Looking for a new reality series to watch? Check out The Barnes Bunch airing Fridays at 10/9c on WETv and streaming on allblk. This new reality series follows former NBA player Matt Barnes and reality-television personality and model Anansa Sims as they lead their blended family through everyday situations and get real about their own relationship.
"As we open our doors as a family and our journeys as individuals and our journey growing as a couple, I hope that it inspires and helps others who are going through similar things or about to go through similar things and understanding it can be done," Barnes told The Parent Watch. "You don't have to live up to the stigmas or believe all the negativity you see. There are a lot of good things going on in the black community and in the black family."
We had the chance to sit down with Barnes and Sims, who shared the power of this series and how it's a part of a new line of reality TV showcasing positive representations of black families. The couple also divulged how they spend time together as a busy family and what movies are on the TV for family movie night.
The Parent Watch: You two are no strangers to the public eye. I wanted to know what made you want to document your family on this show, and what the reception has been like since the premiere episode.
Anansa Sims: Well, for years, I've already been documenting our family on my Instagram. I love sharing our kids, our love stories, our date nights, and everything like that. One good friend of mine, Datari Turner, came to me and said he and his partner, Jamie Foxx, think our family is dope and it would be an amazing show. I was like, ‘Okay, let's see if Matt's going to go for it.’ I trust them, and I knew they would do us right and have a similar vision. Then Matt finally agreed, and we got rolling. The feedback has been great thus far. People were ready to see something different than negative stereotypes of black women. I don't even think we've been seeing black families out there. Hopefully, it'll continue throughout all of our episodes, and we'll continue to get positive feedback..
Matt Barnes: Both of us have a history in reality television, and I know mine didn't go as well as planned, but it also opened my eyes to the business side. Fast forward, fifteen years after I did it the first time, the trust we had in Jamie and Datari to protect us and understand that our family is what's most important and teaming up with a network that had the same vision. As she said, you don't get too many examples of positive black families on TV, particularly reality TV. You don't get too many black people in counseling, which I think is a very important stigma to erase in our community. As we open our doors as a family and our journeys as individuals and our journey growing as a couple, I hope that it inspires and helps others who are going through similar things or about to go through similar things and understanding it can be done. You don't have to live up to the stigmas or believe all the negativity you see. There are a lot of good things going on in the black community and in the black family.
After watching the first episode, I think you both hit the nail on the head; Seeing an honest representation of what it means to be a couple, but also parents in a blended family. From both of your perspectives, what did your kids think when you told them, "Hey, we're going to be starring in this new reality TV show?"
Barnes: They loved it.
Sims: They loved it right off the bat. They were like, "We're going to be on TV?" Some of them are older, some of them are little, so they don't even know if they knew what that meant, but I'm like, "You're going to turn the TV on and you might see your face." and all six of them were like, "Yes. Okay, when do we start? When do they get here? How many episodes am I going to film?" They were totally on board. How much are they going to get paid? It's hilarious, the questions that they had, but they loved the whole experience. Loved it.
Barnes: They were always asking every single day when they would come, and some days it'd be just an ons and ons. When are we going to film? I want to do this. I want to do that. So they really love the journey and love the experience and are really excited for the opportunity.
I'm sure there's never a dull moment in your home. Without giving too much away, what can viewers expect to see in the rest of the series?
Sims: I think viewers can expect to see real-life family moments, real-life relationship moments, the ups and downs that happen for most of us. Matt and I are super relatable. Matt was an NBA player and is a huge celebrity and businessman. Sometimes people think that regular things. It's going to be exciting for people to see him in a different light and get to know me as a mother and the support to Matt and trying to figure out my life and what does that mean outside of the household responsibilities. I just feel like we're going to be super relatable in a lot of ways and hopefully people can learn through things that we went through and seeing our therapy journey and just seeing us in our second chance that we gave each other in our relationship.
Barnes: Blended families are the new norm, and we've allowed the world to follow that journey on blending families and having kids together and hopes of having more kids together. You have to stay tuned to see if that actually happens; But again, it's not perfect, but it's real. There's a lot of ups and downs on this journey. As Anasa said earlier, it's the relatability that we're going to come across as, despite her being a model and me playing basketball. We're very normal, down-to-earth people who have fun, crazy, loving amazing kids; Six kids who go to four schools and all play sports. Just jumping on the journey of just the hamster wheel in the marathon of life. Again, we just hope people can relate and enjoy the ups and downs of our journey with reality TV.
At The Parent Watch, we're all about programming for the family. When you have a family movie night or even a TV night, do you have any go-to shows or movies that you guys want to watch?
Barnes: It's the old school stuff.
Sims: The old school stuff is amazing to share with them because we have such an age gap, 15 to five years old. Just sharing The Goonies. They didn't know what The Goonies was. The Indiana Jones series.
Barnes: Home Alone.
Sims: Home Alone. One thing I noticed all the kids seem to love, and it's still out today, is SpongeBob [Squarepants], the five-year-old and the 15-year-old. Everybody will watch SpongeBob, which is really interesting, and find it funny and entertaining, but I love our family movie nights and dinners together, and we do a lot of stuff together as a family, even though our schedules are so busy. Even if it's just everybody packing in the car, going to the twins' games, or going to Dean or David's games, or Ashton's games. It's a huge family of support that all the kids get.
You both are operating as mom and dad. What advice can you give to parents of young children or even people who are parents in a blended family?
Sims: I think the biggest advice for a blended family or just parents in general is be on the same page. Figure out how to get on it because when the kids see that you're not, there's a chink in the chain. Especially if you have this many kids, they're going to take over, but it's amazing what we can get done just being on the same page.
Barnes: Just being open and honest and vulnerable. Again, blended is the new norm. It's not as bad as people want to make it seem. It's a joyful ride, but you have to be open to the moment and the opportunity. Hopefully, that's stuff they can look at, too.
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
You can watch new episodes of The Barnes Bunch on Fridays at 10/9c on WEtv and stream all episodes on allblk.