DAYTIME DIVAS – SEASON 1
Press Kit

ABOUT THE SERIES

Every weekday at noon, Maxine (Vanessa Williams), Mo (Tichina Arnold), Heather (Fiona Gubelmann), Kibby (Chloe Bridges) and Nina (Camille Guaty) – hosts of The Lunch Hour, the long-running women’s talk show – gather around the table to discuss life, love, politics and juicy gossip. But behind the scenes, it’s even juicier – a backstage world filled with power struggles, diva fits and steamy affairs that also includes Maxine’s son Shawn (McKinley Freeman), who is a producer on the talk show. Inspired by the book Satan’s Sisters: A Novel Work of Fiction by Star Jones, television personality, lawyer and journalist.

Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler (Awkward, 90210) are showrunners as well as executive producers along with Josh Berman (Drop Dead Diva, CSI), Star Jones (TV personality, advocate, author and attorney), Suzanne de Passe (The Temptations, Lonesome Dove), Madison Jones and Susan Levison. Writers for the series are Amy Engelberg and Wendy Engelberg, who also serve as executive producers.


CAST & EXECUTIVE PRODUCER BIOS

Vanessa Williams (Maxine Robinson)

Vanessa Williams has achieved success in every area of entertainment, including the worlds of music, theater, film and television. She has sold millions of albums, earning multiple Grammy and Tony Award nominations and is a New York Times best-selling author. She has created V. by Vanessa Williams, an exclusive collection for EVINE Live inspired by the pieces she loves most from her own wardrobe. She has starred in numerous films, television and Broadway productions and has earned seven NAACP Image Awards, as well as multiple Emmy Award nominations and many other honors and accolades as the deliciously wicked Wilhelmina Slater on the hit ABC series Ugly Betty. Daytime Divas continues her relationship with VH1 which dates back to hosting The Soul of VH1 and starring as Ebony Scrooge in the VH1 Original Movie A Diva’s Christmas Carol.

Tichina Arnold (Mo Evans)

Tichina Arnold is an internationally known actress and singer who began her career studying at a performing arts high school in her hometown of New York City. Her career has been nonstop since landing her first role in the famous film version of Little Shop of Horrors with Rick Moranis and Steve Martin and continuing in great classics such as Big Momma’s House, Wild Hogs and a dramatic turn in Hope & Redemption: The Lena Baker Story. Tichina leapt from the big screen to the TV working on soap operas All My Children and Ryan’s Hope. It is her iconic role as Pam in the hit show Martin that cemented her status with fans across the world as one of TV’s sassiest comedians, and she has been creating memorable characters ever since in Everybody Hates Chris, Raising Hope, Happily Divorced and most recently Starz’s Survivor’s Remorse.

Chloe Bridges (Kibby Ainsley)

Chloe Bridges can be seen in the series regular role Kibby Ainsley in VH1’s new drama series Daytime Divas.

Bridges also starred in Freeform’s Pretty Little Liars as Sydney Driscoll, the newest member of the swim team, who befriends Emily (Shay Mitchell). Bridges recently filmed lead roles in the feature films Airplane Mode and Browse. She is also a lead in Life Boat, a short film directed by Lorraine Nicholson. This summer, she appeared in the feature film Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates with Zac Efron and Adam Devine. In addition, she recently filmed a lead role in the feature film Little Bitches as well as a role on The Grinder on Fox. Bridges also had a recurring role on the hit MTV series Faking It as Zita, a sardonic nihilist with a crush on Liam (played by Gregg Sulkin). Chloe was featured in Columbia Pictures’ film The Final Girls opposite Taissa Farmiga, Malin Akerman, Nina Dobrev and Adam Devine. Bridges starred as Donna LaDonna, Carrie Bradshaw’s popular nemesis in the highly anticipated Sex and the City prequel, The Carrie Diaries (CW).

