Vivica’s Magic Men

Season 1 Lifetime (*131) 20:50 Reality

Actress-turned-TV-producer Vivica A Fox is bringing sexy back to the smallscreen with her reality show Vivica’s Magic Men (2017-current). The show (which is called Vivica’s Black Magic in the US) follows the 52-year-old’s new business: an all-male exotic dance service. And she has “some experience” with the industry – her breakthrough role was playing feisty exotic dancer Jasmine Dubow, Captain Steven Hiller’s (Will Smith) wife in sci-fi movie Independence Day in 1996 (although audiences never saw her dancing). So where did the idea for her business (and TV show) come from?

It wasn’t actually Independence Day. In 2015 movie Chocolate City, Vivica played single-mom Kathrine to college student Michael (Robert Ri’chard) – Michael worked as an exotic dancer in a nightclub to make ends meet at home. Chocolate City, combined with raunchy 2012 comedy Magic Mike got Vivica thinking about the gap in the market. “Whoever comes up with an idea to include minority groups in an exotic show will hit gold,” she explains. “We wanted everyone to be represented.” Throw her acting profession into the mix and she approached Lifetime network with a pitch for her reality show. “The execs immediately bought eight episodes,” Vivica says. “I was excited!”

The show starts from the ground up, with Vivica auditioning her dancers and putting them through dance sessions that include ballet, hip-hop and tap. Vivica jokes that “the final eight must have stage presence, good bodies and the best moves”. They’ll need them – she’s already planning on taking them around the US on tour “and getting a residency in a Las Vegas club”.