July 2, 2013 (2013-07-02) – September 19, 2017 (2017-09-19)
Release
April 23, 2019 (2019-04-23)
Being Mary Jane is an American drama television series created by Mara Brock Akil and starring Gabrielle Union.[1] The pilot aired on July 2, 2013, as an hour-long television film across a 90-minute timeslot,[2][3] before resuming as a weekly series on January 7, 2014, on BET.[4] The series follows the professional and personal life of successful TV news anchor Mary Jane Paul, who lived in Atlanta and New York City.
Being Mary Jane received positive reviews from critics.[5][6] It debut as BET's highest-rated series premiere with four million viewers.[7][8][9] On January 6, 2016, the series was renewed for a fourth season, which premiered on January 10, 2017.[10] It was announced on October 11, 2017, that the series would end. A two-hour television film finale was planned to air in 2018 but never came to fruition.[11] On December 7, 2018, BET announced that the finale had been pushed back to air on April 16, 2019.[12] On April 1, 2019, it was announced that the TV film finale date was pushed back to April 23.[13]
Gabrielle Union as Pauletta ("Mary Jane Paul") Patterson: a successful TV news anchor for Satellite News Channel (SNC) who remains devoted to a family that does not share her motivation as she juggles her life, her relationships, her work, and commitments. In season four, Mary Jane leaves Atlanta after getting fired from SNC and moves to New York City to work at Great Day USA as a national news correspondent. She eventually works her way up to get back on the anchor chair.
Lisa Vidal as Kara Lynch: the executive producer of Talk Back (Mary Jane's show) at SNC and Mary Jane's best friend.
Margaret Avery as Helen Patterson: Mary Jane's overprotective mother, who is battling lupus.
Latarsha Rose as Dr. Lisa Hudson (seasons 1–3): Mary Jane's best friend since elementary school, an OB/GYN.
Aaron D. Spears as Mark Bradley (seasons 1–3): a co-anchor at the newsroom and the closeted gay friend of Mary Jane.
Richard Brooks as Patrick Patterson: Mary Jane's older, less-motivated brother.
B. J. Britt as Paul Patterson, Jr.: Mary Jane's responsible younger brother.
Raven Goodwin as Niecy Patterson: Mary Jane's niece; Patrick Patterson's daughter, who is also a mother.
Richard Roundtree as Paul Patterson, Sr.: Mary Jane's compassionate father.
Omari Hardwick as Andre Daniels (season 1): Mary Jane's married love interest[14]
Stephen Bishop as David Paulk (recurring, season 1; main, seasons 2–3): Mary Jane's playboy love interest.
Recurring
Robinne Lee as Avery Daniels (season 1): Andre's wife, who learns of her husband's affair with Mary Jane.
Tatom Pender as Tracy: Patrick's girlfriend and mother of their child.
Brely Evans as Nichelle: Mary Jane's friend and publicist to the stars.
^Christina Vidal plays the sister of Kara, played by her real-life sister Lisa Vidal.
Production
The show was originally to be called Single Black Female.[15] The series centers on successful broadcast journalist Mary Jane Paul (played by Gabrielle Union) and her professional and private family life while searching for "Mr. Right":
Mary Jane Paul has it all: she's a successful TV news anchor, entirely self-sufficient – an all-around powerhouse who remains devoted to a family that doesn't share her motivation. As Mary Jane juggles her life, her work and her commitment to her family, we find out how far she's willing to go to find the puzzle pieces that she, and society, insist are missing from her life as a single Black female.[16]
After the third season, creator Mara Brock Akil left the series and Erica Shelton Kodish was hired as the show's new showrunner for the fourth season. Kodish had previously worked as a writer and producer on shows like CSI: NY, Cold Case and The Good Wife. Speaking about her approach to taking over the show to Buzzfeed, Kodish stated that she wasn't afraid to shake things up. "I was anxious about how viewers were going to react to change in general — any kind of change. But I felt like it really had to happen".[20] The casting during the fourth season had been done in part by Winsome Sinclair.[21]
Controversy
In 2016, Gabrielle Union sued BET over compensation.[22]
Streaming
The complete series is available to stream on Hulu, Paramount+, and BET+ in the United States.
Reception
Critical response
The second and third seasons received positive reviews, specifically praising Gabrielle Union's leading performance, Mara Brock Akil's writing, and directing work by Regina King.[23][24][25][26]
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the first season earned an approval rating of 80% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10.[27]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the pilot a score of 78 out of 100 based on 4 critics reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[28]
