RHOA SEASON 9 MEET THE NEW HOUSEWIFE....AND IS NE NE OUT?

Streets are talking about the newest addition to The Real Housewives of Atlanta‘s 9th season!!

It appears that after weeks of testing various ladies, producers have chosen singer R.L. (of the R&B music group ‘Next’) and his fiancée Lena Chenier for a full time spot.

The couple will be spending a lot of time in front of Bravo cameras this season as they are the newest cast members slated for the popular ATL reality show and we’ll also get to see them tie the knot on the show!

Lena and her fiancée RL have quite a bit of ties to the show and have often appeared during events hosted at Peter Thomas’ former Bar One restaurant in Atlanta.

For those of you who follow that whole Bar One debacle, RL invested a reported $10,000 Peter’s business venture and subsequently filed a lawsuit after he failed to see any type of return.

I’m sure since Peter is getting a check this season (a fact he confirmed with me during our one on one Facetime last month) he’s going to be way more ornary than usual… and by that I mean Thomas is sure to be battling R.L. over his failed investment during this season, as he (Peter) attempts to bring Bar One back to life at it’s new Auburn Avenue location.

Peter also has his hands full with his relationship problems, as he and Cynthia will be bumping heads about their marital strife.

Meanwhile, Lena is apparently good friends with Kandi Burruss (i.e. her entry way onto the fold) and has been filming with Burruss quite a bit this summer.  Lena and Kandi attended Porsha’s pool party this past weekend together.

Lena is also the proud owner of an instagram boutique that I hear does pretty well and while there were some women who tested that had more going for them career wise, Lena’s storyline beat out others gunning for the spot since she will be planning a wedding to longtime love R.L.

Now to Ne Ne, I did a bit of digging after I saw that and reached out to a few of my RHOA sources. It seems that Nene has actually been WAITING for Bravo to give her the word and they moved on with taping season 9 without her.

To further explain my source revealed that while it wasn’t about the moolah, Nene was promised full time pay for full time work when in actuality, producers circled back and asked her to appear as she did last year, but with fewer appearances and less pay.....to be continued,

STARZ POWER RENEWED FOR A 4TH & 5TH SEASON...WATCH EPISODE 1 SEASON 3

Two days after Power‘s record-setting Season 3 premiere, Starz has renewed the hit drama for two more seasons, through Season 5. Ratings gold, Sunday’s Season 3 premiere pulled in 2.26 million viewers — the premium cabler’s best original series debut numbers yet and the most-watched episode of any Starz original ever. 

The Season 3 premiere was up more than 58% from the Season 2 and 389% from Season 1 premieres, respectively.

This is the first multi-season pickup for the New York-based series starring Omari Hardwick. Creator, executive producer and showrunner Courtney A. Kemp will return alongside executive producers Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, Mark Canton, Randall Emmett and Gary Lennon. Season 3 of “Power” is set for 10 episodes.

1975 COOLEY HIGH REMAKE ...DEVON FRANKLIN, COMMON & TONY KRANTZ

EXCLUSIVE: Cooley High has been set for a remake at MGM with DeVon Franklin, Common and Tony Krantz partnering on the seminal 1975 coming-of-age drama. Seth Rosenfeld will write the script. Set in 1960s Chicago and focused on a group of high school pals with big dreams of getting out of the South Side, Cooley High fell in with a series of terrific coming-of-age films that included American Graffiti, The Lords Of Flatbush and The Wanderers.

Beyond that, the original became influential in African-American storytelling, in that it told a complex depiction of life as a black American and didn’t fit the blaxploitation mold of the time. The Michael Schultz-directed film cost $750,000 to make and grossed more than $13 million. 

Lighthearted at times, Cooley High also addressed serious topics such as gang violence, masculinity, sexism and the value of education in the black community. That made it fertile ground for Franklin, the former Sony exec who has focused on films with uplifting content; Chicago native Common, who with John Legend shared the Oscar for Best Song for Selma‘s “Glory”; and Krantz, whose father Steve Krantz produced the original film. They felt it a timely project in light of the racial unrest that has followed several high-profile shootings throughout the country.

Franklin will produce through his Franklin Entertainment, Common under Freedom Road Productions and Krantz through Flame Ventures. Drew Comins will executive produce for Flame Ventures along with Derek Dudley for Freedom Road. Jonathan Glickman and Adam Rosenberg will oversee the project for MGM, which is coming off the success of Me Before You, which it produced. That pic, starring Emilia Clarke and Sam Claflin based on Jojo Moyes’ bestseller, has grossed $172.9M worldwide since Warner Bros released it last month.

NIA LONG TO PLAY ROXANNE SHANTE MOM IN NEW BIOPIC PRODUCED BY FOREST WHITAKER

Nia Long has already landed a new gig after her ABC comedy, Uncle Buck, was cancelled in early July.

The 46-year-old Queens native, whose birth name is Lolita Shanté Gooden, shared a photo of Nia earlier in the week. “ When your sister Nia Long is playing your Mama MissPeggy in the 80’s You can only feel so honored and so so blessed. #roxanneroxanne The Movie The Roxanne Shante story#plzbelieveit,” she wrote next to a selfie with Long.

The film is currently filming in her hometown borough and will chronicle Shanté’s journey from 14-year-old rapper to hip-hop legend.

Roxanne, Roxanne is slated for release in 2017.