past couple of years for their commentary about the show, as well as how they interact with fans asking for the show to return.
@tytytooofly smh WE NEED ANSWERS #fyp ♬ original sound – Tylynn Burns
Audiences also seem to be clamoring for young, Black-led reality shows, as Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard was put on pause at Bravo after two seasons last year.
Here’s what Issa Rae told us about the show coming back
When Issa Rae chatted with us at Blavity’s Shadow and Act during press for Black Mirror Season 7, we asked her about bringing the show back. She said that all hope is not lost and that she has not stopped thinking about the series.
She told us, “Listen, you and me both [need the show back]. I think about it every week. I am on it, trust. I will never let it die.”
Will ‘Sweet Life: Los Angeles’ get a long-awaited Season 3?
Right now, the network is only airing Season 1, with no word yet on if the second season will also air on the network at a later date.
With Season 1 airing on OWN, could the Warner Bros. Discovery network be the home of a new season of the show? From what we hear, there are currently no plans for that to happen. Still, things could change.
HBO Max is currently rebranding itself back to the HBO Max title after a renaming to Max once the WBD merger took place. Could a content pivot take place as well to reintroduce programming like Sweet Life: Los Angeles? That is left to be determined, but for what it is worth, the WBD brass hasn’t said anything to indicate that this would happen. It is also unclear how tangled up the rights for the series may be. The show was removed from HBO Max, though Season 1 is landing on a WBD network. However, a Warner Bros. Discovery entity did not produce the first two seasons of the show, and the rights to it may have reverted back to producers after those two seasons.
In the first two seasons, the series was produced by Hoorae, Main Event Media (an All3Media America company) and Morning Dew Pictures. Issa Rae, Montrel McKay, Jimmy Fox, Sheri Maroufkhani and Leola Westbrook executive produced. Rajah Ahmed, Jayson Elmore, Cam Frierson, Joseph Guidry, Jeff Tan, and Charlie Van Vleet were co-executive producers, with Sara Rastogi and Ashley Calloway also as producers.
