One in five relationships begin on an online dating site. Relationships and dating are two of Niecy Nash’s (Clean House, Reno 911!) specialties. Now she can add relationship guru to the mix because the charismatic, fabulous and funny diva is producing and hosting new web series Let’s Talk About Love on Yahoo! Screen.
Yahoo! Screen describes the show as a “weekly relationship show, which uniquely and positively examines a different love, sex or relationship topic in each episode. From tackling “why girls like bad boys” with a collection of her friends at the local spa, offering love advice on an L.A. street corner, to confronting the crowd at a barbershop about “why men cheat,” the common thread is each episode will offer fantastic advice, Niecy’s trademark energy, and a ton of laughs.”
In the first webisode, Nash and a small group of friends discuss why women date bad boys.
Says Nash in an Access Hollywood interview about the web series, “This is a space I live in in my real life. So, I just decided to put it together in a package and get it to the masses as quickly as I could. And the best way to do that — Yahoo!”
Nash is among several stars featured in a batch of eight shortform shows, which Yahoo has been pitching to advertisers as a femme-skewing slate. It’s the first of several slates planned for 2012 as part of a dramatic increase in investment toward originals expected to yield even bigger names, longer programs and maybe even scripted fare, states Erin McPherson, VP and head of video at Yahoo.
Nash picked a good web partner. Though Yahoo! may lag behind other digital platforms on a social cool scale, in traffic it’s only second behind behemoth Google; Yahoo! attracted 177 million monthly unique visitors in July.
Turns out relationships are a popular, and potentially lucrative business.
Nash isn’t alone in the relationship space. Comedian, radio and game show host and author Steve Harvey’s created a cottage industry around dispensing relationship advice. He’s written New York Times bestseller — Act Like A Lady, Think Like A Man, with follow-up Straight, No Chaser: How to Keep, Find, and Understand A Man as a companion piece. Not only is a feature film adapted from the first book being shot starring comic Kevin Hart, but Harvey just shot a pilot for a daytime TV talk show based on the same concept.
Harvey is now a sought-after relationship expert contributor on Good Morning America, and even dishes out laughable yet sage advice on his own syndicated radio program.
People are hungry for relationship answers on how to find and make sense out of love. And Nash has her work cut out for her — there are 96 million adult singles in the United States.
Nash, a self-described love doctor, further elaborates on Access, “I talk about love all the time, all day long. I play matchmaker, I play counselor… And this is what I try to tell people who just want to meet somebody, if you want a hookup, don’t call me. But if you want something’s that substantial and significant, I’m your girl.”
She speaks from experience. Nash reveals she’s learned many lessons from her first marriage, and admits “I would have to say what I learned the first time around that I’m applying this time is to walk in the truth. It’s a profound statement that means so many things. You have to be transparent in a relationship. You have to show all the parts of your self, and trust that’s going to be fully received.”
This is a classic case where experience pays off.
She recently married second husband electrical engineer Jay Tucker in a televised special, Niecy Nash’s Wedding Bash, on cable channel TLC earlier this summer on June 4. The do-over marriage is something Nash takes deep pride in. Nash was also instrumental in good friend Sherri Shepherd’s August nuptials. Not only was Nash a bridesmaid, she introduced Shepherd to her second husband, TV writer Lamar Sally at a party she was hosting. And naturally, Nash played Cupid.
Nash will happily continue to play that role on new web series Let’s Talk About Love. Yahoo! Screen debuts a webisode every week.
