''The Soul Man'' is an American

sitcom A sitcom (short for situation comedy or situational comedy) is a genre of comedy produced for radio and television, that centers on a recurring cast of character (arts), characters as they navigate humorous situations within a consistent settin ...

created by

Suzanne Martin Suzanne Moore Martin is an American television producer and television writer, writer. She is best known for creating ''Hot in Cleveland'' (2010–2015). Her writing and producing credits include ''Ellen (TV series), Ellen'', ''Frasier'' and ''Th ...

and

Cedric the Entertainer Cedric Antonio Kyles (born April 24, 1964), better known by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American stand-up comedian, actor and television host. He hosted BET's '' ComicView'' during the 1993–1994 season and '' Def Comedy Jam'' ...

. The series is a spin-off from ''

Hot in Cleveland ''Hot in Cleveland'' is an American television sitcom aired on TV Land and starring Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves, Wendie Malick, and Betty White. The series, which was TV Land's first original series, premiered on June 16, 2010, and was ...

'', in which Cedric guest starred in the 2011 episode "Bridezelka", the

backdoor pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie) in United Kingdom and United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television netwo ...

for ''The Soul Man''. The series premiered on

TV Land TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division's MTV Entertainment Group. It was originally launched as Nick at Nite’s TV Land as a spinoff of Nick at Nite programing block consisting e ...

on June 20, 2012 with a 12-episode order. On December 13, 2012, TV Land picked up ''The Soul Man'' for a second season of 10 episodes with Yvette Lee Bowser replacing Phoef Sutton as showrunner. The second season premiered on June 19, 2013. On December 4, 2013, ''The Soul Man'' was renewed for a third season that consisted of eight episodes. Season 3 premiered on March 26, 2014 with a special live episode. On August 4, 2014, TV Land renewed ''The Soul Man'' for a 12-episode fourth season. The fourth season debuted on March 18, 2015 with the series' second live episode. On July 28, 2015, ''The Soul Man'' was renewed for a 12-episode fifth and final season, which premiered on March 30, 2016 at 10:30 PM ET/PT. The series aired its final episode on June 22, 2016.

Synopsis

The series follows R&B superstar-turned-minister Reverend Boyce "The Voice" Ballantine (

), who was living the high life in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

at the top of the music charts when he got "the calling" and decided to relocate to

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

with his family to become a preacher in his father's church. However, his family members — including wife Lolli ( Niecy Nash), daughter Lyric ( Jazz Raycole) and younger brother Stamps ( Wesley Jonathan) — are not exactly eager to give up the fabulous superstar life for their new humble one.

Cast and characters

Main cast

as Reverend Sherman Boyce Ballentine, a former R&B singer turned minister. "Boyce" was the maiden name of Cedric's real-life mother. * Niecy Nash as Lolli Ballentine, Boyce's wife, a

beauty salon A beauty salon or beauty parlor is an establishment that provides Cosmetics, cosmetic treatments for people. Other variations of this type of business include hair salons, spas, day spas, and Day spa#Medical spa, medical spas. Beauty treatme ...

owner * Wesley Jonathan as Fletcher Emmanuel "Stamps" Ballentine, Boyce's carefree younger brother. He was Boyce's tour manager in the music business, but now struggles to find employment. * Jazz Raycole as Lyric Ballentine (main cast season 1, recurring seasons 2–3), Boyce's daughter, who is adjusting to her father's new lifestyle * John Beasley as Barton Moses Ballentine (main cast season 1, recurring seasons 2–5), Boyce's and Stamps' father, a retired minister who now serves on the church Board of Elders, often to Boyce's annoyance

Recurring cast

* Gary Anthony Williams as Lester, member of the Ballentines' church who serves the church in various capacities, including choir director *

Hattie Winston Hattie Winston (born March 3, 1945) is an American film, television and Broadway actress. She is known for her roles as Margaret Wyborn on '' Becker'', Lucy Carmichael in '' Rugrats'', '' The Rugrats Movie'', and the spin off series '' All Gro ...

as Sister Coriann Pearly (seasons 1–4), member of the Ballentines' church *

Kim Coles Kimberly Coles (born January 11, 1962) is an American actress, comedian and game show host. Coles is known for her roles as an original cast member on the variety show ''In Living Color'' (1990–1991) and as Synclaire James-Jones on the sitcom '' ...

as Wanda (season 1), member of the Ballentines' church *

Cedric Yarbrough Cedric Yarbrough (; born March 20, 1973) is an American actor and comedian. He has starred in the series ''Reno 911!'' as Deputy S. Jones and as Kenneth on the ABC sitcom '' Speechless'', as well as voicing Gerald Fitzgerald on the Netflix comedy ...

and Yvette Nicole Brown as Paul and Robyn (seasons 1–3, 5), the Ballentines' bickering former neighbors from Las Vegas *

Kellee Stewart Kellee Stewart (born March 31, 1976) is an American actress. Early life Stewart grew up in Norristown, Pennsylvania and graduated from Norristown Area High School in 1993. Stewart also attended the BFA Acting Program at State University of New ...

