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Carlos King on the "Love & Marriage: Huntsville" Reunion

Source: Courtesy OWN / Oprah Winfrey Network

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Carlos King has risen within the ranks to become the “King of Reality Television.” The Love & Marriage franchise is very successful for the Oprah Winfrey Network. Love & Marriage Huntsville is the most-watched show on the network while the D.C. show features Reach Media’s own QuickSilva and his lovely wife Ashley in their first season. How did Carlos get here? With hard work, perseverance, and some great internships.

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One thing is for sure: King is here to stay. While he’s here, he would like to make sure he puts Black professionals on the forefront in a positive light. King talks with Russ about his new show “Nightcap with Carlos King” the Love & Marriage franchise success and more.

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RUSS PARR: Well, on the phone line right now, this guy is he’s a genius. He’s brilliant. Carlos King, you see his name all over all these reality shows and the whole nine is because this guy knows exactly what he’s doing. And of course OWN knows what they’re doing because they’re giving him his own show its own recap show, Carlos, How are you doing this morning, sir?

CARLOS KING: I’m good Russ. How’s it going? My brother?

RUSS: Man, I gotta tell you, this is perfect for you. Oh, because you have one of the greatest personalities. You really do. It’s called the “Nightcap with Carlos King,” airing Saturdays at 10 pm. And I love this concept. Of course, everybody’s gonna compare it to what Andy (Cohen) does and so on, so forth. But you got a little different twist to yours. What is that?

KING: Yeah, so look, this is an after-party, Russ. If we’re standing on our feet, we’re going back to the old 106 and Park days where I have an audience. You know, I have a DJ, it’s fun. It’s whimsical. It’s everything that you expect from a Carlos King late-night show. So it’s definitely different than any late-night show that’s on the air right now. For sure.

RUSS: Right. So, of course, everybody knows you as the king of reality TV. Well, some people do. But I do. “Love & Marriage” has been a very successful franchise. And of course, the one “Love & Marriage” in Huntsville. My wife and I, we have appointment viewing. We watch it every week. So now you’re doing D.C. with my boy QuickSilva and Monique Samuels and the whole nine how are the ratings going for that?

KING: It’s going really well. Listen, we are in the top 10 of the most-watched households on Saturday night and just the entire landscape of reality television. So it’s such a huge blessing. Love and match. Huntsville is the most-watched show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Can you believe that?

ALSO READ: REACH Media’s QuickSilva & Wife Ashley Join Cast of ‘Love & Marriage: DC’

RUSS: It’s wonderful

KING: It is but I thank you and your wife for appointment viewing every Saturday because you guys have so many options. On Saturday. So to stay home and watch this is a blessing and I’m super appreciative of it and people are loving DC. The ratings are doing well. So my goal is to make sure that people instead of going to the club, Carlos King is bringing the entertainment to you guys from eight o’clock until 10:30.

RUSS: That’s wonderful. I got to ask you. When did you start in this business? Because you know, all of a sudden Carlos King, Carlos, Carlos King. When did you start when? What was your first big break?

KING: So interesting. I am from Detroit, Michigan. So I left Detroit at 22 years old, moved to New York City. And I was like, You know what, I need to get an internship because I was studying everything Puffy he did, right. And he always said get an internship. So I interned at Russ at “The View,” MTV, and my last internship at BET. And because of that BET hired me as a PA, then I was there for two years. Then I got a call to do this new reality show called “The Real Housewives of Atlanta.” And I would say that was my big break into being now called the King of Reality TV.

RUSS: See, here’s the thing, guys, did you hear his travel? Did you hear the work that he put in? He was a PA. That’s an assistant that is is a great job to have. Because if you get in there you can learn everything about what everybody does. And apparently that’s exactly what you did. Because when you talk to people about Carlos King, they just Carlos is cool as hell. I remember one time you had me come on in I I did an interview for one of your shows.

KING: Hollywood Divas, yes!

RUSS: You treated me like Ross, I’ve known you forever. And that made me feel good. That tells me a lot about you and your personality. You know, I know that sometimes when you’re doing what you’re doing, you’re gonna get some criticism and saying, Okay, there’s a lot of over-the-top stuff, and how does this, how does objectively hold us in some kind of high light for America to see what is your response to that?

KING: Look, one thing I always say to people is at the end of the day, my job which is the reason why I started my production company Kingdom Reign Entertainment, is because I wanted to create a platform for black professionals to showcase you know, the good, the bad, the ugly so that they can be relatable to a mass audience. And at the end of the day, one thing I pride myself on if I’m truly following the reality of these people’s lives, and look, you could turn on the 10 o’clock news. And see the craziest thing. Turn on social media. It’s the craziest thing. You could turn on the Oscars, right? Right. There you go. I pride myself on following reality but I also pride myself on I don’t have to go the low-hanging fruit route in terms of every time you watch an episode of my there’s a physical altercation. We don’t do that in the car looking. So make sure to talk to my cast about that. And, look, that’s not me saying, I think less of people who do that. When I’m saying to you is I do pride myself on every show that I have on my plate, I make sure that black professionals are at the forefront.

RUSS: There we go Carlos King, the Nightcap with Carlos King airing Saturdays at 10pm. Eastern time. That’s on OWN and man, I just want to say congratulations. I love what you’re doing, man. You’re an inspiration to a lot of people out there, and you’re the epitome of what hard work does. If you’re a good person and you work hard, you will be rewarded. Carlos. Thank you, man.

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The Nightcap with Carlos King: ‘I Make Sure That Black Professionals Are At The Forefront’  was originally published on blackamericaweb.com