The Reality of Honey Boo Boo

The Reality of Honey Boo Boo

from  http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2012/09/13/the-reality-of-honey-boo-boo/

Thursday, September 13, 2012 | Categories: Episodes

Reality show star Alana "Honey Boo Boo" Thompson and her mother June Shannon (AP/John Bazemore)

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"A new reality TV show has critics wondering whether to watch, or call child services. Honey Boo Boo is six-years-old and a veteran of the baby beauty pageant set. It is reality television at its most horrifying or depending on your view at its most deliciously uncomfortable.  Poor White folk from the deep south on display and playing up the stereotypes.  Is this exploitation or is the family more in on it then we know? We speak with three TV insiders on culture phenomenon that is Honey Boo Boo.

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The Reality of Honey Boo Boo - Panel
Last week, television viewers had some tough decisions on who to invite into their living rooms. Bill Clinton and the Democratic family in North Carolina? Or perhaps a family living further south, living out their own American dream like on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo. A show that follows pageant hopeful Alana Thompson and her Georgian family. There's a pet pig. A pregnant teenage sister. A chalk-mining dad. June, Alana's unapologetic overweight mother. And a particularly precocious child with the nick-name Honey Boo Boo.

Critics have jumped on the show, some even say it ushers in the apocalypse by reaching for new lows in television production. Others say it's shining a light on poverty in America.
We have our own group of guests with different opinions on Honey Boo Boo.

Shannon Nering has produced and directed many reality shows including The Bachelor Canada and the Real Housewives of Vancouver. She also wrote a fictional account of what it's like to work in Reality TV called Reality Jane. Shannon Nering was in Vancouver.

Daniel Keyes has researched reality tv. He is an Associate Professor of Culture Studies and English at UBC. He was in Kelowna.

And Ryan McGee is a freelance TV critic in Boston.

This segment was produced by The Current's Liz Hoath."