Bridges’ other television credits include guest stars on New Girl (Fox) and Suburgatory (ABC), a recurring role on 90210 (CW) and a series regular role on Freddie (ABC), opposite Freddie Prinze Jr.

Camille Guaty (Nina Sandoval)

Actress Camille Guaty continues to foster an impressive acting career that spans both television and film. Most recently, Guaty could be seen in Fox’s The Exorcist and broke hearts in the hit CBS series Scorpion portraying Megan O’Brien, a strong female character battling multiple sclerosis. Other television roles for Guaty include Fox’s Prison Break, NBC’s Las Vegas and CBS’ How I Met Your Mother, to name a few. On the big screen, she can be seen in the independent film Cake opposite Jennifer Aniston, Anna Kendrick, Sam Worthington and Chris Messina. Guaty’s previous film credits include New Line Cinema’s romantic comedy Ghosts of Girlfriends Past with Jennifer Garner and Matthew McConaughey and the Trigger Street-produced short film The Smile Man with Willem Dafoe. She was raised in California, and studied at Boston University.

Fiona Gubelmann (Heather Flynn-Kellogg)

Fiona Gubelmann is a ferociously talented actress with a long list of credits to her name both in television and film. You may recognize Gubelmann from her series regular role in the American version of Wilfred. She can currently be seen in Netflix’s remake of Norman Lear’s classic sitcom One Day at a Time.

Star Jones (Executive Producer)

Star Jones is an attorney, former New York City homicide prosecutor, business executive, best-selling author and an Emmy Award-nominated TV host. She has worked in television for 25 years, offering a fresh perspective on the day’s most talked-about crime and justice, political and sociological issues from the worlds of news, entertainment, politics and pop culture. Ms. Jones is best known to television viewers for her candor, confidence and uncanny ability to clarify muddy legal and social issues as a NBC news legal correspondent/commentator and as a co-host of ABC’s The View for nine years. Her knowledge of the law and talent for television has won her critical acclaim as a news and legal correspondent, television host and social commentator. Also an accomplished author, Ms. Jones has written two best-selling, nonfiction books. Her third book, Satan’s Sisters, was published in 2011 and developed into Daytime Divas, a VH1 network television series scheduled for a 2017 debut with Ms. Jones as an executive producer. Skilled in law, media and business, Ms. Jones presently serves as a member of the Board of Directors and president of Professional Diversity Network (PDN), a publicly traded company (NASDAQ: IPDN), as well as president of the PDN subsidiary, National Association of Professional Women (NAPW). As such, Ms. Jones helps lead a nationwide team dedicated to supporting and advocating for PDN’s network of over 10 million diverse job seekers, along with providing expanded networking and career opportunities for more than 850,000 diverse professional women.

Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler (Executive Producers)

Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler have worked extensively in both hour and half-hour series television as writers, producers and directors. They are currently showrunning Daytime Divas on VH1, and previously ran MTV’s number-one show, Awkward. Prior to Awkward, they worked on shows including CW’s 90210, Cashmere Mafia, Whoopi and Reba. They also created and showran So Notorious for VH1.

Additionally, Chris and Mike have developed for multiple networks including ABC, NBC, Fox, CW and Showtime. They currently have The Big Package, based on the hit British format Benidorm, in development for Fox.


EPISODIC LOGLINES

Episode 101 – “Pilot”
The racy banter between the co-hosts of a long-running women’s talk show combines with backstage intrigue and steamy affairs to fuel a power struggle over its future.


Episode 102 – “Coma Bump”

Mo (Tichina Arnold) plots to take over the show but is set back when Maxine (Vanessa Williams) unexpectedly returns. Kibby (Chloe Bridges) is haunted by her difficult past, while Nina (Camille Guaty) struggles to find a way to explain her pregnancy.


Episode 103 – “Blind Items”

News of an unauthorized biography has Maxine (Vanessa Williams) worried about how much it will expose. Nina (Camille Guaty) tries to hide the truth about her pregnancy but her lies begin to unravel.

