No more Salt...here comes Chilli!

PepaVH1 is staring the buzz early about their new line-up...for next year!  I have your dibs on what's coming down the pipe line.  Personally I liked the dynamic between rap duo Salt-N-Pepa, but we all know Pepa was too much Spice for Salt!  So, VH1 has teamed up with Sandra “Pepa” Denton of Salt n Pepa and Chilli from TLC – giving each pioneering hip-hop artist her own series revolving around their current lives as single women.   The yet-to-be titled “Pepa” and “Chilli” series will premiere on VH1 in 2010.  

I'm not sure what Chilli has been up to since leaving Usher...but I'm going to tune in.

These programming additions come on the heels of recent announcements about upcoming new original primetime series on VH1 including Jessica Simpson’s new series “The Price Of Beauty;” a series centered on the family and career of American Idol winner Fantasia Barrino as she refocuses and tries to get her career back on track with the untitled “Fantasia” series; “The OCD Project,” centering on OCD patients living together as they strive to overcome their disorder; and “The Aspen Project,” focusing on the highs and lows of living and dating in one of the wealthiest communities in the world.  

“No matter if you’re a Grammy Award winning artist, a film actor or a TV reality star with millions of loyal fans, we all share the same desires of the human experience…to succeed, to love, and to live our lives to their fullest potential,” said Jeff Olde, Executive Vice President, Original Programming & Production, VH1.  “VH1 has generated a lot of buzz over the years by evolving from an outlet that commented on pop culture to a brand that creates it.  With these projects, we’re continuing to evolve, building on our core storytelling expertise to delve deeper into personalities and issues that connect with millions of our viewers. 

The untitled "Pepa” series is a real-life comedy following Sandra “Pepa” Denton of Salt-n-Pepa fame as she emerges from her self-imposed romantic and sexual dormancy of the past four years as she begins to search for love again.  After years of living a celibate life in order to focus on finding “the one,” Pep has realized that giving up sex actually got her nowhere in the relationship world. She didn’t “evolve,” she didn’t land a husband and the only close relationship she formed was with her exercise bike.  But she's not the only one. Her three closest girlfriends are all single and searching too.  The four friends will laugh, cry and dish the dirt as they support each other along the way.  The “Pepa” series has been picked up for eight half-hour episodes and is set to premiere in 2010.

'Chilli' from R&B supergroup TLC, has decided to take the reins of her lackluster romantic situation and launch an all out search for the love of her life in the yet-to-be titled “Chilli Project.”  Despite huge success as a recording artist and a mother, Chilli has grown tired of striking out on the romantic front, so she has enlisted the help of Brooklyn relationship expert Tionna Smalls.  Not one to let people take the easy way out, Tionna has promised to give Chilli the challenging emotional workout she needs in order to get over the hurdles that have kept her from having the long-term serious relationship she craves.  The series has been picked up for eight half-hour episodes and is set to premiere in 2010.