as Kim (seasons 1–4), Lolli's younger sister who is an

anesthesiologist Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

; she later becomes Stamps' girlfriend * Malcolm Barrett as Bird (season 2), co-owner (with Boyce) of Bird's, a bar & grill that the Ballentines frequent *Malik S as Curtis (seasons 2–5), Stamps' friend who has spent time in prison * Sherri Shepherd as Nikki (seasons 1 & 4), Boyce's irritating cousin from Chicago, who later becomes the new church treasurer *Nyima Funk as Terri (season 4), a church member and Lolli's friend *

Aloma Wright Aloma Wright (born 10 March 1950) is an American actress. Her television roles include Laverne Roberts on the NBC/ ABC comedy series '' Scrubs'' (2001–2009), Maxine Landis on the NBC daytime drama series ''Days of Our Lives'' (2008– ...

as Shirley (seasons 4–5), a church member who serves as the church secretary *

Missi Pyle Missi Pyle (born November 16, 1972) is an American actress and singer. She has appeared in films including ''Galaxy Quest'' (1999), ''Josie and the Pussycats (film), Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Bringing Down the House (film), ''Bringing ...

as Alicia (season 5), Boyce's campaign manager in his run for Mayor of St. Louis

Episodes

Syndication

The Soul Man aired on NickMom from August 17, to September 27, 2015 and aired on

BET Her BET Her is an American basic cable television network currently owned by the BET Media Group subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. The channel originally launched in 1996 as BET on Jazz, a spin-off from BET with a focus on ...

for a period of time

Home media

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory, LLC, doing business as Shout! Studios (formerly doing business as Shout! Factory, its current legal name), is an American home video and music distributor founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases, issued i ...

(under license from Paramount) released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1 on July 8, 2014. Season 2 was released on October 21, 2014.

Development and production

On April 18, 2011, it was announced that

would guest star in a season 2 episode of ''

'', as a minister that gets caught up in the girls' problems. The episode served as a

for a spin-off series to star Cedric. The episode entitled "Bridezelka" was written by ''Hot in Cleveland'' creator

and aired on August 24, 2011. In November 2011, it was that announced that Niecy Nash was cast the female lead opposite Cedric. The two had previously worked together in the 2007 film '' Code Name: The Cleaner''. John Beasley, Wesley Jonathan, and Jazz Raycole, were then cast, with Beasley playing Boyce's father; Jonathan playing Boyce's brother; and Raycole playing Boyce's daughter. Suzanne Martin and Cedric wrote the pilot and are executive producing with Sean Hayes and Todd Milliner. The pilot was filmed on December 2, 2011. On January 12, 2012, TV Land officially picked up the pilot to series, under the title ''Have Faith'', and set the first season at 12 episodes. On March 11, 2012 it was announced that the series' title was changed from ''Have Faith'' to ''The Soul Man''. For the first season, former ''

Cheers ''Cheers'' is an American television sitcom, created by Glen and Les Charles, Glen Charles & Les Charles and James Burrows, that aired on NBC for eleven seasons from September 30, 1982, to May 20, 1993. The show was produced by Charles/Burrows/C ...

'' writer/producer Phoef Sutton was hired as the

showrunner A showrunner is the top-level executive producer of a television series. The position outranks other creative and management personnel, including episode directors, in contrast to feature films, in which the director has creative control over th ...

Stan Lathan Stan Lathan (born July 8, 1945) is an American television and film director and television producer. He is executive producer and director of Black Entertainment Television, BET's ''Real Husbands of Hollywood''. He has produced and directed nume ...

, who previously directed Cedric in every episode of '' The Steve Harvey Show'', served as the director of the first season.

Anthony Anderson Anthony Anderson (born August 15, 1970) is an American actor, comedian, and television host. He is known for his leading roles in television shows such as Andre "Dre" Johnson on the comedy series ''Black-ish'' (2014–2022), Marlin Boulet on the ...

Tamar Braxton Tamar Estine Braxton (born March 17, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, actress and television personality. Braxton began her career in 1990 as a founding member of The Braxtons, an R&B singing group formed with her sisters. The Braxtons r ...

, Trina Braxton,

Robert Forster Robert Wallace Foster Jr. (July 13, 1941 – October 11, 2019), known professionally as Robert Forster, was an American actor. He made his screen debut as Private L.G. Williams in John Huston's '' Reflections in a Golden Eye'' (1967), followed ...

, Cee Lo Green, Tim Reid and Sherri Shepherd all guest starred during the show's first season.

Reception

The series has received generally positive reviews from critics, with an initial score 65 out of 100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

.The Soul Man: Season 1
/ref>

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Soul Man, The 2010s American black sitcoms 2012 American television series debuts 2016 American television series endings American television spinoffs American English-language television shows Religious comedy television series Television series about families Television series by Endemol Television series by CBS Studios Television series by Hazy Mills Productions Television shows set in Missouri Television shows set in St. Louis TV Land original programming 2010s American multi-camera sitcoms