”Here Comes Honey Boo Boo” is the newest addition to TLC’s program lineup, taking viewers through the life of Alana Thompson (aka Honey Boo Boo Child) and her self-proclaimed “redneck” family in Georgia. Thompson had her rise to fame thanks to another TLC program, “Toddlers and Tiaras,” which features toddlers on their journey competing in beauty pageants. Thompson gained the spotlight during “Toddlers and Tiaras” after a controversy arose regarding her health due to the “Go-Go Juice” her mother gives her to drink before pageants, which is a mixture of Mountain Dew and Red Bull. She also gained popularity from her interviews on “Toddlers and Tiaras” with quotes like “a dollar makes me holler” buzzing around the Internet.
Thompson’s new show had its series premiere in August and has had an average of 2.3 million viewers per episode, beating out broadcasts of the Republican National Convention, according to The Huffington Post. With the massive success of the first season, it is possible that a second season may be on the way, though no reports from TLC have been made.
More shocking than the ratings and popularity of the show is the new salary of Thompson’s family. According to The Hollywood Reporter, The Thompson-Shannon family makes $4,000 per episode, adding up to $40,000 for the first season, not including any bonuses that could have been added in later. THR also reported that the family is asking for a raise to $10,000 per episode.
Although Honey Boo Boo is only one of many reality television stars, she is probably one of the youngest. While the pay given to Thompson and her family is outrageous, reality television stars as a whole are paid unbelievable salaries just for having a camera filming their daily “dramatic” lives. Snooki from “Jersey Shore” was paid $150,000 per episode, according to the Examiner. From the same report, it is stated that the lowest salary for a “Jersey Shore” cast member was Deena Cortese, who made $40,000 per episode, or the amount the Thompson-Shannon family made in one season. According to the New York Post, Kim Kardashian made $20,000 per episode of “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” in 2010.
The amount of money that reality television stars make is outrageous. According to the U.S. Census, the median household income was $50,054 in 2011. While Americans are working to make ends meet, these celebrities and their families have it easy-going thanks to reality television. I would have an interesting life too if I was getting paid thousands of dollars for a film crew to follow me around.
TLC should now stand for The Loony Channel, because the only thing I am learning from it is how insane this channel is. TLC is following the footsteps of MTV by dropping the original intentions of the creation of the channel and replacing it with reality television. MTV (originally standing for Music Television) started out as a channel that played music videos around the clock, but soon MTV began focusing more on reality shows. This happened especially after “TRL,” a show that featured the top videos of the week, was cancelled and replaced with multiple reality shows, according to “Rolling Stone.” Today, they play little or no music videos per day and show reruns of “Teen Mom.” TLC was originally started by Department of Health, Education and Welfare and NASA and was intended to bring educational programming to television, according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Somehow, over the years, reality television became more important than learning. Tina Exarhos, the Executive Vice President of Marketing and Multiplatform Creative Projects for MTV, told the NY Daily Press that MTV is “going in a new direction.” I see them taking far too many steps backward. At least we can count on PBS.
Reality television has gained massive popularity over the years, but it is hard to tell if many reality shows are giving an accurate portrayal of real life events or if they are scripted. In the past, many shows like “The Hills” were under speculation for being scripted, and even today, other shows have been under fire. “House Hunters,” a show on HGTV that follows home-buyers around various areas in America, was revealed this past summer as being scripted, according to the The Huffington Post. The report stated that participants on the show had already bought a house and had to fake considering other homes. One of the show’s participants also stated that she even looked at homes that were not on the market due to realtors who did not want to be on the show. It shouldn’t come as a surprise that a reality television show is scripted, but some still believe that Hollywood is honest with their viewers.
Chances are, your favorite reality television shows are scripted. Whether you accept that and continue watching or walk away is up to you. While no speculation for “Honey Boo Boo” being scripted has been made, it should be taken under scrutiny, as all reality television should be.
If you cannot get enough of Honey Boo Boo and Company, don’t fret. Honey Boo Boo is coming back with specials entitled the “HOLLAdays.” Us Weekly reported that TLC will have holiday specials featuring Honey Boo Boo and her family during Thanksgiving, Christmas and the New Year.
In our country, all citizens have the right to live out their lives in the setting they find best suits them. If this family wants to continue their lives in Georgia and continue to let Thompson compete in pageants, they can be my guest. It is ridiculous, though, that television networks are shelling out money to people who are famous for silly reasons. I do not know if it is sadder that families agree to do these shows or that people actually sit in front of their televisions and watch them. A child pageant contestant said a couple one-liners and immediately captured the hearts of television producers and apparently two million members of the general public. Why the public has chosen this family as entertaining is something that I will never understand. The path the entertainment business is taking right now is scary, and all I can hope is that this trend ends soon.
Sarah Garrity can be reached at sarah.garrity@spartans.ut.edu