Maxine is the creator and lead host of the popular daytime television talk showThe Lunch Hour, which also includes co-hosts Mo, Kibby, Nina, and Heather. On-air, they are great friends, but behind the scenes, they live in a world of power struggles and super-egos. Meanwhile, Maxine's former assistant, Anna, returns as the hard investigative journalist working for a great magazine, who wants to expose the truth about Maxine.
Cast
Main
Vanessa Williams as Maxine Robinson, the creator and lead host of the daytime television show The Lunch Hour. She is one of the greatest personalities on American television and mother of Shawn
Chloe Bridges as Kibby Ainsley, a former child star and recovering addict who is one of the co-hosts
Camille Guaty as Nina Sandoval, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist and one of the co-hosts
Fiona Gubelmann as Heather Flynn-Kellogg, an outspoken conservative and one of the co-hosts
McKinley Freeman as Shawn Robinson, the producer of The Lunch Hour and Maxine's adopted son
Recurring
Tichina Arnold as Mo Evans, an eccentric comedienne and one of the show's co-hosts
Ness Bautista as Andrew Weller, Nina's husband and a rising politician
Rich McDonald as Brad Kellogg, Heather's husband and a race car driver
Adam J. Harrington as Jason Abel, a network president
Norm Lewis as William Tomas, the doorman at Maxine's co-op building, who knows some of her darkest secrets
Kristen Johnston as Anna Crouse, Maxine's former assistant and current editor-in-chief of a great magazine, who wants to expose the truth about the behind the scenes of The Lunch Hour
Rob Estes as Vance Gordon, an actor and Kibby's former Lacey from Outter Spacey co-star
Star Jones as herself
Ashley Graham as herself, who appears as a guest host on the show
Episodes
Production
On February 18, 2016, VH1 announced a television adaptation of Star Jones' best-selling bookSatan's Sisters for 2017. The series is based on real behind-the-scenes events of The View, which Jones appeared on between 1997 and 2006. Vanessa Williams was announced as lead role on March 1. The show's head writers are Amy and Wendy Engelberg; it is directed by J. Miller Tobin. Production began in August 2016, and the series was retitled Daytime Divas. Tichina Arnold, Chloe Bridges, Camille Guaty and Fiona Gubelmann were announced as the other co-lead roles on August 22.
Reception
On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the series holds an approval rating of 63% based on eight reviews, with an average rating of 6.45/10. On Metacritic, the show has a score of 53 out of 100 based on four reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
