For the love of stage moms

I don't know if you saw the premiere of the kid-star/stage-mom elimination-based reality show I Know My Kid's a Star last night, but I had to write about it for work and that turned out to be...well, not really work at all. This show, in all of its shameless glory, appeals to me on a very basic level. Stage parents are endless sources of extreme human behavior, and extremity is never not fascinating to me. It's often hard to fight off nausea in response to what they to do their kids, but looking away proves to be a much harder task. I don't like to talk so much about my work in this space, but the simple fact is that I would be covering this show on this blog even if I weren't being paid to do so. You can read my recap here. I really hope this show can keep up the momentum, although it's going to be hard to top a Steven Tyleresque woman in a cowboy hat and a short denim skirt asking her daughter, "What? Is my tampon showin'?"

But the real real reason behind this post is the excuse to mention another stage-parents reality show, which captured my heart before I had this space to proclaim my love for it. Showbiz Moms & Dads was a situation-based/"candid" (i.e. non-competition) 6-part reality series that ran on Bravo in 2004. I loved it like a theater queen loves jazz hands. It followed five families on their search for fame and validation, and while each storyline had its moments of sheer unbelievability, my favorite stuff was that which chronicled the feminine "heterosexual" Duncan Nutter, who moved his mannish wife and often-uncomfortable seven children from a house in Vermont to a 2-bedroom in Queens to pursue his dream of acting. There are few words to actually convey the insanity, and since SM&D aired in pre-YouTube times, I assembled a clip reel to convey his specialness. If you need to know anything about this before going into it, it's that he openly calls himself a "Mary."

Also, I have big love for Debbie Klingensmith and her boy-band-aspiring son, Shane. She is as full of rage as he is of awkward-inducing pubescent hormones. A similar clip reel follows. I would just like to state that for the past four years, there's been nary a week that I haven't said to myself or others, "People in the party, hot hot hot!" and/or "I'm a choreographer, OK? I know what I'm doing...I want you to hop back in unison like this. Like a bunny." It's more relevant than you might expect.

Comments

[katy]

rich, it's friday and I love you.

if that's wrong, then i don't want to be right.

[MarlaHooch]

I LOVED SHOWBIZ MOMS AND DADS!!!

PS Last night I was hanging out with some call girls and we ended up at a super trashy Jersey club and who was the headliner but LUCAS PRATTA. It reminded me of you and FourFour.

[matt]

Oh my god! I would pay to watch a reality tv show starring the Nutter family.

[lap]

It's crazy to think Showbiz Moms & Dads was that long ago, but Debbie's commitment makes her legacy eternal...

[Jay B.]

Someone needs to do a "Where Are They Now: Nutters"

Rich- have you seen the new Danity Kane video?
It's wonderful and three minutes too long. And of course Diddy pops in at the last moment.
THERE ARE DENIM LINE-GRINDS

stereotypes types types types THIS TOO SHALL PASS

[Bigpikchur.blogspot.com]

I was watching the premiere last night, in all it's "Other-Adults-Making-Bonaduce-Look-Normal" glory, and actually said to my friend, "I hope to GOD that Rich is going to recap this shit."

Jules
House of Jules

[Jean]

oh.my.god thank you for this.
"Act like a dancer and not an idiot!"

[mary]

Oh God... Duncan Nutter. What a blast from the past. I only caught snippets of the new show but now that I know you'll be recapping it, I'm so going to watch it now.

[Liz]

Love, love, love Showbiz Moms & Dads! I would watch a channel that had nothing but SBM&D 24-7. Also a fave quote: Jordan's "I'll take that as a no."

[keith]

Shane fucking Klingensmith. How I've missed him. That whole stadium fiasco was priceless. Why doesn't Bravo have these repeated in heavy rotation?

[k. crow]

The Santa Claus of schadenfreude... Lo,be still my heart.

[Effendi]

Duncan Nutter taught at my elementary school back in the day (in VT). I had no idea he was such a strange fellow...

[lola26]

Duncan Nutter is like a live-action Corky St. Clair. I kept waiting for him to call his agents "bastard people" and threatening to go home and "bite mah pillow!"

[ted]

Oh wow, the Klingensmith is too much. Thank goodness it has been distilled into a fine, bitter spirit for easy consumption.

[Dennis]

Don't forget about Zachary Allen! NEVER forget about Zachary Allen!

http://www.myspace.com/zacharyallenmusic1

[johnny]

"Pop."

[Gayest Neil]

No offense, but the way you trot your cats out... you are a stage mom!!!!

[jasmine]

I love the lady who laughed after Debbie said, "There will be people asking for autographs!" I'm sure they thought he was Aaron Carter.

Cindy Nutter is totally Shirley Phelps. Oh man.

[nisf]

Am I the only one who, after seeing Debbie Klingensmith auditioning backup dancers, expected her to start saying, "I doubt your commitment to Sparklemotion!"

[Individually Wrapped Slices]

Rich, I hang upon your every word. Seriously. Your blogs on VH1.com = gold encrusted with diamonds. What you put here on fourfour = purest platinum. When I'm having a shitty day, I've started coming to this blog to get a smile and I always do. Hell, I don't even like watching ANTM anymore because your recaps are far better than that crap anyway.

Bless you, sir. And thank you.

[trick please]

I'm sorry, but Debbie is too much. I can't believe she takes herself so seriously. A teenage blonde boy doing old time soca?!

and that English accent is horr-i-ble!!

[tanya]

how i miss "showbiz moms and dads" and i'm glad i'm not the only one! why oh why doesn't bravo put this stuff on dvd? that and "being bobby brown"; how i miss those shows. i thought the tye family was the worst. this "i know my kid's a star" show sounds like the kind of crazy shizz i crave. i'm going to read your vh1 blog for the highlights (don't have cable, oh woe is me). thank you for you and all that you do, rich. everybody is a star. . .

[kccody]

Rich,
So glad you are recapping "I Know My Kid Is a Star"- LOVED the first episode. I do need an update on the Nutter fam plus Shane Klingensmith and the blond Jordan. Those parents were awful....

[natural redhead]

Earlier, I was channel surfing and caught 10 minutes of a where are they now-reality stars show on Bravo hosted by Kathy Griffin. It was awful, but Duncan was on. He seemed more butch than in the clips above. And now this! He's everywhere! I think he's finally made it.