Let's Stay Together: A Successful Season 1

Let's Stay Together, BET's new sitcom for 2011 brought viewers romance and comedy as the characters dealt with their various relationship issues.

Thirteen great episodes encompassed the first season of Let's Stay Together, BET's new sitcom launched in 2011. Let's Stay Together was created by Jacque Edmonds Cofer , who also executive produced the sitcom. Cofer has written for other shows like Martin, Living Single, Moesha and All About The Andersons. She shared that Let's Stay Together was conceptualized as "basically a romantic comedy".

Cast of Let's Stay Together

Cofer worked with a cast of young and upcoming actors including Nadine Ellis as "Stacy" and Bert Belasco as "Charles", Stacy's fiance. Joyful Drake plays "Tasha" and her husband is "Jamal" played by RonReaco Lee. Erica Hubbard carries the role of  Charles' happy sister "Kita". Other actors who appeared on the show include Jackee Harry from 227 and Sister, Sister who plays Charles' mom. Charles's dad is played by Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs. Ron Canada, who has appeared on Law & Order, Boston Legal and Murder One, acts as Stacy and Tasha's dad. Their mom is played by Daphne Reid Maxwell, who replaced Janet Hubert on Fresh Prince of Bel-Air in the 1990s.

Other actors who appeared on Let's Stay Together include Kim Whitley from Living Single, Countess Vaughn from The Parkers as Kita's friend, Henry Simmons from Madea's Family Reunion (2006) as Stacy's patient's father and date and Eva Pickford from America's Next Top Mode as another of Kita's friends. Anna Maria Horsford from Amen played the wedding planner, Tichina Arnold from Everybody Hates Chris acted as the counselor and Thomas Mikal Ford from Martin as the pastor also made appearances on the show.

Season 1 of Let's Stay Together Overview

On Season 1, fans of the show were able to watch Charles and Stacy live together and then separate before getting back together. We saw Jamal and Tasha with the fiery romance of newlyweds with twin babies and financial shortcomings. Kita surprisingly was everybody's girl and she looked out for all the other characters.

• Charles and Stacy: Charles and Stacy seemed to be very romantic even though they did not always agree on every subject or issue that arose in the relationship. They broke up after Stacy struggled to settle on a wedding date, even after the help of the wedding planner that Charles hired. Charles continued to get frustrated as Stacy chose a fictitious date of June 31 for the wedding and he eventually moved out of Stacy's home. They dealt with the seperation in different ways but ended up clashing as they both unknowingly showed up at a dinner that Jamal and Tasha planned with dates. It was at that time, after tempers flared, that they finally chose a wedding date.
• Tasha and Jamal: These fun young newlywed parents seemed to always seek an opportunity to earn money. Tasha tried to create a baby skincare line, she wrote a children's book and she also tried to join an elitist women's group. Tasha stands as the bossy one in the relationship and who likes to be the center of attention. However Jamal stood up to her in relation to her wanting to dress his son as a girl for a photo shoot. He also actually cut up the cards in one episode even though Tasha jokingly asked her dad to hit him.
• Kita: Kita has lent a helping hand to every other character but has remained single during the first season. She babysat for Jamal and Tasha which caused some tension for the newlyweds since Kita's good rapport with the children and her command of housework seemed to outshine Tasha. Kita offered advice to all the characters at some point and she especially tried to encourage Charles to work hard not to lose Stacy. On one episode, Kita took a vow of silence and she showed the angst of not being able to share her ideas with the others during that time.

Let's Stay Together Season Finale

 The finale episode began with a rehearsal dinner on the day before the wedding. The parents were all there to celebrate what seemed to be an astronomical achievement for this couple. Stacy's mom, Juanita, claimed that she introduced Charles and Stacy and clips revealed the first interactions between the couple at Stacy's home. Viewers were also able to see when Charles proposed at Stacy's home with flowers and candles in the kitchen he built for her. He stooped on one bended knee and asked her to be in his wife and it was shared that he moved in one week later.

As the episode progressed, Charles did not seem to be ready for the wedding. He seemed to be having a lot of second thoughts and is shown trying to smoke a cigarette just before the ceremony. There is irony because Stacy was the one who seemed to be having second thoughts throughout the season but she appeared to be calm and ready. Although Charles was a bit shaky, he did make it to the altar. Stacy shared her thoughts at the beginning of the ceremony from 1 Corinthians and Charles sang "Never" by Jahiem.

As the ceremony progressed, Charles ran out because he forgot a letter in the car that would tell Stacy how much he loved her. The final scene of this episode reveals that he got stuck in an elevator that was not working and the wedding was postponed. In addition, an ex-boyfriend of Tasha's appeared at the wedding, apparently a former client of Charles, and she seemed to be uncomfortable with his presence, yet reminiscent of the past.

With all that has happened on Season 1 of Let's Stay Together, viewers are already anticipating another season. The burning queries asked are about the wedding ceremony, the strange appearance

of Tasha's ex and if Kita will ever find someone to love her.