It's a private Detroit premiere for the second season of OWN's “Love & Marriage: Detroit” and Carlos King, the show's creator is working the room giving away hugs and handshakes. A combo of music, shrimp tempura, and spirits has filled this tri-level lounge on Park Avenue with the kind of energy unseen since Centaur, which once was housed here, closed in 2018.
King lets a couple more attendees squeeze in selfies before presenting a 20 minute video clip of the show. He then brings up the show’s 4 couple cast for a Q & A along with several cast members from his other shows, “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” and “Love & Marriage: DC.” It's a full circle moment for the Detroit native.
“It was a blessing, a huge blessing because for me it was an opportunity to give back to my city and give back in a very big way,” King says about the night in a separate Zoom interview. “....I teared up a bit because I was so happy to know that I felt like I did something right for my community”.
Before King was the entertainment industry’s go-to guy for reality shows, he was just another 12-year-old kid growing up on Harper and Cadieux with dreams of making it big in show business.
“I would watch this program called, ‘Teen Summit’ on BET hosted by Ananda Lewis. So for me that was sort of like my introduction to wanting to get into media, so I decided at that young age that this is the industry I wanted to partake in,” he says.
King attended Finney High School, where he was editor-in-chief of the school newspaper and was someone who got along with everybody.
“What's interesting is that in a mock election my senior year I won ‘most liked’ and ‘class gossiper’. So I think that tells you everything you need to know,” he says through a laugh.
After high school King took a gap year where he interned at a local gospel radio station. He then enrolled at Wayne State University where he majored in mass communication and journalism before transferring to Hunter College in New York City. While there he was also able to intern with networks MTV, BET, and ABC.
It was the early 2000s and King wasn’t focused on being the maestro of reality-based entertainment but the opportunities were coming. During this time reality shows were the step-children of the entertainment industry and a destination for fading celebrities.
In 2008 King signed on as a producer for Bravo’s “Real Housewives of Atlanta” and then “Real Housewives of New Jersey” in 2009, where his behind-the-scenes efforts changed a narrative in the format. The "Real Housewife" franchise is credited with pushing unscripted television to the forefront of the entertainment industry. For King, there is no secret sauce, he just relied on the skillset he built in high school and college.
“I applied my background in journalism to produce reality television. When you look at my shows they are very real, we don’t manipulate storylines through editing. We give it to you straight, no chaser. And that's because I was able to understand the sort of legacy of the ethics of journalism and wanted to apply it to the reality genre,” he says.
King spent 4 years producing within the real housewife franchise and it has gone on to generate over
$6 billion in revenue; “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” would eventually take the crown as the the highest-rated installment of the franchise. King followed with shows like “Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta,” “Hollywood Divas,” the “Bell Collective” and many others. He started his production company Kingdom Reign Entertainment in 2012.
“I think a lot of it is that it's a privilege to be in American households every week,” he says adamantly. “When the audience feels like they know you- they love you, they buy into you. Which is why you see a lot of celebrities venturing off into reality television,” he adds.
In 2019 King debuted the reality show “Love & Marriage: Huntsville” on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network. The show chronicled the lives of 3 married couples through entrepreneurship, love, and drama.
“I said, 'okay, we have an opportunity,' because if this is a hit, we can make this a franchise and spawn this in other cities,” he says.
“Love & Marriage: Huntsville” evolved into OWN’s top unscripted series giving King the opportunity to add “Love & Marriage: DC” in 2022. A Detroit installment had always been in the back of King’s mind and in 2023 “Love & Marriage: Detroit” became a reality.
“It took two years to get the casting right because I knew with my name being on it number one, but also being my hometown, the pressure was high and I wanted to make sure we delivered,” he says.
The show features couples Russell and Kolby Harris, Brandon and Kristina Bowman Smith, Anthony and Dr. LaToya Thompson, and Marcel and Kimberly Dobine. The couples spent much of season 1 unpacking unresolved issues within their marriages while trying to manage their friendships with their fellow cast members.
“The biggest difference in season two is that we’re diving more into the marriages than the personal conflicts of their friendships. You’re still going to get some of that obviously because that's just how it works, but definitely diving more into what's happening in the household,” King says.
With two decades of success under his belt King uses the phrases, “I’m blessed” and “I don’t take anything for granted” frequently. He talks about how he's had to sacrifice spending time with family and loved ones over the years due to the rigors of show business. Even at his level of success he understands nothing is promised and you’re only as good as your last project.
“It's hard to get a show sold in this climate unscripted, especially the way the business model is ran now. Although I’m able to take any project into the room, make no mistake about it there are no guaranteed green lights happening over here,” he says with a smile.
Another caveat to being a reality show maven are the misconceptions that have swirled around him. Despite having an extroverted personality King is a very private person leaving the public to craft their own false narratives.
“When you are a reality show producer, a lot of people don’t understand how the genre is made. So they think, ‘he’s messy, he’s this or he’s that.’ I’m none of those things. I’m someone who’s been able to tell real stories. Life is messy, if you look at anyone’s life, mine and yours included. Everyone has something messy going on in their lives,” he says.
Moving forward, King has a lot up his sleeve that he’s not allowed to speak on just yet. He wants his “Love & Marriage: Detroit” to go the long run and become a Detroit staple.
“I would love for the show to be on forever. I would love to continue to put this city on the map. I want to be able for the cast and the show to grow along with the city to be able to highlight some of the great establishments Detroit has to offer and just really be able to show Black excellence in Detroit.”
"Love & Marriage: Detroit" airs Saturdays at 8pm ET/PT on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network.