"St. Louis is in my soul and soul food is in my blood," explains Miss Robbie Montgomery, the entrepreneur behind two local restaurants and the star of the new reality soap Welcome to Sweetie Pie's.
The show is shot on location in St. Louis and makes the city and the restaurant look stunning on film. Glamour shots in the premiere included City Museum, the Arch, and the CWE, among others. And the family at the center of this operation isn't shy about putting their personal business on display.
Miss Robbie was an Ikette backup singer years ago, but a collapsed lung put an end to her singing career. While on the road, she got lots of experience cooking for her fellow singers, since they weren't allowed to eat in the white establishments where they performed.
She eventually moved back to St. Louis with her son Tim, and together they started the original Sweetie Pie's on Florrisant Avenue in 1996. The larger Grove location opened in 2003, and part of the show's drama will come from Montgomery's attempts to establish a third location, Upper Crust, in the Delmar Loop.
Miss Robbie's feelings about her life's work have the potential for real depth, and hopefully they'll be explored in future episodes. But here they are given just a few brief scenes and no resolution about how she will proceed after learning some disheartening news about her prospective bank loan.
Part of the struggle in any pilot is setting up a tone for the series while doing all the work of establishing everyone's backstory. This first hour was all over the place, and it was hard to know what to get invested in. While Miss Robbie is understandably emotional about buying a building in a formerly segregated neighborhood, she comes off as more invested in the engagement ring her son has his eye on.
In addition to being Miss Robbie's son, Tim is the manager of the restaurant's Grove location. Jenae is his pregnant girlfriend who works part-time at the restaurant. Their relationship is another that the show hopes to mine for drama, which gets confusing in this first episode.
At first they seem to get along fine. Tim is even planning to propose to Jenae. But there are a few bumps in the road. Tim is painted as a ladies man and instructed by his best friend not to go through with the proposal. In one of the more obviously staged scenes from the pilot, Jenae's girlfriends tell her she's too controlling and jealous of Tim. They have a confrontation at the restaurant that seems artificially designed to call their future into question.
Finally, after a chat with a kindly line cook, Tim decides to go through with the proposal. And despite the appearance he projects, from his apartment to his car to his wardrobe, he doesn't have the cash to buy the coveted ring. Miss Robbie won't give him a loan, telling him he shouldn't live above his means. Taking her advice to heart, Tim drives his Mercedes to the pawn shop to hock one of his Rolexes in exchange for the yellow diamond ring.
Later, he proposes to Jenae during the middle of Sunday lunch rush, after everyone has explained in interviews that it's their busiest time of the week. Why would a restaurant manager grind business to a halt during peak time other than to literally sing for the cameras? (She says yes, by the way. At least that's the implication. He never actually popped the question, at least on camera.)
Then there's Charles, Miss Robbie's unruly nephew. Everyone has worked with someone who expected a paycheck for doing nothing, and Charles is that guy in the Sweetie Pie's family. He even picks a fight with Tim, who he doesn't think should be telling him what to do. Neither side is interested in compromise, and so they are constantly butting heads. That's a relatable work situation, and along with the time lapse photography of the restaurant in action, it's one of the show's better nods to its workplace setting.
Will Sweetie Pie's get the financing it needs to open a third location? How will Tim and Jenae's relationship evolve now that they're engaged? Can the show settle on a narrative tone? Will Charles get the chance to learn the cash register before being run out of the business? Will the employees ever get dental coverage? Some of these questions may be answered in the coming weeks.
Miss Robbie says her intent is to leave a legacy, and that's probably harder to do with a living, breathing entity like a restaurant than it is with soulful record albums like the one she signs for a customer and fan. But no matter how things turn out, Welcome to Sweetie Pie's will at least provide Montgomery a video legacy.
Welcome to Sweetie Pie's is the first series from St. Louis-based Coolfire Originals. Hopefully this is just the beginning of original television production in St. Louis. That's another legacy Montgomery can be proud to be a part of.
New episodes air Saturdays at 8 p.m. on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. Next week: it's Miss Robbie's birthday.
Comments