Episode 104 – “Shut It Down”
As Heather (Fiona Gubelmann) sizes up a new co-host, Maxine (Vanessa Williams) launches a behind-the-scenes campaign to discredit the author of her unauthorized biography.

Episode 105 – “Baby Daddy Drama”
With a crisis management consultant advising her, Maxine (Vanessa Williams) looks to repair the damage from a series of scandals – and starts by hiring her most dangerous adversary.









EXTRAS

Character Descriptions

SERIES REGULARS:

VANESSA WILLIAMS as MAXINE ROBINSON – Executive producer and creator of The Lunch Hour, Maxine is a femme force to be reckoned with. She runs her popular afternoon talk show with polish and power, but behind the scenes she’s hiding secrets from the co-hosts and even her own son. ...

CHLOE BRIDGES as KIBBY AINSLEY – A former child TV star. She’s savvy and hip, self-labelled as sexually fluid, and the youngest voice on The Lunch Hour. Kibby is intent on turning her life around after scandal and rehab, despite paparazzi, being trolled on the Internet, and friends who try to bring her down.

TICHINA ARNOLD as MO EVANS – A stand-up comic with no filter, Mo apologizes to no one. She has worked hard to earn her spot on The Lunch Hour and has been on the show the longest out of the current cohosts. She is ambitious to a fault, and if you get in her way, watch out.

FIONA GUBELMANN as HEATHER FLYNN-KELLOGG – A former pageant queen and the self-proclaimed spiritual guide of The Lunch Hour. Heather is as devoted to her conservative brand as she is to her God. However, she’s no meek church mouse; Heather is filled with ambition and savvy. But behind her family values exterior, at home Heather is doing her best to stick up for Ella, her daughter who now identifies as female. Her husband Brad might be getting too aggressive with her, but she’ll hide that fact for now. ...

CAMILLE GUATY as NINA SANDOVAL – A former frontline journalist, Nina is the co-host who brings hard facts and journalistic integrity to The Lunch Hour. But her integrity is challenged when she learns that she is pregnant, but not by her husband. ...

MCKINLEY FREEMAN as SHAWN ROBINSON – Maxine’s son and the main producer for The Lunch Hour. Shawn is handsome, hard-working and a pro at handling the dynamics between the co-hosts. But when Maxine goes into a coma, Shawn is forced to keep the show moving while also taking care of her in the hospital. And it doesn’t help that Shawn’s secret affair with Nina has a bump in the road ahead. ...

RECURRING/GUEST STARS:

KELLY OSBOURNE as HERSELF – A fictional version of Kelly Osbourne appears as a guest on The Lunch Hour and the appearance goes horribly wrong. Episode 103.

KRISTEN JOHNSTON as ANNA CROUSE – Maxine’s formerly frumpy and frazzled assistant. Anna returns to New York transformed into a chic and hard-hitting journalist, and now has turned her sights on an unauthorized biography of Maxine, which threatens to expose Maxine’s past.

NORM LEWIS as WILLIAM – The handsome main doorman at Maxine’s co-op building. In public, he’s only the man who stands guard in her apartment lobby, but in private, he is her most intimate confidant and the guardian of her darkest secret.

SCOTT EVANS as JULIAN – Sober coach to the stars. Julian is brought into the Lunch Hour family to help Kibby keep her life on track. He is charming and candid, and soon Kibby finds herself confiding in him about more than just her struggles with addiction.

EVE as Cecile James – Author of a book about alpha women who comes on The Lunch Hour as a guest host hoping to make her stint permanent.

DEBBY RYAN as Maddie – Maddie Finn, Kibby’s wholesome former co-star on Lacey From Outerspacey. She had a very public quarrel with Kibby. In fact, she took out a restraining order against Kibby, which has just been lifted. She goes on The Lunch Hour to put the incident behind her and to have a kiss and make-up reunion with Kibby. Episode 104

LA LA ANTHONY as Isabel